I put together a top five plyers I always wished played for United. Just a silly off season thing. Who are your five? http://blackandredonbothsides.blogspot.com/2010/01/fantasy-land.html
1. Joe Cannon 2. Todd Dunivant 3. Adrian Serioux 4. Kyle Beckerman 5. Heath Pearce Honorable Mention: Seth Stammler
Presumably we're talking about people who have played for other teams in MLS, to keep it from being a list of "5 greatest players in the world" kind of thing. Always wished? Guillermo Barros Schelotto Shalrie Joseph Dwayne DeRosario Steve Ralston Jimmy Conrad
Brian Mullan Chris Henderson Brad Davis Kyle Beckerman Ariel Graziani Honorable mention Tom Dooley Kasey Keller Taylor Twellman Chris Rolfe Colin Clarke Jason Kreis In long ago days, for about a second, I wished these people had played at DC United: Mike Magee (Scorin') Goran Hunjak Dante Washington Ted Chronopoulos Walter Zenga (mostly for the women)
I guess you just love all those Geoff Aunger types, not that there is anything wrong with that! And for the record I am very happy that Geoff Aunger played for DC United rather than all those other buttmunches!
Aunger is one of my all-time favorite United players. Best hip-check in the MLS The Baby-Faced Assassin
Yeah, I loved the attitude he brought. I have Aunger's jersey from MLS Cup '99, and Kathy has the Canadian flag he signed. We don't have much of his kind of attitude on the team now, although I'm hopeful that Jakovic, Wallace, and Pontius can bring it.
True that! I'd dare say that James would be closer. Not that Pontius and Wallace don't bring a certain grit to the field, but it is not anywhere near Aunger, not even Olsen for that matter. Jakovic is closer to Nesta or Maldini in how he plays defense (of course he doesn't quite have their level of talent).
Yeah, I could see James there - he has that fight in him. He doesn't seem mean, though. There were times you felt that Aunger might just go all Rico Clark on someone with no provocation. Olsen and McKinley would be my top candidates for this.
Guillermo Barros Schelotto Shalrie Joseph Brian McBride Clint Dempsey Kasey Keller Honorable mention to Steve Ralston, who didn't make the list only because I couldn't bring myself to put three Revs in my five. EDIT to add: I just re-reviewed the lists above after adding my own and I'm surprised I'm the first to mention Dempsey.
Recent Past Dwayne DeRosario Steve Ralston Chris Rolfe Brad Davis Stuart Holden Distant Past Brian McBride Steve Ralston Chris Henderson Tom Dooley Peter Novak
Good catch! I completely forgot about him, he would be there ahead of Novak for me, so: Stern John Stuart Holden Landon Donovan Robbie Rogers Clint Dempsey
2004-2005-ish Dempsey I didn't and don't particularly want. Now he's a good player, but now he's not in MLS.
Steve Ralston. Actually, in general he IS my list (he's my all-time favorite non-DCU player in MLS). Since I need four more: Shalrie Joseph Stern John Schelotto Tim Howard
TOP 5 MLS NOT ON DC UNITED: 1. Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy) 2. Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew) 3. Guillermo Schelotto (Columbus Crew) 4. David Beckham (LA Galaxy) 5. Freddy Montero (Seattle Sounders) HONORABLE MENTION: 1. Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution) 2. Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake) 3. Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids) 4. Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas) 5. Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) 6. Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire) 7. Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo) 8. Brad Davis (Houston Dynamo) 9. Kasey Keller (Seattle Sounders) 10. Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC)
Good point about the "MLS-era" quality of the player vs what he became later. FWIW, I'm not guilty of that, at least as far as Dempsey goes... I actually liked Revs-era Dempsey. As always, I disclaim that I analyze soccer about as well as I sing in Spanish. I am guilty of this though with McBride. The Brian McBride that I have a man-crush on is the Fulham-era McBride, not Columbus-era or Chicago-era one.