Also, our Defense rotation has been shot to hell. Normally it would Hines-Ike, Brillant, Birnbaum and Najar for three positions. For this last stretch of HOME games we needed to win we saw Birnbaum, Pines and COA. They played well, just not well enough.
I think i's noteworthy that none of the 35 players named to the US Under-17 roster are associated with DC United. This speaks reams about our FO.
Maurer was tweeting last night that in the presser, Losada was continually harping on the need to spend money on better players. He was asked if had input in transfer acquisitions and he said something like "i hope so." Maurer noted that this has been season long with Losada -- the need to spend money on better players. My guess is that if Levien/Kaplan continue to pinch pennies, Losada will be gone no later than the end of next season and maybe over the summer break in Europe.
Actually, I don't think that means much of anything. US Soccer has shown a remarkable ability to screw up talent evaluation at the lower levels for decades. Also, these are essentially high school kids with varying degrees of physical development and maturity. Brendan Aaronsen got no recognition at the youth level and look where he is now. The more significant question is whether or not the Academy develops players that are useful at the MLS level and maybe, are worthy of a decent transfer fee to Europe.
That may well be, but almost every one of the players on the roster are associated with MLS clubs. We are conspicuous by our absence.
Preach it, coach. PABLO: I asked Losada point-blank whether he anticipates being enabled to spend more $ this off-season. "I hope I'm listened to," he says. Losada ...goes on to say that many, many clubs that DC play spend "millions" more than DCU - and that they are the clubs who should be feeling pressure. He frequently alludes to DC's payroll number.
We may be witnessing Losada employing a messaging-though-the-media tactic –– like the "I didn’t expect to have a team so unfit" quote that was surely heard loud and clear by the players. This one is aimed at the front office. I, for one, applaud this.
I highly recommend the piece on the MLS website regarding how Arena rebuilt the Revs. Their DPs have a combined 66 goals & assists this year, DCU's have 15. Tajon Buchanon was a draftee as were other starters. When was the last time a DCU draftee made the first squad on a regular basis? Birnbaum? DCU's two picks from last year can't even start for sad sack Loudoun. Sometimes, I'm amazed that we are even discussing DCU and the playoffs given such obvious examples of developmental and recruiting incompetence.
The Post is reporting that a Los Angeles billionaire (no, not the doctor, but another one) is in negotiations to buy the Washington Spirit. Yes,they need new ownership and management to be sure, but how come no billionaire wants to buy out our cheap owners of DC United? (I was hoping for Geoff Bezos, who owns the Post and a house here - or maybe his former wife).
It appears Baldwin will sell but that is a completely different situation from DCU. It's unfortunate that the asset appreciation angle of MLS club ownership is so lucrative that you don't need to build a winner to have it be a very lucrative investment. It appears that you just have to have the minimum cash required under MLS financial rules and you can have a crap-to-mediocre team for YEARS and the value of your franchise will still skyrocket. Why would Levien sell? I'm sure I'm just a naive sports fan but I wish I could believe that Levien has some kind of emotional investment in the club's success. Don't anyone ever see him at games? Does he ever interact with fans? (aside from from when he's trying to fix a club-caused rupture with supporters groups)
Leviathan and at least some others of the ownershi-, oops, ownership, group are at most/many games. If recognized while walking around they absolutely will stop and chat for a minute or two. But I have found that none have any real interest (or capability) in substantive conversation as did KP and the early ownership group or later with Will Chang - (who famously regularly flew in to walk Lot 8 - was always a kick when he would stop by Chef David's tailgate so my 4yo could serve him a margarita). In my experience, that isn't different than most owners/sr mgmt of most organizations. I expect Jason is not planning on getting out until after the eaglebank arena east hotel is open (a mere 100 feet from the VIP entrance). at least you recognize the naivete.... MLS is a great vehicle to get in on a relatively low priced/accessible opportunity for a major league sports team that is now well-established with no risk of dissolving/going out of business (especially as covid has shown) - and with nothing but upside potential. Within a year or so a national broadcast deal will be announced and values will skyrocket - followed by World Cup?!!?!? ooh boy, too bad one didnt heed Forrest Gumps advice to buy some company called apple that doesnt sell fruit....
There's the alternative view that this is all just a Ponzi scheme as long as the $200 million expansion fees keep getting paid to owners once or twice a year. Owners are pretty much guaranteed to make money every year because new owners keep investing. Austin starts collecting from Charlotte next year and Charlotte and everyone else collects from St. Louis the year after. Once the expansion fees dry up, we'll see who's left standing, with what, on the MLS money-go-round..
Well, I think that it all depends on the upcoming broadcast/cablecast deal. There really is a need for cablecast content and the ratings don't have to come all that close to those of the NFL, the NBA, the NHL or MLB seal a deal for big bucks.
Something like $200M of each team's value is actually just the value of the owner's shares in SUM, from what I gather.
So Goff reports that Flores isn't even training yet. Is there any doubt that on a dollar for dollar basis Flores is the worst international signing in DCU history? At least Danny Allsop could stay healthy, if ineffective. The two Panamanian players from a few years back were worse, but they were much cheaper. Between Flores and Asad, DCU spent $2.1M this year on zilch.
Juan Berthy Suarez? Franco Niell? Steve Guppy? Lionard Pajoy? on a dollar basis, Flores is getting down there
Gallardo. 4 goals in 15 games. $1.85M in 2008. Should have never been given the ten minute run-out in the Open Cup final. Thx, Jay!
Ah, Steve Guppy! I remember him for exquisite crosses but not much else. But he played professionally for long time, so there was clearly quality there, even if he didn't burn up MLS. He's now an Asst. Coach for Nashville, and they are doing pretty well (!)
Should have made him a coach after that. He went on to coach Nacional, River and won the Sudamerica as both a player and coach. Now he is on the shortlist for many top 5 euro league teams.
There's a lot of salary we can do better with between Flores, Reyna, Asad, and Canouse. Robertha had dings and would be better with a better DC United club (hopefully the next coming years), so I am hesitant to get rid of him. But 3.75 million dollars is really underspent on those four guys.