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.

Just as the playoff race gets hot, the goals of the week get hotter. Something about a playoff race that makes the goals just a little bit better if you ask me.

Order of goals: Jamie Moreno, Ramon Sanchez, Ryan Johnson, Sacha Kljestan, Juan Pablo Angel, Dwayne De Rosario, Chad Barret, Brian McBride, Jeff Cunningham, Eddie Gaven, Fredy Montero, and Shalrie Joseph.

The Cauldron will be loud tonight with DC in town. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Two midweek games for week eight. A big night in general if you count Toronto FC’s game in the Canadian Champion tonight against future MLS side Vancouver. But I’ll just stick with the MLS games for the evening to preview.

RSL returns home to host the Galaxy who just scored their first win of the year. And in Kansas City, DC comes to the CAB for a big time clash of two up and coming eastern clubs.

DC United – at – Kansas City Wizards:

1. First place on the line, who steps up for DC on the road?

No Ben Olsen, Marc Burch, or Fred tonight for the boys in black. Guess the need to lead will come on Jamie Moreno who easily stepped into that role last week against Dallas. As long as the offense is rolling fine for DC they could be fine on the road here. Just remember DC only has a single loss on the season here so far and it was at Salt Lake (a place DC and no one else wins at). Also KC is a play DC typically sees success in as well. As long as guys like Moreno step up on the road they should be fine. Continue Reading…

Slowly putting a cap on this week. I have some more thoughts on the weekend and the season as a whole later on. I wanted to put up my favorite goals from this week. As always if you have a goal that I missed that you think is worthy just let me know.

Sorry for some of the crappy announcing in the Rapids game and even in the Crew game. “Ekpo was his name-o.” Seriously…wow.

Anyways, order of goals this week: Nick LaBrocca (Colorado), Kosuke Kimura (Colorado), Marco Pappa (Chicago), Tyrone Marshall (Seattle), Emmanuel Ekpo (Columbus), Chad Barrett (Toronto), Jamie Moreno (DC).

Jesse Marsch and Chivas USA continue to roll. (Getty Images)

Another week down in Major League Soccer and a lot of things remain the same around the league. Week seven is in the books here Chivas USA still remains the league’s top club. Other things that are still constant in the league include:

- New York still struggling
- Columbus still struggling to win
- Chicago still drawing games, yet still undefeated
- Dallas still losing games
- Salt Lake still losing on the road
- Attendance still so-so across the league

And a little sidebar that a couple of you pointed out to me, I picked every game correctly this past week. Some of the scores weren’t right on but I did have all the winners correct and all the draws be 1-1. Yeah, sorry to toot my own horn but sometimes it is nice to be right. Continue Reading…

I figured today would be a good day as ever to do a new poll here at WVH. Its sort of slow news wise so I am cleaning up some things around here and felt it was a good time to start discussing the MVP race for this season.

You have five players to pick from on the right and one “other” option. If you pick the “other” option use this post to submit your player that you think should be this year’s MVP.

Hard to believe that it already that time. Time to start putting together watch lists for certain yearly awards. Right now you could make a case for a lot of people in this year’s MVP race.

But let’s look at the award real quick. I’m kind of hoping this is the year that someone other than a 18 goal scorer wins this award. Most Valuable Player. Think about the meaning for a second. It should go to the best player right? Absolutely. But it should also go to a guy that is valuable to his club. Meaning you take him out of the line up for a week due to an international call up or a something like that and the club looks completely different without him.

Sure most big time goal scorers deserve this award when this time comes around. But this year I think we are seeing a different trend of players that are of a higher value than those big scorers.

It may still be early to some but this is my shortlist right now for the MVP race and yes it is in an actual order (no messing around here).

1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus Crew – I talked about GBS earlier in the weekly award talk. Hopefully you’ve had some time to review his stats and what he does for this club. Five goals and 14 assists (six more than the next three in that category). For me you take this guy out of the Crew’s line up and this club may not even be a playoff team. That’s how valuable GBS is to the Columbus Crew. He may not knock in as many as some would like for a MVP but he damn well creates enough for his club.

But the big knock on him to some may be on the issue (if you can call it an issue) of giving him this award even though he wasn’t an All-Star this year. Its a crap issues and probably something that will come up in some voters minds. Not mine though, not mine. Continue Reading…