2009 was a rough season for Ben Olsen and DC United. (Getty Images)

We knew going into 2009 that the calendar for DC United could be a fairly packed one. Possibly Champions League matches, US Open Cup title to defend, summer friendlies, and of course the regular season slate. It turned out to be just the case as DC United played a schedule so packed this year it definitely raised some eyebrows about how little depth MLS clubs really do have.

Manager Tom Soehn rarely had time to get his club fully fit for a game as it seemed he would go from Open Cup game to regular season game to a Champions League game all within a week time and time again. He did have veterans like Ben Olsen, Jamie Moreno and Christian Gomez for the better part of the season but even they didn’t have enough in the tank to keep the Black-and-Red above water.

There were some bright spots though for United fans to hang their hats on. The club didn’t finish with a losing record, though having that many draws on the year does tell you a thing or two about how rough their defense was this year. We did see some promising things out of rookies Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace. To think when Pontius was picked last January United fans called the team crazy for picking him, looks like he made them eat their words as he is a finalist for rookie of the year.

The club looked like a playoff team for the first few months of the season but yet again just like in previous season a dip in play during August and September did this club in for good. Blame the loaded schedule, blame injuries, blame poor defense, or blame whatever the club dipped badly in those final months of the year.

Now Soehn has moved on and United fans are left wondering where to turn next.

What Went Right In 2009:
When things were clicking the offense was easily one of the best. And when their defense did them no favors early in games this club was certainly the best in the league at coming from behind to at least get a draw. Early on in the year DC came back in games with loads of late goals from Pontius, Luciano Emilio and Jamie Moreno. Building a solid mix in the midfield should help out for years to come.

What Went Wrong In 2009:
Defensively things weren’t the best with this bunch. I recall earlier in the year I said this bunch was inconsistent and got blasted for the comment. Turns out it was pretty darn true as they gave up 44 goals this season, one more than their offense scored. Depth was also an issue in the back as Soehn had to basically redo his lineup for a lot of the games. I think the real kicker was losing the US Open Cup to Seattle though at home. I think that game kind of signaled to a lot of folks, including myself, that this bunch just didn’t have the makings of a playoff team after all.

What’s Next:
First up is finding a coach (paging Richie Williams). After that it will come down to cutting some fat on the roster that just doesn’t produce. Important items to get this winter have to include a solid starting keeper (I think a trade for Kevin Hartman may be a wise move) and getting their defense back in order. I’ve always been a firm believer that defense wins in any league. This club really isn’t far away from being a big time contender again in the league but they just need to get better on defense.

Week 18 in Major League Soccer has already gotten off to a bang. Last night’s 3-1 thrashing in Giant’s Stadium by LA over New York probably set the tone for what this weekend should be like.

The tone was set early and often by LA with Landon Donovan really showing just how good he can be for LA and for MLS. I think the game showed us more about how good LA can be in the second half of the season because of how Bruce Arena has built this club too. Still I won’t get too overly gitty about this win, even if it does move them into third place. It was a win in a place they hadn’t won at in a while but it was a win over a team that showed absolutely no heart. Really can’t get excited just yet about how LA is, a lot of soccer left to play this season.

But enough of last night, time to focus on the weekend ahead. Only five games to discuss this weekend. Four games on Saturday and one lone match on Sunday. All games surprisingly are inter-conference battles.Dallas, Seattle and KC are all off this week. Continue Reading…

Time once again for the goals of the week. Not as many MLS games this week to pick goals from but there were still plenty of quality goals out there this weekend to view.

Order of goals: Omar Cummings, Brian Ching, Eric Avila, Fredy Montero, Chirs Pontius, Osvaldo Alonso, Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero, and Christian Gomez.

EDIT: Currently experiencing some issues with this video…check back later to see if it is work! Sorry for the hassle!

A decent amount of goals this week. I’ve once again put together the usual list of my favorites. I may have missed a couple others though but these are the ones I thought were the better goals out there scored this weekend. Lots of goals scored off set pieces this weekend or just sloppy goalkeeping.

Order of goals: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus), Marco Pappa (Chicago), Christian Gomez (DC), Danny Dichio (Toronto), Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle), Richard Mulrooney (Houston), Cam Weaver (Houston), and Stuart Holden (Houston).

Luciano Emilio and DC travel to New England to face Shalrie Joseph and the Revs. (Getty Images)

I won’t lie, last night’s game between Chicago and Chivas put a sour taste in my mouth for this weekend. The game itself was entertaining but the officiating was lacking in quality as we’ve all seen by now. Hopefully this weekend won’t be filled with yellow and red cards or lots of questionable PK calls.

Sorry for the rant but that’s just how I feel going into this weekend.

As for the weekend ahead here, we have a full slate of games with everyone in action except for Chivas (who played last night). I do hope we get seven quality games like last night’s contest though. Aside from the horrible officiating in the middle it was a good game. I’m gonna start switching things up here for the weekend previews. While I like doing longer previews for each game, time just doesn’t allow me to do so anymore for the weekend games. Instead I will stick with a quick preview and a player to look out for along with the score prediction. Continue Reading…

Chris Rolfe and Chicago got back to winning on Saturday. (Getty Images)

For a few clubs we are at that one-thirds mark of the season, others do however still have a few games to catch up here. Still we are flying through this season it seems like as another week goes into the books. Week nine in Major League Soccer was an interesting one to say the least. We had a great comeback in LA, a shocker in Salt Lake, a statement in Toronto, and a load of 1-1 draws.

Five of the seven matches ended in a draw with a couple late game-tying goals to mention later today. Not a lot of change however here as the league progresses this season. We keep having a lot of draws each week, which leads me to believe that that bottom level amount of points to reach the playoffs will be in the high 30s to low 40s this season. Wins are a premium this season that only a few are getting a lot of here. But more on that later on as well. Continue Reading…

Dwayne De Rosario leads TFC against FC Dallas on Saturday. (Brian Stephens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

So far the 2009 season has been a lot different than most would expect. Two western teams headline the standings with perfect records, while a couple eastern clubs aren’t far off the pace. Judging by this weekend’s schedule this could be a good for some struggling clubs to get on the board here this season.

This will be the first weekend in a while that I can remember where all the games are on Saturday. Easter Sunday probably has a good bit to do with that reasoning. Seven games total, with only New England missing out on the fun due to the unbalanced schedule this season.

Feel free as always to post your score predictions for your club’s game or for all the games below. Continue Reading…