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…

Darrius Barnes is currently leading the way for the rookies. (Getty Images)

Its finally Friday, though I will admit this week has flown by for me due to it being a four-day work week and things being fairly steady on both the regular job front and this place. I had planned to do more than what had been posted today but I blame the weird rainy weather here in Dallas for me not getting around to some of it. Rainy days seem to do that to me.

Anyways I wanted to get back into some award talk for the first part of tonight’s post. Tonight I wanted to kick up my Rookie of the Year discussion and give you a sense of where I rate the current crop of rookies, which by the way have been nothing short of great this season. I know not every single rookie drafted has played this year but there are at least 10 or possibly 12 good rookies from this year’s draft. That usually doesn’t happen very often.

This is my current rankings on the rookies, whether or not this stays the same when I vote in a couple weeks for this award remains to be seen.

1. Darrius Barnes (New England): Yes a third round pick has a great shot right now at Rookie of the Year. Not like last year because the draft class was so weak but because he has truly shown to be the steal of the draft. Barnes has played in every minute of every game this season for the Revs and has truly become a guy that I think will be defending in this league for years to come.

2. Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy): A lot of people have him as the top rookie right now and I am starting to actually buy into his hype after last weeks’ game against LA. He’ll probably snatch up more votes than Barnes because of his pick number and because of where he plays but that should be the reasons why you vote for this kid. He’s good…and I mean damn good. That Sean Franklin and Gonzalez duo in the back for LA is going to be a tough one to get by for years to come.

3. Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): I nearly had him over Gonzalez but for some reason Gonzalez just came out slightly ahead of this kid. I think if TFC gets into the playoffs you will see this guy get plenty of first place votes for this award. If they fail to reach it he may not even get any third place votes.

4. Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): Zakuani lived up to the top pick hype this year I believe unlike last year’s top pick (Chance Myers). He’s gonna need a monster last couple of weeks to the season to catch up to the guys ahead of him but he’ll surely get his share of votes for this.

5. Chris Pontius/Rodney Wallace (DC United): These two really split votes for me. One day I see Wallace as the better rookie then the next it is Pontius. Both have proven to be very valuable picks but as things get worse for DC here late in the year the less votes these two will see.

Others in consideration: Kevin Alston (New England), Sam Cronin (Toronto FC), Michael Lahoud (Chivas USA), Matt Besler (KC), and George John (Dallas).

Chicago's Patrick Nyarko and Seattle's Osvaldo Alonso battle again this weekend. (Getty Images)

We steam roll into another weekend of soccer here starting with one game tonight along with a full slate of games tomorrow. Week 19 is the final week before the league’s All-Star break next week.

Plenty of good things will come out of next week during the league’s usual meetings that will go. We should more than likely hear a lot about certain things going on in the league like Beckham’s return, expansion, CBA talks and more.

But until then we have to wait it out for the news to come down the pipe with all of those goodies. Thankfully the full slate of games this weekend should keep us entertained until then. Everyone is in action this weekend except for Chivas USA, good thing too since they really need a week to regain focus here after their stumble these last two months. They pretty much are the New England of 2009, hot out of the gate then cooled off too much in the summer. At least the Revs won SuperLiga last year, Chivas can’t say the same.

Anyways, as always feel free to drop in your predictions below as well. Continue Reading…

I love a good holiday weekend. That’s why these previews are coming today instead of it’s usual Friday timeslot. Even with the holiday comes loads of extras for me to be doing and sitting in front of my laptop isn’t going to be one of them.

After a couple weekends of SuperLiga play breaking up the flow of the season schedule the majority of the MLS clubs are back in play this weekend. Only Chivas, Seattle, and Toronto are out of action this week. Gotta love that unbalanced schedule the league has, I don’t see why a club like Toronto is off this week but oh well.

Anyways, time to get down to business. Feel free to send your game predictions as well. Continue Reading…

Stefan Frei has proven to be one of the better picks in the 2009 draft. (Getty Images)

We are nearly halfway through the 2009 campaign and it is a good time to review how the rookies are doing thus far. As stated before I think this year’s rookie class has been one of the better ones that we have seen in recent years. Plenty of rookies are getting a chance on the field and some are making very good impacts with their clubs.

