DC United fans are hoping for a return to playoffs in 2010. (Getty Images)

I wasn’t entirely sure I’d get to this offseason look at DC United today but extra time this afternoon came out of no where. So far these last couple weeks we’ve looked at a handfull of teams including Philadelphia, Chicago, Chivas, Colorado and Columbus.

Today is all about the Black-and-Red who have seen a pretty big change this winter. From Curt Onalfo taking over for Tom Soehn to seeing Ben Olsen retiring to not offering Christian Gomez or Luciano Emilio a new contract, this is a whole new United.

Let’s see exactly what they’ve done and what they need to work on before the season starts. Continue Reading…

The trade mill is still going today with DC and Kansas City as the trade partners. The Wizards have sent forward Adam Cristman to DC in exchange for an international roster spots.

“We are pleased to have concluded a trade for Adam,” said United General Manager Dave Kasper. “He is a hard working, athletic striker who will provide solid cover for us. We look forward to having him join us in pre-season camp.”

Injuries kept Cristman from seeing the field last year in Kansas City. He only played five games for the Wizards.

Getting an international roster spot for the Wizards mean they are obviously still searching for some answers to fix their roster. Cristman wasn’t a solid enough solution for them at forward but I actually like him in a Black-and-Red kit here. As long as he is healthy he should be a decent player off the bench for Curt Onalfo, who brought him to Kansas City a year ago from New England.

Let the trades begin.

The Kansas City Wizards have traded for New England Revolution forward Adam Cristman in exchange for a 2009 SuperDraft 3rd round draft pick and an allocation.

The Revs needed to dump a little salary from what I’ve heard on their end and it never hurts to get a little allocation money in the process. I think this shows that the Revs are set to make a few moves this off season as they probably will lose a couple key parts (Michael Parkhurst and maybe even Taylor Twellman).

KC on the other hand continues to deal for young and cheap strikers to go along with DP Claudio Lopez, who is reportedly going to return (maybe even on a non-DP contract). Look for the Wizards to continue their dealing too up until the draft. I like where they are going with this, I really do.

More to come folks…more to come..

Happy Monday to all here as we are a hours away from the international summer transfer window opening back up for all clubs to trade parts, find new and exciting and whatever else those clubs do with the transfer window.

But before an influx of new talent comes into Major League Soccer I wanted to spend a little time looking back at the homegrown stuff here in the States. More importantly the homegrown talent that comes out of the college ranks and what not through the league’s SuperDraft.

I am mainly looking at old drafts and thought it was worth a mention to take a look back at the last few drafts to see not only how clubs did but the players that have moved on to bigger and better things through the league. Also to talk about the players who were picked high and ended up as duds (there are more than you’d think).

For the most part the MLS SuperDraft finds us about 10 good players and about 30 or so not-so-good players. Some last in the league, others don’t make it, and some head for Europe before the first kick of their rookie season. I think the draft will continue to go on in the future but with fewer rounds before long. Once the homegrown talent from youth academies kick in we will mainly see college players go through this process. And most of those won’t come with a high profile either in my best estimate.

I’m only taking us as far back as the 2005 MLS SuperDraft. I feel like in this now-expansion era of MLS soccer, that’s a solid starting point for discussions like these. Not to mention most of those players by now are either hits or misses.

As always feel free to pipe in your own thoughts about these past drafts below.

Continue Reading…

As mentioned earlier in the day, week 11 in Major League Soccer was a weird and wacky week that probably surprised most of us all. From a washed out game to some crazy final moments, this week had plenty of drama to offer MLS fans everywhere.

As for the weekly award of player of the week and goal of the week. The choices were fairly clear in this week. As always, lets begin with the player of the week award, for this past week.

Your choices were DC’s Luciano Emilio, Houston’s Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario, San Jose’s Ronnie O’Brien, and possibly to some extent New York’s Juan Pablo Angel.

For me it was really down to two players. Ching and Emilio. Ching netted two strikes in Houston’s 3-1 over Toronto yesterday evening. As good as his two goal performance was, some will say it was at home against a not-so-good road side Toronto. I get that, and others will pass Ching up because the game was Sunday evening during the US – Argentina friendly. Yeah, who scheduled that one?! Hmm..

Anyways, for me it was Emilio. His late goal was easily enough to lift his name to the top of the list this week best performance. His play has really picked up in recent weeks and I am willing to bet that most will see this and give him the nod as well this week. Not only did his help out in getting DC back into the game in Chicago but his late goal proved to be the difference maker.

So week 11 goes to Luciano Emilio of DC United. It may be safe to say that he is finally back to the Emilio we saw last year. Continue Reading…