2013-2014 Off-season rumors, news, opinions and hijinks

The way I heard it, "Setelah musim pertama yang kuat di MLS, Alam dipanggil kembali dengan liga primer Indonesia. Kata Alam, "Aku cinta DCUnited, tetapi pada akhirnya tidak bisa mengambil serangan racoon konstan di ruang ganti. Plus, Chad Ashton duduk di saya sekali, dan aku cukup yakin dia penyok tulang dada saya."

But hey, that's just what I heard. The Indonesian part of DCUnited.com has always been a little buggy.

Anyway, wish him well. Assume its fair to say that if you're not good enough to get ANY playing time on this year's DCU, you might want to consider another career...

 

I know some people were advocating bringing Zelaya here. Looks like the F.O. made the right call here.
http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/...-three-more-charged-including-rodolfo-zelaya/

 

You gotta love how well connected and quiet these guys can keep information like that quiet from the general public.

 

It also helps that El Salvador are complete trash as far as football goes [even though the youth teams are showing great improvements and strides these days], so any 11-0 drubbings wouldnt be suspected.

The general public refuses to see the signs. @Murr Professional sports are fixed in so many different ways. I'd say all sports in fact, but I only pay attention to the major ones

The NBA, the NFL, the MLB are fixed. Boxing has been fixed for a while. Soccer/Futbol is clearly fixed. Every year there's a match fixing scandal in Italy and other smaller countries. Spanish/Barca and Real Madrid players are blood doping. The judge ordered the evidence to be burned because it wasnt related to the cycling case. But also if the players are implicated, it doesnt benefit the Spanish people or ecomony [not that its all that great to begin with].

Vince McMahon showed everybody how to sell their sports product.

\I wonder how long it will take MLS to have their first real match fixing scandal.

I mean what are you gonna do if the Mafia or the cartel tells you to throw a game?

 

I suspect OPEC has enough money that they don't have to worry about football.

 

No chance.

1. Who the hell is OPEC?
2. You can never have enough money. Fixing matches is easier than moving key's of cocaine cross continent/cross country.

 

You're kidding, right?

 

Earlier in this thread we were discussing possible trade down senarios with other clubs to gain additional picks. If we are expecting to find one or two MLS level starters ready to play in year one, we might just want to hang onto that first pick.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/superdraft/2013/tracker

The top 11 picks in the 2013 draft yielded 4 players that played the entire season and about three guys that played in half the games so far. The picks after that, based on the stats provided by the tracker links, get very very sparce after that.

Pick-Club-Player-Position-GP-GStarted-Minutes-G-A
1-NER-A.Farell-D-30-30-2633-0-1
2-CUSA-C.Alvarez-M-28-25-2124-2-3
3-TFC-K.Becker-M-7-1-155-0-0
4-VWFC-K.Manneh-F-18-4-601-5-2
5-VWFC-E.Hurtado-14-4-488-0-2
6. CR-D.Brown-F-29-22-2009-9-4
7-FCD-W.Zimmerman-D-2-2-231-2-0
8-MIFC-B.Smith-M-15-0-267-2-1
9-CC96-R.Finley-F-13-3-395-1-1
10-SSFC-E.Zavaleta-F-4-0-21-0-0
11-CR-D.Powers-D-30-29-2457-5-6

17-DCU-T.Kemp-D-8-6-530-0-0

From a production standpoint, Colorado, New England and CUSA are the early winners. I looked at the picks around Kemp and most didn't play or barely got any minutes in this season.

 

If United could get two picks in the top 11 a la Colorado, it might be worth a trade, because the first picks can be problematic -- but, the same is true of lower picks. Colorado picked very smartly, grabbing the two guys who probably had the best performances at the MLS Combine -- two guys who might have been underrated coming into the Combine. Finley had a good Combine, too - -and it looks like the Crew got a good prospect there. Bekker had a great Combine, really helping his stock, but it didn't hurt him that he was Canadian. He might have gone lower otherwise. Still, when healthy, he's shown some promise. With Farrell, NE probably have the best defender of his cohort. And, now Manneh has arrived with a hat-trick.

