I started this thread partly in hopes of getting an education about the non-MLS players that DC United might consider for 2004 and partly because I had a suggestion about one player. I'm interested in knowing more about the college and USL (A-League etc) players that might be of interest to DC United. I just don't know a lot about who's out there. But I suspect others here do. One player I have seen is former UNC midfielder/forward David Testo. As I understand it he turned down MLS last year to play for the Richmond Kickers. I saw him play in a few games on FSW. He's good. Indeed, he was good enough to be named A-League rookie of the year. He also plays for the U-23s and his goal against Mexico recently won the award for the best US goal of the year. Here's a bit more on all that ... http://www.richmondkickers.com/news/091603TestoRookieYear.htm http://www.richmondkickers.com/news/110703TestoGoalofYear.htm Sandon Mibut also called him one of the top draft prospects last year. I didn't see him often enough to know if the consistency issue has worked itself out. But I was pretty impressed by what I saw. He's one that I think DC United should at least consider for 2004.
Unless you think we need another attacking mid/withdrawn forward type, Testo isn't the guy for DC. Is he a good player with the skills to play in MLS? Yes. But I saw him play all summer for the Kickers, and the only times he looked decent was in that position. I think he's a very good player, and wouldn't have a problem losing him to MLS, but I doubt he's gonna be able to jump Stewart, Convey, Kovalenko, whoever on the charts for playing time. And that's the reason he came to Richmond in the first place. KC offered him a contract last spring after preseason, but he turned it down so he could get regular playing time instead. So unless he's changed his mind, or the turnover in DC is focused in that area, I doubt he's on his way up 95.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: Simon Colosimo. He plays d-mid, but can also be a defender if we need it. One of the best players in the Australian league and someone we targeted during this (last) season. He's only 24, but a year would prove that he's worth an SI slot. Another one to look at: Claudio Ciccia. He's the leading goalscorer of the Costa Rican league with 41 goals and is about to sign with the League. Who he goes to is a crapshoot, but he sounds like a playmaker/poacher, which we could definitely use.
Does anyone know what the deal is with Tyson Nunez? Has his star/stock fallen? Is he still as respected as he was a few years back? Now for... "My soon to be repeated MANY times post season rant:" This league is not rocket science. Look at the teams that win (LA, NE, SJ, CHI). Match them to the corresponding players, (Ruiz, Twellman/Noonan, Landon, Razov) DC United has never replaced Roy Lassiter. It is time to sign a top forward. This is certainly not easy to do but it can be done. If our front office wants to return to glory it has to be done. It really is "that simple". (At least in MLS...)
Along with Ciccia, a former teammate of his also wants to sign with the league, Allan Oviedo, they want to come at a package... This would be perfect for DC, hopefully a remake of the old Diaz Arce, Moreno OLD seasons...But I suspect this one would be of much more quality... But DC also needs someone to run the attack...
I disagree, if by that you mean have a #10 who can devastate a defense with one pass. They merely need an idea of what each other is going to do and a striker who can finish with some regularity, and the attack will look fine. The last thing I want to see is us trying to rely on one person to run the attack -- Etch could do this in 97 because he was that good, but if we are able to sign a top-quality striker, we're not gonna be able to sign a top-quality attacking midfiielder (and, frankly, we need the striker more). Convey is by no means ready to run the attack, nor is Dema, and when Stewart has run the attack for the USMNT it's been more of a keep-the-ball-moving type of role than the make-the-brilliant-last-pass type of role. A lineup of Cerritos NewGuy Convey Stewart Dema Olsen would be fine.
How tall are these guys? DC needs to enact a moratorium on the signing of vertically challenged players. We need that tallocation!
Testo definitely had a trial with Kansas City this year. He played in the games in South Africa back in Febuary as a forward. Didn't embarass himself, but nothing to really excite you either.
... Moderator's Note ... Folks - Let's get back on topic here. If you want to debate where Dema or Olsen or whoever should play then start a thread on that topic. Indeed, maybe someone really should start a thread on that topic, ie the best projected lineup for 2004. But let's keep this thread focused on non-MLS prospects for the future. By the way, I realize that Testo plays a position where we're already pretty deep. But my sense is there'll be some turnover this off-season so I threw his name out there anyway simply because I can't predict exactly what we'll need for 2004. For the purposes of this thread I think that's fine. I guess what it comes down to is there's already a lot of threads debating what DC United needs for next season. To make this thread different from those perhaps it would be best just to enumerate and discuss the various quality players that DC United might consider without regard to current apparent need. Thanks, ------------------Update------------------ Forget it. This thread was so hijacked that I split it in two. In the future please don't pull threads off topic. Just start new threads. Starting new threads increases the number of things to discuss here. Hijacking threads decreases the number of topic available. In my book I'd rather have a board with more to talk about than less.
