Stop Fetching in the same well

Don't forget to add Niell to the BUSTs. I wouldn't say Donnet was a bust, he wanted the $$ and we didn't give it to him.

1. Looking at Youth players is a good idea, but come on, the academy system in place is YEARS away from developing a player who could play with the first team.

2. I think DC is already doing this, there is a long list of players who were waived or cut this season and only played in the reserve league. Also, the reserve league is a joke, example: Rod Dyachenko shines playing there but really can't keep up in a regular league game.

3. Not much to say on this, the FO has solid connections in S.A. but it looks like they are tied up in Argentina and Brazil. There are so many great players and good leagues outside those countrys, they need to branch out a little more and not be afraid to explore i.e. Bolivia, Chile, Ecua.

4. This works and doesn't work, remember Kpene? He had one good flick to Gomez and that was basically it. I do think Janicki and Khumalo are good additions to the team, Doe shouldn't be in their same category though, we got him from the Red Bulls and before that I don't think he played in the US.

5. For the sake of the U.S. national team I hope this doesn't happen (not a knock on DC, but MLS shouldn't be where national team starters should be playing)


I think the South American pipeline could work really well, we just need the right coach to make these guys work well together. South American players are flashy and like to take chances. Soehn seems like the type of coach who wants a team with a playing style that is too conservative. Looking back, Nowack knew what it took to get a team to attack the goal, I don't think Soehn does.

 

Couple things -- Kovalenko very nearly lost us the MLS Cup in 2004, and we barely hung on for a lucky victory despite his asinine handball. Oh, and don't forget his idiocy at the Soccerplex in the game against the Burns. Kovalenko was not just a punk, or even our punk, he was actually a liability to DC United. As far as I could tell, he had one discernible skill: He could break legs like nobody's business.

No matter his heritage, Esky grew up in the U.S. Nobody went to Europe, or Amenia, or Iran, to get him.

Nowak led the team that won the 2004 MLS Cup, true. He also helmed a team that had a lousy season that year, but got hot at the right time. He also helmed a team that embarrassed itself on about numerous critical occasions in 2005 and 2006. We had the best team in the league those two seasons (credit to Nowak), but we choked at every significant venture of those seasons. CCC? Disaster. US Open Cup? Disaster. MLS Playoff games at RFK? Un-fricking-believable disaster. I'll give Nowak credit for winning the Cup in 2004. I also blame him significantly for our debacles the next two years. On the whole, I was very glad to see Nowak go.

What's my point? Hell if I know. I just figured your post needed that perspective.

EDIT -- FYI I know we didn't have the best overall record in 2005, but I still contend we were the best team in the league that year.

EDIT #2 -- FYI, let's not forget Dema's extra yellow card in the 2004 playoffs against the Metros, which rendered him ineligible for service in the epic conference final (at a time when Ryan Nelsen was similarly out). Who stepped up? Ezra Hendrickson--not exactly South American, but he ain't no cheap Eastern European either.

 

I don't know if I could disagree more.

Dema was a hard player, but to talk about his breaking legs, and implying that was done intentionally, just sounds like the whining of FCD fans.

Re: the handball in MLS Cup '04, if you're standing on the goal line with a ball rocketing at you, your hand goes up instinctively. Richie Williams did it in '96. Hell, I've done it.

Dema provided both leadership and toughness and played very well for us. We missed him terribly this year, esp. given Benny's absence.

 

If by 'stepped up' you mean 'was completely hung out to dry for New England's first goal,' I'm understanding you correctly. Otherwise, you're using the expression in a way I don't follow.

 

Matt Matthai, you're a good egg, always have been, and for that reason I will give you some quarter here. OK, maybe I'll excuse Dema for the MLS Cup handball. Hell, for the sake of argument, sure, why not? I'll be charitable.

But what of the bonehead play at the soccerplex, where he effectively gave Carlos Ruiz the assist that finished us off? Where stand you on that one?

And the yellow against the Metros in the playoffs. What was that for? Timewasting? I don't recall exactly, just that it didn't help. No, let me amend that. It really screwed us (and I ain't letting you off the hook either, Ryan Nelsen, who managed to find away to avoid playing his last game at RFK before heading off to England).

Yes, Dema played hard, and he had some skills. I simplified a bit making the point on the broken legs. But come on, that's a lot of broken legs! And all against one team! I mean, hey, that's kinda funny!

 

I don't know that variety in style of play is all that important. I do think that you go to SA for a certain type of player. Someone who is a definite starter and adds skills rarely seen in American players i.e. Moreno, Gomez, Gallardo, Schelloto, Morales, Valderrama, Sonora, etc. I don't think you pay to bring in a South American centerback or a small third forward with a high work rate or a backup GK. These types of players are available cheaper and are easier to fit into the team from American talent pools. Emilio and Fred are border cases. A pure striker is always tough to find and worth keeping, but Emilio doesn't do anything that Twellman doesn't do. Fred has unique skills but I'm not sure he has a clearcut position in MLS.

Obviously everything is a case by case situation but in general Niell, Carvahlo, and Peralta were bad decisions even before the season started. Gallardo and Martinez made sense as acquisitions and in their brief shining moments they took the team to another level, but injuries and other problems short circuited their contributions. I don't know if they would have worked out or not but their skillsets made them worth gambling on.

As far as toughness, we definitely need some, but obviously Europe hardly holds the patent on no-nonsense players.

