News: Seasons over. Here's to next season! (aka - the 2016-2017 long offseason thread)

Agreed. I really like what DC has done this off-season. Gotten rid of the players it needed to and shored up some holes and depth.

If Ian turns out to be as good as his dad, this would be absolutely huge for DC.

 

So glad the deal is done. Looking forward to seeing g him play this season

 

The FO can't even follow tradition when crafting press releases. What ever happened to the phrase

 

Prepare for the "Ian Harkes and his DC United" references long before he wears a hole in his first pair of United socks.
The year 2 slogan "The Tradition Continues" finally gains some much needed truthiness. Good luck kiddo

 

The Father John ---> Son Ian is a wonderful opportunity for the Front Office to hype-up the storied history of this fr*****se (i.e., CLUB!) and explain said glory to all those clueless newbies who'll soon be populating the terraces of Buzzard Point.

After all, a certain % of those newbies probably have no idea that DCU history even goes back as far as the 1990s.

"Why, that's way older than the Nats . . . !"

 

FYP

 

You mean like Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?

 

More details on Harkes deal and some quotes from Goff

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...er-like-son-ian-harkes-signs-with-d-c-united/

 

Who is Paul McCartney?

 

He used to be in a band with John Lennon.

asitis

 

He was a less important member of a band featuring Ringo

 

I'm not as excited as you guys about Le Toux. To me he's a redundancy. We're already having trouble finding adequate minutes for Neagle, and to me Neagle already does what Le Toux can do. And now with Odoi-Atsem on the team I don't see as much need for De Leon at right back. Which puts him back in the mix for attacking minutes.

I agree with others that if you're going to take a crack at the free agency market, you go for Corey Ashe. Local roots, affordable, still only 30 and fills a more urgent need on the roster.

Maybe Ben's being a dick about the whole Virginia-UNC rivalry ... In theory it's not a bad policy to keep UNC and Duke stench away from United. But maybe we can make an exception this time.

 

Every famous musician was in some sort of garage band or something before they made it big with their popular band


I tentatively like the LeToux signing - hoping it was something besides playing ability that has seen him spend more and more time not playing the past couple of years - but I always liked/hated him causing other teams (or my team) grief. He makes smart runs that make defenders get into uncomfortable spots if nothing else.

 

You would have passed on Ebobisse, then? And yeah, that Pope guy really sucked. Gelnovatch - now that was a defender!

 

or Julian Lennon's dad was in a band? Well, except that Julian Lennon is kind of old and never did all that much but , oh well

 

Practice notes from Goff and Streff:

-Suli Dainkeh (LB, Maryland, DC Academy player) and Maxim Tissot (LB/LM, formerly with Montreal Impact) are both in camp as trialists.
-Kyle Porter training with team, but not a trialist.
-Le Toux is at practice. Signing will be announced shortly.
-Rolfe and Deleon not currently in training camp.

 

I like the trialists. We don't need both, but if we get one, I'm fine with that.
I'm not a fan of UMD, but I do know they put out some good soccer players. We could have 4 on the team? Makes sense actually given the proximity. Technically, we could have 5 if Williamson signs, but I doubt that at this point. Not sure where he'd find minutes other than Richmond. UMD, probably not that different in terms of development.

 

Why pass with the pick in the 4th round of the Superdraft and bring Dainkeh into camp anyway? It doesn't really matter, but we could have taken him there. Seems odd to me.

 

Could have signed a pre-draft contract with league and would have been more difficult to cut loose. Also, DC could have been giving Dainkeh a chance to decide what training camp to join before inviting him to their camp.

 

Wasn't he just traded to Chicago from the scum?

 

Never heard of this Streff guy, but some good stuff there:

Franklin played center-back today (Olsen says will "get looks" in pre-season)
Olsen anticipated Hamid ready for opener, Hamid says ready for 2nd FL camp

Also Le Toux is official per Goff

 

"A" for creativity in trying Franklin at center back. He's lost a step and we may not need him on the wing, and Boswell has lost more than a step. I'm a little concerned about the drop in height at center back, especially if our outside backs are short.

 

Kofi Opare and Nick DeLeon didn't participate in practice today, but both were at the stadium. Olsen said he expects both this week. #DCU

— Uncle Steve (@streffsoccer) January 24, 2017

 

Streff is/was the Washington Times beat soccer writer. He's the counterpoint to Goff when it comes to getting details that Goff won't/can't release.

 

Goalkeeper Matt Sanchez from @LoyolaMSOC on trial with D.C. United #dcu #mls

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) January 24, 2017