With the decade winding down, I figured a good thread might be for us to put together a DC United team of the decade. A couple guidelines: 1) Need to pick 11 players. 2) Make sure all positions are represented (let's say at least one goalkeeper, one LD, one central D, one RD, one d-mid, a couple of outside mids, one a-mid, and one forward - other positions are up to you). 4) If you want to make a bench to get up to 18 total players, feel free. 5) Have fun with your selections! Here's my team: Goalkeeper: Bill Hamid Defense: Taylor Kemp, Steve Birnbaum, Bobby Boswell, Sean Franklin Midfield: Chris Pontius, Perry Kitchen, Dwayne DeRosario, Paul Arriola Forward: Fabian Espindola, Wayne Rooney Bench: Troy Perkins, Joseph Mora, Branko Boskovic, Luciano Acosta, Chris Rolfe, Andy Najar, Dejan Jakovic
Those were probably my hardest two to leave off the XI. I could see sending Pontius and Espindola to the bench, moving DeRo up to forward, and putting Rolfe on the left and Boskovic in the middle.
When I think of DC United in the 2010s, I'm more apt to think of a team like this: Goalkeeper: Steve Cronin Defender: Samuel Inkoom, Alain Rochat, Emiliano Dudar, Dennis Iapichino Midfielder: Sainey Nyassi, Conor Shanosky, Carlos Varela, Austin da Luz Forward: Syamsir Alam, Conor Doyle Bench: Steve Clark, Jordan Graye, Luke Mishu, Facundo Coria, Bruno Miranda, Danny Allsopp, Joseph Ngwenya Disappointed Danny Szetela missed the window by one year.
That's why I included him -- I also thought of including Lance Rozeboom because of his almost instantaneous injury. Injuries and not wanting to be here are big parts of the DCU story for the last 10 years as well.
Rochat probably goes on the list of DC United players who could/should have been mainstays here in retrospect, but weren't for whatever reason (a list where you could include Hamdi Salihi, Pablo Hernandez, Charlie Davies, and Cristian Fernandez, among others).
Switch Najar for Franklin. Looking at the "good" roster, it's filled with journeymen and guys DCU got at the ends of their careers -- DeRo, Rolfe, Franklin, Boswell, Espindola and Rooney. Sort of a "tale of the tape" as it were.
I definitely noticed that as I was looking over the list of players for United in the 2010s. If you were doing an all time United roster, maybe two of the players on the 2010s list would have the longevity with the team and the career heft to start.
Other than Hamid, I can't say any would be a lock on that list. Maybe Najar as an outside mid -- because Agoos, Llamosa, Pope and Nelsen would take up 4 defender slots. While Rooney was a phenomenon -- he was here for a little over a full season and would rank behind Moreno, RDA and Lucigol on any all-time forward's list. Similarly, Acosta is way behind Etch and DeRo in the midfield competition. The more you break it down, that 2010's all time list is really mediocre.
Putting together a list of best of the 2010's feels like putting together a list of the first half of the 1996 season.
Crayton was before the time period in question. He played for DC United during the 2008-2009 seasons. So he can't be included, even if I thought he was that bad, which I don't. Emilio's partial second season *was* part of the time period (he was around for four matches in 2010). He wasn't very good during those four matches; but not in the way that Conor Doyle or Danny Allsopp were disappointing.
Pablo Hernandez? The one that played for Valencia and now is a midfield maestro for Leeds? We had that guy?!?! He's a monster and would dominate in MLS today.
On paper, he could have dominated MLS back then ... but he didn't, didn't act like he ever would be able to dominate USL - He had great moves but could never finish. Or he'd take fantastic shots and GKs would stand on their heads to stop them - guy could not buy a break. Way after the fact, some romanticize that he was hindered by the coach or the players around him - but he was just snakebit and got frustrated way too easily.
If it's Pablo Hernandez from Leeds that guy is 34 years old now and plays 90 minutes over once a week. He's already played in 18 matches this season. Last season he played in 41 League games and several Cup matches too. Was he trying out for DCU at some point as I have zero recollection? We seriously missed the boat if he was in our camp. He's a true #10 and creates more than he scores, but he would easily score 10 and assist in double figures in MLS under an attack minded coach. He's also rarely injured which is helpful for MLS. I'm a big Leeds guy and I believe I would have remembered this. https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=51410 ** I looked it up. Different guys. The one I'm talking about is from Spain. DCU's was Argentinian.
No, we had this Pablo Hernandez, who wound up playing several years in La Liga and got almost 30 caps for the Chilean national team. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Hernández_(footballer,_born_1986)
If you were to put together a most entertaining DC United team, Crayton and Erpfu would be at the top of my list.
Erpfu!!! Now that's a name that brings a smile. What a nutty player. Too much fun. I miss his bicycle kick clearances and the way his mom used to post on these boards