For me right now the rookie of the year race is really starting to heat up. A few guys have really shown they are worthy of the honor already and continue to do so each week. While I won’t go into any particular order with this list I will say the few that are mentioned are definitely above and beyond the rest of the class here.

Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders FC): The number one pick continues to impress me. I knew a while back that this kid had some special talent and I believe we are seeing just that here this season. Currently he has two goals and three assists on the year. His number may not jump out to some but his skill on the field definitely do to me. Right now he has to be considered a front-runner for ROY honros. Good to see a number one pick live up to the expectations of the pick.

Stefan Frei (Toronto FC): I think Frei has made a lot of clubs second guess themselves this year to why they didn’t pick him until Toronto did late in the first round. He’s already proven himself to be a quality starter in the league. Hell he’s even gotten Toronto’s old keeper out of a job because of his play. While he has let in a few more goals than other keepers out there a lot of that could be due to the defense that plays in front of him, though I think that could be changing soon. Continue Reading…

The summer is heating up and so is the soccer on the field. It seems that now we are in the hot months of the year the league has scheduled more week night games for our enjoyment. Honestly they picked a good one for us this weekend in the Emerald City. The expansion Sounders FC host DC United in an ESPN2 clash.

Tonight we should get to see a full crowd at Qwest Field. Some folks on the web are even saying tickets are going for double face value. Amazing to think that a mid-week MLS game would be doing that but those Seattle folks are crazy for soccer.

1. Can DC make the most out of this west coast trip?

This is the start of a busy week for the Black-and-Red. Two west coast games, one in a place that they haven’t done well in recent years (Colorado) and the other a bit of an unknown in tonight’s contest in Seattle. Since Chicago is currently in the middle of a funk and that means any points DC gets this week the better.

For them to get the three points in this game they have to play an even controlled game through the midfield. Pushing forward at the right times to get Seattle’s backline a bit off their guard will be key. While Seattle has been better than expected this season for an expansion club their defense has been shaky in recent weeks. A good offense like DC will be able to get the job done thanks to rookies like Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace. Throw in the fact that Luciano Emilio will be back on the pitch and it could be a good night for the boys in Black (or white if they wear those kits).

2. Can Seattle hold their own with one of the league’s best?

Seattle needs another three points at home here to stay close to Chivas and Houston in the standings here. Right now they are still very much in the thick of things but they have been slipping up until last week’s win over San Jose. Sigi Schmid needs to rely a lot more on Fredy Montero and company in this game if he wants three points. He’ll also need to find a way to keep his defense from letting in a late goal that DC is known to score. That’s won’t be easy but it can be done with the right amount of luck.

3. Player to keep an eye out for.

Tonight keep an eye out on DC’s Rodney Wallace. The rookie has been breaking forward a lot in recent games and that kind of play out of the back can be very tough to defend.

Quick Thoughs:

This game should be a good one. Seattle has a lot of quality in their attack and should be able to hold their own with a club like DC. They do need to get over the hump and beat a quality side right now to prove to a lot of people that they deserve to be up there in the discussion of who could reach MLS Cup this year. I think end in the end this seems to be a fairly even match with both clubs giving up a goal. Seattle should go up early only to give up one late.

WVH Prediction: Seattle 1, DC 1

Rodney Wallace has proved to be one of the best picks in the 2009 Draft. (Getty Images)

A lot has been said about this year’s draft class. Going into the draft a lot of people thought it was a deep pool of players, more so than it had been in a few years. After eight or nine games for most clubs you could say those people figured right. Many rookies continue to get plenty of minutes and impress folks in the stands with their abilities.

I figured instead of doing the usual look at the potential rookie of the year today to do something a little different. Instead I will be looking at each club’s selections once again. I’ll do most of the first round and a few random picks here and there from that with a few other notes.

Most of all the clubs who had first round selections used them wisely as we can all see. A few others did not though. Then you have the clubs that hardly picked at all. Those are tough to grade.

As always feel free to post your comments below on the subject.

Seattle Sounders FC: This club made a big splash with Steve Zakuani at number one who has lived up in my eyes as a number one pick. Definitely more of a Maurice Edu-type pick rather than a Nikolas Besagno-type number one pick. Which is a good thing for the expansion Sounders. Zakuani has done enough to make the Sounder draft class one of the better ones this past year. Continue Reading…