Official 2009 Pre-Season Roster Thread Part 2:: Vide's Gone

Well, that's good enough for me! I think he will be on a senior (and not a developmental) roster spot now, since he is 25 years old.

 

Update for Anthony Peters signing (Mediate seems to be the one who loses on this deal - unless Doe somehow got in the doghouse - could mean that Barklage sticks on the roster and Danso could be gone).

Senior Roster (18 – 20 spots)
1. Louis Crayton
2. Bryan Namoff
3. Devon McTavish
4. Greg Janicki
5. Marc Burch
6. Santino Quaranta
7. Clyde Simms
8. Christian Gomez
9. Fred
10. Ben Olsen
11. Boyzzz Khumalo
12. Andrew Jacobson
13. Chris Pontius
14. Ange N’Silu
15. Luciano Emilio
16. Jaime Moreno
17. Francis Doe
18. Dejan Jakovic
19. Anthony Peters
20. Reserve Goalie (Nic Platter?)
On the Bubble - Domenic Mediate

Reserve Roster (4 – 6 spots)
1. Reserve Goalie (Milos Kocic* – James Thorpe)**
2. Ryan Miller
3. Rodney Wallace
4. Reserve Defender/Midfielder (Mamadou Danso - Brandon Barklage)
Not in Camp – Lyle Adams

* - Kocic only offered a developmental deal
** - two developmental goalies may be kept in lieu of a senior roster reserve goalie


Roster by Position for Players in Current Camp (24 spots)
G – Crayton, Platter?/Kocic?/Thorpe? (2 will make team)
RB – Namoff, Miller
CB – Jakovic, Peters, Danso?
CB – Janicki, McTavish
LB – Burch, Wallace
RM – Quaranta, Khumalo, Mediate?
DM – Simms, Jacobson
AM – Gomez, Olsen
LM – Fred, Pontius, Barklage?
F – Emilio, N’Silu
F – Moreno, Doe

International Roster Spots (9 total spots – 8 for DCU + 1 from Colorado)
1. Crayton
2. Gomez
3. Fred
4. Khumalo
5. Emilo
6. Doe
7. N'Silu
8. Jakovic
9. Kocic/Danso (if one of them makes the team)

Pre-Season Camp Cuts/Departures
1. Mike Graczyk - G
2. Evan Bush - G
3. Roger - D
4. Mike Zaher - D
5. Joe Vide - M
6. Bob De Jong - M
7. Taiwo Atieno - F
5. Kyle Veris

 

The thing I loved about what Tommy said about him was that Christian Gomez is very excited about him on set pieces, said Chistain came up to him after the PR game and pointed at Peters and said "he is my friend"


Plus!!!!!!!!! As f'n big as he is - that has got to mean they'll now get to stock XXL Authentic jerseys now

 

Yeah, i found that pretty funny as well. This team is actually going to have some serious targets for once. I'm loving that. And 3 young (23-25) centerbacks with height (6'2"-6'5"). We have needed some imposing players back there with youth and athleticism for a while.

 

It could be 4 CBs with some height if Danso makes the cut (Jakovic - 6'2", Janicki & Danso - 6'3", Peters - 6'5"). Hopefully, this group will outperform the last group of towering CBs (David Stokes and Kenny Arena).

 

The athleticism part ruled out Arena. That guy was a traffic cone.

 

ESPN has their season preview for DC up if you haven't seen it yet:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=623163&sec=mls&root=mls&cc=5901

 

Thanks for the link.

"Instead the club needed to ramp up immediately for action in the CONCACAF Champions Cup -- a tournament so important that it no longer exists."

Cheap shot. That cup has, in essence, been made much larger, not wiped out.

 

That whole section was a bit disconcerting. Of course you are right, that it was a cheap shot and essentially inaccurate, as the tournament has been EXPANDED and RENAMED, not eliminated. It's puzzling that it would even be written that way. The other thing was Soehn's comments about the tournament. Again, I just don't get it. I like Soehn. He's a great guy. But what is so difficult about playing these CL/CC games before the season. Soehn makes it seem like teams who play in it can't possibly expect to win games early in the MLS season and noone in MLS can find a way to do so. Well geez, don't teams have to deal with this all over the world. Don't Scandinavian teams have to do so in UEFA Cup? Don't play-in teams for the UEFA CL have to do so every year? Don't South American teams have to do it for Libertadores? That part just seems like a bit of a cop-out to me.

 

We do have roster limits and salary caps that many of those teams don't deal with, so it would make sense that a large number of games would hurt us more than some teams with deeper/larger rosters.

However, even with a poor start (0-3-1) we were able to win a Supporters Shield while participating in the early-season portion of CONCACAF competition (plus SuperLiga) in '07, so while it might not be easy to get off to a great start in the league, it's certainly not impossible to ultimately have the best record in the league while participating.

In any case, one could argue that we should be sharper than our MLS opponents at that stage, not worse off.

 

Understood Atouk, but these games essentially take the place of extra training trips and preseason games. I can understand the thought that it gives us a disadvantage in the CL because we're behind the curve. But as you state in your last sentence, I would make the case that it should make us sharper for MLS. It's not as if this games are dead heat summer games in the middle of serious fixture congestion. They are early late winter/early spring games before the season starts (at least the first 3 or 4 games).

 

I'm guessing Veris and Danso won't make it with Peters' signing. But we did get bigger in the back. Any oldtimers remember when the Redskins signed this guy?



I'm pretty sure (unlike Anthony Peters signing) it was just a publicity stunt. But they did have a funny picture of Andre picking up little Joe Theismann, who was still a backup.

