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…

As many of you have heard by now, Chicgo Fire midfielder and DP Blanco got a bit headed last night in the Fire’s 2-1 overtime loss to DC United in the US Open Cup. Blanco took his frustrations out on DC’s Clyde Simms and Marc Burch. The video highlights below (no audio) show the punch to Simms.

Blanco and Burch were both red-carded for violent conduct.

The league is looking into this matter and apparently the on the field issues aren’t the only thing from this. Apparently according to sources, Blanco also headbutted a DC United official on his way out of the game. No photos or video of that yet but still it sounds like a sticky situation for the Mexican star. To me it sounds like emotions are boiling over due to his club’s recent form.

You be the judge.

Here is a video where you can see Blanco punch at Simms at about 28 seconds and then slow-mo at around 40 seconds. Towards the end you can also see Blanco head back towards Simms.

Anytime you have two players in one week net a hat trick you always have to sit back and figure out which was actually better. Both Luciano Emilio and Edson Buddle lifted their club to victory on Saturday evening, both with different sorts of hat tricks.

In a week where a few players shined more than others, it would take a solid performance like a hat trick to get the attention of the voters. Had there not been a hat trick out of either one you could easily place the award on a number of players like Matt Reis, Jon Busch, Rohan Ricketts, Alejandro Moreno, or Kenny Cooper.

But in the end it was either one hat trick or another. Emilio or Buddle. Take your pick because either one was fine indeed.

Buddle showed off his head, Emilio showed his dangerous feet.

To me I had to look at the goals scored. All six were solid efforts but to me I ended up enjoying Buddle’s headers a bit more than Emilio’s strikes. Two of the three goals from Buddle on Saturday in Oakland against the Quakes came from his noggin. The first header was a beautiful diving header, the second was just an all out effort to beat his man and create the separation needed to head home the goal.

So again to me, Buddle’s trick was better than Emilio’s. Some may see it different but they both really were something special. Continue Reading…