Alecko has had some nice ones this year too, but that was no doubt the best headed goal of the year and probably DCs goal of the year. I remember watching that in real life from 135..it seemed to be in slow motion to me..the beatiful cross by Earnie, and then that amazing finish by Gomez..once it hit the back of the net it was like someone turned the speed back to normal and the cranked the volume up..that was the best soccer game I have ever been to personally. The noise generated that night, the emotion, the final outcome, the true friendship that is born out of nights like that... anyway, sorry to sidetrack there. Im really excited we got Gomez back though!
Goff's article is up. Not much new here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29619-2004Dec2.html
Also, did anyone notice that there seemed to be more Argentines coming to RFK towards the end of the year? In fact, IIRC, in that game after Gomez scored, he ran over to the sections next to La Barra that had a big flag that looked to be the Argentina flag. Am I reading into this too much or did anyone else notice this too? E
Not much new? Gomez is making $200k, so financially he's a direct replacement for Earnie. Dave Kaspar is going to Argentina to look for a replacement for Nellie. Well, they hit the jackpot on Gomez, why not try again? Petke seems close to re-upping. In terms of contracts, and team needs, getting Petke back on board became the highest priorty after Gomez, I hope they get this done so they can look to fill other needs.
Well I bought one of his (discontinued) white jerseys today. I would expect him to be let go any time This happens occasionally when I buy players' jerseys. Damn, I knew Diablo10 should have asked him if he was coming back next year when he was standing by us at the sale today. Good news we got him, he's already familiar with the system, and he gets a good rest since he was only recently in his last off-season.
How is it that Goff was able to find financial numbers for Gomez's deal even though the league doesn't disclose salary numbers? Good work from him as usual.
Normally, Argentina would be a lousy place to acquire a player--it's expensive to get a decent player there and there likely aren't many true bargains. But I bet that either the "investors" who held Gomez' rights own other players, or Gomez has made some recommendations and Kasper is going down there to check a player or two out that have specifically been recommended. That's the only reason I can see why he'd make a trip specifically to Argentina. If it was just seeing talent, he'd hit a couple of countries in one shot. And it would be Nowak who would go. But by sending Kasper, that tells me they have a specific player in mind and that it's useful to send someone who can talk initial contract details (so the team can quickly determine if this is a waste of time or not).
IIRC a lot of Argentine clubs are having severe financial difficulties related to the Arg economy and fiscal responsibility. A player that makes great money but isn't getting his paycheck may reconsider cutting his losses for the regularity of getting paid! I guess that I'll put on my asbestos suit. I'm concerned with the $200K annual salary for Gomez. I acknowledge that he has tremendous skills. However there are significant concerns on his physical conditioning which may be mitigated by spring training. The other is the value proposition. How does he compare to other impact MLS players? Off the top of my head - for example, Ruiz, Donovan, Guevarra (apologies while I restrain my gag reflex), O'brien, Mastroeni, Twellman or Joseph. All of these players don't need to be pulled after 70 minutes. If, and it's a big if, he can get physically fit to make an impact for a whole game (without hiding for large segments), he might be worth it. However, it's a tremendous gamble until this happens. OK, flame on.
I won't flame you but just add that he came here at the three quarter season mark out of condition. He worked mighty hard to get himself assimilated to the team and more importantly the speed of the league. What he brings to the table, especially after a nice long offseason to recover and train properly, is invaluable. The fact that he allows Jaime to play the pivitol role we need him to play will pay off in spades. I think you'll see an entirely different Gomez after spring training.
Amen. Gomez is the man. I love his heart and his work ethic. He has a way of finding the open spot in the box and with better conditioning and more training I imagine we will see a deadly United attack.
With all the trade rumors I would love to see Pablo Mastroeni come to DC. I really doubt it would happen, but he could provide us with a great defensive presence and a guy who is willing to move forward.
No way, man. We've got Olsen and Carroll who execute their roles very well. I'm tired of paying the freight for USMNT players when MLS schedules overlap with FIFA dates. Club over country for me. Why spend money on a guy you know will only be around about half the time in 2005 (Gold Cup and WCQs)? And half generously assumes no injury on the international field. No way Mastro is coming here. We need a big, mobile defender who can distribute well out of the back. That is our next priority, period. GM
Agreed, an International who isnt currently being called up, or whose country's schedule offsets ours would be a much better choice. I remember the days when half of DC United would be called up, and we would suffer the costs on a weekly basis...( Pope, LLamossa, Agoos, Harkes, Olsen, et al)...used to look deserted out there... we dont need that again
There's no reason to think he can't play 90 minutes. To me the only concern is that, along with Jaime, he is the oldest person on the team now and if we are in some sort of long term deal that might be problematic at some point. As far as next season is concerned, he is a great player and a huge value to the squad: an attacking midfielder with passing vision who can also score. I know it is dangerous to look too heavily at stats in soccer, and this is a small sample, but he scored a goal per 145 minutes played. In contrast, Eskandarian had a breakout season as a goal scorer by scoring a goal per 165 minutes played. With the defending becoming better in MLS the two things hardest to find are midfield creativity and scoring. He can do both. And I think next season he will be much more synchronized with the team and we will see more assists to go along with his goals. What I like most about him is his enthusiasm. Coming as a late loan to a club it is very likely he had never heard of before, with a major language barrier between him and most of the players and coaches, in a country he never lived in, he ran himself to exhaustion on the field and whenever a goal was scored (even if he didn't score it) he looked like he had just scored in the World Cup for Argentina. It's nice to see that level of involvement, especially from an SI player. In I think his last game Cerritos had an assist and going back to his half looked like he regretted it. I know he must have already known he was leaving, but sheesh.
What was our record before we signed him? What was our record after he got into the starting lineup? There's your "value" right there.
Not to nitpick but from what I can tell his first game as a starter was August 28 vs NE. In the regular season from and including that game DC was 5-2-1. Including playoffs, it would be 8-2-2 or 9-2-1 if you count the NE game as a win. From when he first started to when we won the Cup, we averaged 1.83 goals per game. In the games previous, including his first game (a tie with Columbus) where he was a late sub), United's record was 6-8-8. Frankly our starting lineups shifted so much this season due to injury, suspension, callups, etc. I don't know you can draw anything from trying to look at records with and without Gomez, Nelsen, Convey, etc. The important thing is Gomez made many important contributions to the final version of DC United 2004, the version that flattened the Metrostars by beating them four times in regular and post season and ground out difficult wins against NE and KC to win the MLS Cup.