 

Veris is already gone - Danso's fate is tied to Kocic (just one international roster spot left, if Kocic is willingly to take a developmental spot, then he occupies that last international spot in the process). If Kocic goes overseas, Thorpe stays as the #3 goalie and Danso and Barklage battle it out for the last spot. Danso or Barklage should not be required to play any significant minutes this year barring drastic injuries at CB and RM/LM due to the other options there (CB - Jakovic, McTavish, Janicki, Peters; RM/LM - Quaranta, Fred, Olsen, Khumalo, Pontius, McTavish) so DCU can take the player who has the bigger long-term upside.

 

One aspect of our game that was never really there last year was the corner kick. Often we wouldn't even attempt to cross the ball into the box. This year we have some serious height so we will be more of a threat on corners, making our team just that much more dangerous.

 

Last decade you mean.

 

Anyone seen this Peters kid play? He sounds intriguing. Seems like a guy who will play alotta minutes.

 

I think he's more likely to be a bench player.

 

He is likely a project but his size and skills (as a former forward and midfielder) give him upside for that 20th senior roster spot that DCU must have felt that Mediate did not offer. After 3 years at Kentucky (2002 - 2004), he apparently "explored" options in Norway and Iceland sometime in 2005 and 2006 but none of those articles about him indicate that he actually played for pro teams there - perhaps there will be some info provided in the press release for his signing. Throughout the years, he has been playing summers in the PDL (past two years with Baton Rouge, during his University of Kentucky days, he played with Carolina and New Orleans). His domestic pro career is a 2006 guest player appearance for the Crew in a reserve game. He then went to West Virginia Wesleyan in 2007 and 2008. He was on the list of players eligble to be drafted in the 2009 SuperDraft but was not taken. I would think that Soehn would play Jakovic, McTavish or Janicki at CB spots before he puts Peters there.

 

Futty is done, according to Goff

 

Updated to reflect Futty's release

Senior Roster (18 – 20 spots)

1. Louis Crayton
2. Bryan Namoff
3. Devon McTavish
4. Greg Janicki
5. Marc Burch
6. Santino Quaranta
7. Clyde Simms
8. Christian Gomez
9. Fred
10. Ben Olsen
11. Boyzzz Khumalo
12. Andrew Jacobson
13. Chris Pontius
14. Ange N’Silu
15. Luciano Emilio
16. Jaime Moreno
17. Francis Doe
18. Dejan Jakovic
19. Anthony Peters
20. Reserve Goalie (Nic Platter?)

On the Bubble - Domenic Mediate

Reserve Roster (4 – 6 spots)

1. Reserve Goalie (Milos Kocic* – James Thorpe)**
2. Ryan Miller
3. Rodney Wallace
4. Reserve Defender/Midfielder (Brandon Barklage)
Not in Camp – Lyle Adams

* - Kocic only offered a developmental deal
** - two developmental goalies may be kept in lieu of a senior roster reserve goalie

 

All in all, I'm pretty optimistic about how the roster is coming together. Obviously, Christian coming back is huge. I feel like the other moves we've made this offseason are a little more reasonable than the past few years. Seems like we finally stopped trying to bring in so many washed-up and/or aging internationals and are looking for younger players who could potentially stick around for more than a year or two. If we can get the defense solidified, I feel confident about our chances this season.

 

Updated for Barklage signing, Mediate cut - only spot that is open is 3rd string goalie (Thorpe vs. Kocic) as well as the official transfer of Platter from Minnesota.

Senior Roster (20 spots)
1. Louis Crayton
2. Bryan Namoff
3. Devon McTavish
4. Greg Janicki
5. Marc Burch
6. Santino Quaranta
7. Clyde Simms
8. Christian Gomez
9. Fred
10. Ben Olsen
11. Boyzzz Khumalo
12. Andrew Jacobson
13. Chris Pontius
14. Ange N’Silu
15. Luciano Emilio
16. Jaime Moreno
17. Francis Doe
18. Dejan Jakovic
19. Anthony Peters
20. Nic Platter

Reserve Roster (4 spots)
1. Reserve Goalie (Milos Kocic – James Thorpe)
2. Ryan Miller
3. Rodney Wallace
4. Brandon Barklage

Roster by Position for Players in Current Camp (24 spots)
G – Crayton, Platter, Kocic? or Thorpe? (1 will make team)
RB – Namoff, Miller
CB – Jakovic, Peters
CB – Janicki, McTavish
LB – Burch, Wallace
RM – Quaranta, Khumalo
DM – Simms, Jacobson
AM – Gomez, Olsen
LM – Fred, Pontius, Barklage
F – Emilio, N’Silu
F – Moreno, Doe

International Roster Spots (9 total spots – 8 for DCU + 1 from Colorado)
1. Crayton
2. Gomez
3. Fred
4. Khumalo
5. Emilo
6. Doe
7. N'Silu
8. Jakovic
9. Kocic (if he makes the team)

Pre-Season Camp Cuts/Departures
1. Mike Graczyk - G
2. Evan Bush - G
3. (Thorpe or Kocic) - G
4. Roger - D
5. Mike Zaher - D
6. Kyle Veris - D
7. Mamadou Danso - D
8. Joe Vide - M
9. Bob De Jong - M
10. Domenic Mediate - M
11. Taiwo Atieno - F

Never in Camp
1. Lyle Adams - D

 

Where did you see this?

 

Was Platter officially signed as well? I thought it was between signing him and a reserve keeper or not signing him and 2 reserve keepers.

 

I'm not so impressed with the roster on paper. It seems mediocre even with MLS standard, but we will see. One thing I like though is relatively good depth.