Before you talk about specific players, I think you have to talk about needs. Like many, I'd like to see Dema play a more attacking role. God bless him for accepting the D-mid spot, but it's not his best position and the team would definitely benefit from a natural D-mid. Is there an MLS-starter caliber D-mid in the A-League? In college ball? I don't know. IMO, Scott Buete, of Maryland via Bowie is the best D-mid in college ball. He'll be a 24-year old rookie next year, which is cause for concern, and because of his age he doesn't have any youth national team experience. But, otherwise he's the total package. IS he ready to start in MLS? I don't know. But if United could trade up in the draft to, say, the second round, it would be worth it to find out. Another option I've liked is Va. Beach's Jeff Bilyk. A D-mid in the Richie Williams role, he played some for the Fusion before they went tits up. I watched most of the A-League games on FSW and he was the best D-mid I saw. (Also, if he comes out a year early, UCLA's Aaron Lopez is a very good, no nonsense D-mid.) Regardless of if it's Buete, Bilyk or someone else, upgrading D-mid should be one of the first orders of business. Does the team need an attacking mid? Between Convey, Stewart and Dema, there should be enough talent there to have an attacking mid by committee. But, if Stewart is playing uptop and Convey on the left, suddenly you need someone there, at least as a backup. I could be wrong, but I don't think there's anyone in college ball who could step in and play the role. In the A-League, there's the aforementioned Testo, though he may be best at withdrawn forward, and former Riverhound Ricardo Villar, who lead the A-League in assists and was a first team all-leage selection. Can he be an MLS attacking mid? I dunno. I do know he has a good partnership with Martens, whom I really think we should keep. Speaking of forwards. United has a lot of numbers but I think keeping the status quo would be a mistake. That said, I think the team should keep Stewart and the first thing that needs to happen is to decide what position to play him. If he's gonna be a withdrawn forward, fine, play him there and then leave him there. Same with A-mid. Let the poor guy settle into one position so he can be given a chance to succeed and play like the national team level player he was the 10 years before he got to DC. If Stewart's your A-mid, than you have a question at withdrawn striker. Between Esky, Cerritos, Dema, Quaranta, et al, the team should have plenty of options. I'm willing to roll the dice here and see if one of them can become a consistent scorer. At target forward, I think United needs an upgrade. I like Martens, don't get wrong. But, for all his promise he didn't score. Maybe he'll be another Brian Ching next year but even if he does, the team needs depth here. I would likely go for a proven foreign player here, but barring that, the team should try and make a trade to get Michigan's Knox Cameron - 6-3, 205, a member of the U20 team who, if he comes out, would be a P40 and not count against the roster. Think Nate Jaqua with more size and athleticism. I'm sure there are other target forwards in the A-League but we already grabbed the best one from this year. If Convey plays in the middle, left mid needs to be addressed as Olsen's best spot is right mid and he should just be given that position to play till he falls apart again. Personally, I'd just as soon see what we have in Brian Carroll. We drafted this kid for a reason and passed on some good talent to get him. He plays left mid with the 23s, and has great wheels and a big heart. With a year's worth of seasoning, he should be ready to spell Convey and then maybe even start there if Convey leaves or plays centrally. The defense should be set, especially with Reyes coming back and the emergence of Namoff as a potential wing back. If the team were to draft a wing back, Washington's CJ Klaas, who would be P40, or Maryland's Seth Stammler, would be good ones to look at. Others who follow the A-League more closely should be able to toss out more players from those league's who could step in. And, I have no idea where to begin speculating on potential international players whou could fill any of the needs.
