Keeper Zach Wells has decided to retire from soccer to pursue other opportunities. The league is finalizing the paperwork and a formal announcement is expected in the coming days.

Some where asking why DC drafted a keeper in the SuperDraft and traded for one in the Christian Gomez deal. This appears to be why. They knew Wells was close to walking away from the game and it looks like he finally decided to do so.

We wish him the best at whatever it is he decides to do.

Just as reported earlier in the week, DC United is in discussions with an international keeper. This morning more details of who and where that keeper is from have come out thanks to Steve Goff. United is in talks with Liberian international Louis Crayton.

The 30-year old Crayton has spent the past 11 years in the Swiss leagues with eight different clubs, most recently with FC Basel as a backup.

The deal isn’t done yet according to Goff and his sources.

After looking over his career stats I have to question exactly how good of a signing this would be for the club. I know they want to push current starter Zach Wells and after they released keeper Jose Carvallo they had to create some competition.

What do you all make of this news? Is Crayton the right guy to push Wells?

What should have been a decent loss on the road to Toronto, in a game where DC had the chances to make it a draw, United fans are probably pushing the panic button more today than anything.

Last night’s 1-0 loss to Toronto FC drops D.C. United to 2-7 on the season. Let’s read that again, 2-7 on the season. Consider that D.C. United lost seven matches ALL of last season. Just a little perspective for you all out there (they went 16-7-7 last year in winning the Supporter’s Shield.

I’ve already discussed this week about head coach Tom Soehn’s job security at this point. But at some point you have to ask yourself, does the coach really make that big of a difference? Sure in the case that the players he has plugged on to make up for key injuries to Ben Olsen and for a few games guys like Fred haven’t panned out. But at the same time, you can’t place too much blame on him for the play of guys like Luciano Emilio and Jamie Moreno.

Some blame has to be on management for signing the players that they did. I think its fair to say now that some of the signings in the offseason haven’t worked out like they had hoped. Some guys were overpaid like striker Franco Niell, who has barely made any sort of impact on the game this season. Or a defender like Gonzalo Peralta, who has been more of a disappointment than anything else.

Its like they overpaid for unproven talent here that was thought to be good. We talk all the time about how clubs should look at South America and places like that for talent but at the same time they have to be smart. Picking talent just because they are from a certain place doesn’t always work out. Clearly the guys brought in (except for Gallardo) were meant to be role-players and not stars. But they were also paid a little more than they should have been.

How about keeper Zach Wells? Maybe DC should have made more of a serious push for Joe Cannon when they did back in January. Wells hasn’t been nearly the keeper than most had expected him to be this season.

And some out there will also place a tag of overpaid or bust on Marcello Gallardo. Believe me, Gallardo has been a solid designated player choice for DC. He hasn’t had the full help that we expected him to have though. Calling his signing a bust is definitely not warranted for anyone who’s actually watched this club play this season. He surely isn’t a DP-bust like Denilson or even to some degree like a Claudio Reyna or Claudio Lopez.

The panic button should be pushed if I were a DC fan. Place the blame evenly between players, coaches, and management for the poor job done so far this season. Chemistry seems to be an issue but this far into the season that shouldn’t be the case for a club who has been playing together since early February. The heart and hustle of this club is clearly missing as well.

The club has dug themselves a big hole just as they have in previous seasons. The only thing is those teams found a way to get out of that hole by this point in the season. This club clearly doesn’t know how to do just that here yet.

If you are a DC fan, what should happen? Fire Soehn? Dump some players when the transfer window opens? What? Let’s hear it.

The one thing that may be going for the homeside is the fact that they have a new sponsor in VW. But seriously, we have the league’s best defense (Chicago) against who should be one of the better offenses in the league (DC). But let’s not forget, Chicago’s got a pretty decent attack and DC’s defense hasn’t been anything worth bragging about yet this season.

One thing we know too, Chicago isn’t afraid of DC these days. Last fall they eliminated the Supporter’s Shield winners in the first round of the playoffs. I’m sure Fire fans remember those two games that made DC look like the lower seed and not the top seed.

Something has to give for DC though here this season. The attack looks worse than it should be and the defense isn’t living up to the expectations. Maybe its a bit of the talent brought in wasn’t as good as we though and keeper Zach Wells is still playing like a backup and not a starter. Let’s also look at the offense too for United, Luciano Emilio isn’t playing like a Golden Boot winner right now. Maybe its due to no Ben Olsen in the midfield. Or maybe its due to him being more of a one-hit wonder rather than a superstar in this league.

I don’t know really what to make of DC these days but I do know that Chicago is the real deal this season. It’s not all Blanco either. Their defense is doing some amazing work so far in the early goings of the season. Not once have they let in more than one goal, in fact they’ve only given up three all season. Jon Busch is a big reason for that, as he continue to surprise me here.

Offensively speaking, the strikers and midfielders are carrying the load quite nicely too. Eleven goals to start the season, most of those coming against New England (seven to be exact) have people thinking this could be a very tough team to beat come October.

This game comes down to how DC handles Blanco in the middle and how effectively the wing play is for both sides. The team that presents the best attack from the wings will win the game. I think right now Chicago has the ability to do just that. DC should win this game at home but with the way they’ve played this year I’m not too sold on that notion just yet.

Its not that their defense needs to be lock-down on Blanco and company, its their offense HAS to get on the board first here in order to win this game. I just don’t know if they will be able to do that against a defense that has a few shutouts already this season.

I’m going with the visitors here tonight, as they move into a tie with Columbus atop the tables. And this is  due to their defense and not their attack. This will could blow up in my face. But what the hell, why not huh, DC hasn’t given us a real reason yet this season to feel confident about them.

WVH Prediction: Chicago 2, DC 1