This past draft proves there's value in the top dozen or so picks. Outside of that, it's a real crapshoot. If Vancouver came up and offered the #2 or #3 pick and their own pick, it would be hard to turn that down. If Philly offered the same, it would also be hard to turn down, because two top 10 players are probably better than even the best player himself (especially for a team that has so many needs) -- but it's still a close call.

Toronto traded down doing all kinds of crazy dealing, originally for the #4 pick and allocation, then traded that pick and Ryan Johnson and got the #3 pick -- at one time they had the #10 pick, but in the end wound up with the #4 and the #16 pick -- and frankly, didn't get all that much in return: Bendik and allocation money. They lost a shot at Farrell, winding up with Bekker, and when they traded away the #10 pick to get the #16, they lost out on powers or Zaveleta, winding up with Welshman, who has made one appearance. Now, this was typical Payne, who really doesn't appreciate the value of higher draft picks. TFC's use of the allocation money wasn't impressive either. TFC would have been much better off with Farrell.

If they had picked smarter -- maybe snagged Manneh -- and held on to the #10 they got in the draft day trades, they could have gotten Powers. That combination would have been better than just Farrell, but in making the decision to trade down, you're taking a big risk that other teams will leave a talent like Powers on the table. Even without knowing who will be in the draft, United is more likely to get someone who will really help by holding on to the #1 than by trading for 2 lower picks.

 

Are you going to mock me for my ignorance, if I say Im not kidding?

I googled it, but it didnt make sense... the reference to the cartel or whatever. At least to me.

 

OPEC stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, it is referred to as a cartel has much larger resources than any cartel popularly referred to today including the so-called drug cartel.

 

I can imagine.

Thanks for clearing that up. Wikipedia didnt have their nicknames listed...

 

Frankly, these days OPEC is very concerned about football -- owning teams everywhere. sponsoring others, and buying a WC hosting opportunity.

 

Oh, now I get it. Angry because they beat USA to the WC. It makes sense now.

 

No, but I have to say I believed it was common knowledge. I was apparently incorrect.

 

OPEC may be a generational touchstone. Anyone who lived through the oil shocks of the '70s is very familiar with OPEC. Younger folks who aren't that tuned in to world events might not be.

 

I wasn't even alive in the 70s and I know what OPEC is.

Before this thread, too.

 

Congrats.

 

I'm beginning to think, regretfully, that we should consider trading Kitchen. He's a DM. Unless going forward, we're going to play a diamond or a 433 with two mids more like AMs than wingers, he's problematic. I'm afraid his presence will dictate the formation, and more importantly, the scouting and acquisition of midfielders to fit into that formation.

I don't object to either of those formations, and if we're intending to use them going forward, by all means, I want Kitchen as the DM. I would just like to know that we're acquiring with purpose. JT and Jeffrey are two-way mids, in my mind. I don't understand why we have acquired those two when Kitchen is (and deserves to be) such a fixture.

Discuss... [smilies broken?]

 

I think everything is broken on BS, since the "jerseys/other stuff for sale" started popping up a couple of days ago.

 

I wonder if Portland would be willing to trade Rodney Wallace back to us. I see left back as a more pressing need than DM.

asitis

 

Seriously?

 

I didn't notice Goff's latest on this thread, so here it is . . .

A breakdown of critical decisions facing D.C. United this offseason

D.C. United’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad regular season will reach a merciful end Sunday with either the fewest victories in MLS history or a share of the league’s dubious mark. Over subsequent days and weeks, club executives will gather in the fourth-floor offices at RFK Stadium and begin weighing critical decisions about the coaching staff, the front office and the roster.

Are sweeping changes in store? Will Ben Olsen and Dave Kasper survive? Is Dwayne De Rosario staying or going? How many players are on the way out?

A look at six pressing personnel issues heading into the offseason …

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...l-decisions-facing-d-c-united-this-offseason/

 

Onyewu rumors can be put to rest. Signed for QPR

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1...rnational-oguchi-onyewu-free-transfer?cc=5901