Belgium? Really?

 

Look, we all know that Ezra is a pretty limited defender. I am not saying he was great in that game, but he provided something against a pretty vaunted attack (which is a lot more than I can say for Ryan Nelsen or Dema in that game). I mean, have we ever had anyone who could stop Twellman? All in all, Ezra played a heck of a game, considering the scary position he was in. If we'd had to rely on Prideaux in that spot, I don't think we would have won.

I will always have a soft spot for Ezra Hendrickson and his performance in that game.

 

Players make dumb plays. Players make mistakes. It happens.

Why, even our own sainted Jaime missed a PK recently. Had he made it, the loss in Columbus would have meant nothing. That doesn't take away from everything else he has given us.

I'll stand by my statement. Dema was good for us, and would have been good for us this year.

 

Perhaps not, but he does it with a MUCH SMALLER HEAD.

That has to count for something.

 

Good, because he wasn't.

Yes, he was large.

At the end of the 2005 playoffs, Christian Gomez spat on C.J. Brown and was red-carded. We didn't have him for the home opener the following year against Jersey, as a result. We started Lucio Filomeno instead. Are you going to tell me that Gomez' mistake invalidated the rest of his play for United after that, or that Filomeno was worth more to us than Gomez? Your criticism of Kovalenko's play out in Germantown against Dallas is a valid criticism -- he deserved to hang his head after his part in that debacle. But this reference to his being unavailable for the 2004 ECC is a complete red herring.

 

I understand what your saying about picking up good youth, but do you mean from inside the US? Or good youth up and coming internationals? If so the latter, than we need bigger salary caps to get up and coming youth prospects.

I understand about picking up different players than Argie's and Brasilieros, but our scouting power/ talent spotters are limited in funds it seems, and dont have much connections beyond outside these two countries.

I remember Mcfarlane(sp) talking about in the offseason looking more so to Africa than South America, as it seems is the new 'south america' for MLS.

But the key is not where these players are from, but if they can survive on a latin-american style of play of game that we go by.

We pass more so on the ground, then air through balls. This is our game style, we need to find players to fit this style.

Doesnt matter where they are from, just as long as they can work with our style.

 

Maybe Dema played against a lot of players with fragile legs...not enough calcium in their diets obviously.

 

I remember the Dema meltdown at Soccerplex quite well. He got riled about something and started piling into everyone he could reach. I was screaming to the United bench "pull Dema before he gets red-carded." And then he did, and deservedly so. Spirit and toughness are one thing, but mindless aggression is very costly. Yes, we could use some spine, but be careful what we wish for (see Smith, Khano). We all pine for the return of Ben Olsen and his "bite," but that bite came with a rather large number of fouls and cards, IIRC. I prefer players like Ralston and Parkhurst, who play at a very high level of intensity but almost never get sent off. Even the much-despised Jay Heaps played every minute of every match for NE this season and never saw red!

 

Understand completely. All I'll say is that sometimes a team needs leaders more like Olsen and Dema rather than ones like Ralston and Parkhurst.

I just don't see Benny and Dema allowing us to roll over like we did vs. Chivas USA.

 

i'd like to see the testicles attached a player with more athletic ability and skill than Dema. While everyone loved his commitment, he isn't very strong or fast (despite a few reckless tackles) and has little skill. i enjoyed his enthusiasm but there are plenty of players with more skill and at least as much testicular mass.

 

Yes.

Get me Gattuso.

 

My polo teacher said as she handed me the trophy for the most improved player, "If you aren't fouling, you aren't in the game." While being a wreckless thug is a bad thing, a player that is really in the game is going to foul a heck of a lot more than someone who isn't.

And quite frankly, the fact that Heaps has played every minute of every NE game this season and didn't get his ass sent off is more indicative of the poor quality of refs in the MLS and not the quality of the player.

 

Gotta admire your straightforward start, man.

And which entity has validated your "correct"ness on this? With Facundo a regular on the back line, we gave up the fewest goals in MLS and won regularly, and with style. With Vanney and then Peralta/Martinez in his place, our defense looked disorganized, sloppy, and much less capable of playing positive balls out of the back.

In the four playoff games he started and finished between mid-'05 and '07 (about 355 minutes), we gave a total of 2 goals. In the three that he didn't play in (275 minutes), we gave up 7 goals. He also had a damn good all-star game performance in '06 aganst Chelsea.

He wasn't an all-star caliber defender, but he was better than any of the guys we put back there this year.

 

Why not Africa? I know that is the European leagues' favorite recruiting zone, but there must be lots of good players left over. Also, the US has a draw that is very powerful in the Third World: our system of higher education. Don't scoff; I know that most professional footy players turn pro while of high school age and never darken the door of a school thereafter, but there are others who know that there is a better chance of getting a good post-high school education in the US than anywhere else. Come here; play a few years and go to school, or come here and go to school (with your agent's help) and then catch on in the pros and finish school later.

Of course, the other route is that Europe takes the best Africans, who displace an even number of less talented Euros, who come to MLS as an alternative to second or third division in Slavia.

 

I think i stated it earlier, but Mcfarlene(sp) stated next season they will be looking more in Africa for talent than South America(as i am sure he thought the players for the most part were a bust).

 

Are you sure you're not thinking of Stoitchkov?

And maybe Dema was a punk, but he was our punk. And like others have said, we could use some of his testicular fortitude.

My .02