I just don't understand why everyone keeps wanting to add offensive players when we can probably use our limited cap space to get a better impact player in a dmid position. In the past two seasons we have already devoted lots of resources on acquiring attacking players (Quintanilla, Barcley, Cerritos, Martins, Stewart, Kovalenko (nominally) vs Ivanov and a swap of Pope for Petke) in our side and we are not scoring hardly any more goals than we did in 02/03. Most of my team evaluation on this thread is just to try and make people think about something other than the attack. We may gain on offense by subtraction (Etch and Stoich) and recommitting existing players (Kovalenko) so that we can add a true impact player in the middle of the field. The dmid problem has been around a long time. Ivanov, Nelsen, Namoff, Alegria and others have all been called upon to fix it and none of them seem to be able to. It is essential to our ability to push fullbacks upfield (which we will want to do with Reyes) and to protect against the counter. I think that a stabilizing player in this position could allow the attacking mids to be a lot more fluid and move upfield quicker if they knew they had a solid player behind them. We have plenty of midfield players who can score goals (Quintanilla, Convey, Olsen, nominally Dema, Stewart and Quaranta) if they are put in the right situation. Here are some ideas of players in England who MLS (given the current economic situation) who might be tempted into coming over. There are many EPL teams who have limited cash and need to cut wages/sell players in order to afford to make changes come January. As a result, some of these guys might be available: Aki Riihilahti (stretch - this guy is good and would be expensive - Finland out of Euro 2004, so Nat'l team commitments should slacken) Jeff Whitley (probably available from Sunderland) Carl Robinson (probably available from Portsmouth) Steve Lomas (stretch - would want to stay at West Ham) Radostin Kishishev (very versatile Bulgarian who can never quite earn a starting spot at Charlton) Danny Tiatto (edgy, tough player) Mark Pembridge (older) Chris Marsden (older - very popular at current club, but may be losing ability to play consistently at premiership level) Toda (didn't work in premiership, but would be great addition to MLS) Mark Kinsella (Aston Villa may need to sell to buy - Kinsella is popular but may be expendable) Milenko Acimovic (very unpopular at Tottenham)
I'd say bring Colisimo in and see waht the kid can do. From all I read sounds like he was going to be the next great Australian in Europe, had an injur and went back to playing in Australia where he has become one of that league's MVP's. IF we have a good D-mid it frees up our wings more to get forward which will ultimately help the attack. If we cut Marco and Stoitchkov's salaries that w*ould be enough money to sign an impact forward and a good D-mid in Colisimo.
I dunno if that's a given. Hristo was only on the cap for about $50k, and I imagine that Olsen and Dema may have received bumps in their contracts. Can someone who has a better grasp of this stuff(Sandon, et al) verify any of this? Obviously the salary cap is very key to who we can and cannot add for 2004.
I would imagine that we are going to have some trouble, as Cerritos is likely on fairly high wages (for an entire season) and Ivanov's contract may have had some of his first year's salary covered by money that would otherwise have been used for a transfer fee. I hope that we can get rid of Ivanov - should help with the cap. We will still have some fairly high wage-earners in Kovalenko, Olsen, Rimando (?), Stewart, Nelsen (?) and Cerritos. As mentioned above, Stoichkov does not have a high cap figure (part of his salary comes through the coaching part of his job). Hopefully if we don't outright release Etch, some of his salary will be picked up under the same guise. Otherwise, I hope he just retires. That will give us some money (and Ivanov will give us the SI slot) to sign Colisomo or some other decent defensive midfielder.
I think Nelsen and Ivanov are our only SIs. Meaning if we can shed Ivanov then we have two SI slots open. So, if we can work the salary cap details, that could mean Colossimo and an SI striker. One can only hope...
... Bump ... Testo scored two goals against St. Kitts & Nevis. I assume some folks who frequent this board were there. Any thoughts? Testo leads romp by U.S. in Olympic qualifier - Ken Wright, W. Times
David Testo I was at the Olympic qualifier last night, and was impressed with Testo. While there were a few players on the field that played as well as him (Convey, Gaven and Martino), no one looked better. He has great vision and ball control. He's real gutsy too. Are A-League players available in the draft or is there another way to get them on the squad? I know that we have a relationship with Richmond (isn't that where Namoff spent a bit of time last season?) What does everything think about adding him to the roster?
Big, strong kid who actually shoots the ball. We were chanting for him to take the last penalty so he could get the hat trick, but instead the backup goalie took the shot. When Testo had the ball, he looked dangerous. He disappeared for several long stretches, but seems to have good in-close ball control. I'd say sign him up if we didn't already have too many forwards.
I'm still not that impressed with Testo. He scored 2 fairly easy goals against an overmatched team. Other than the two goals he wasn't particularly impressive. David Stokes was dominant at the back--but again, consider the competition. Oguchi "Gooch" Onyewu, a tremendous prospect who plays in Europe, wasn't nearly as good as Stokes. Stokes was by far the best defender on either team. He was constantly covering for other defenders (i.e. Gooch and Chris Wingert) and almost never out of position. Also, Stokes speed and especially his lateral quickness for a man his size is breathtaking. I realize United is well stocked with high caliber veteran central defenders, but Stokes does deserve to play. Esky played left wing and did a good job, never giving up on a play and often turning it into a dangerous opportunity. But, he showed typical United finishing. Brian Carroll--played out of position at right wing (US played a 352 with Stokes as center-most back) and showed a lot of speed, far more than Esky. But in the end, Carroll just didn't take advantage of his opportunities, nor did he create much. Doug Warren did a good job of not looking bored, but he must have been because Stokes & Co. didn't allow much of a threat on goal. Bobby Convey, central midfielder and captain, had a decent but not great game. He made several surging runs to break clean through on goal unmarked, but the pass to him was always poor so he never really received the service to take advantage of it. His dictating play in midfield allowed the US to dominate the early portion of the game and put heavy pressure on goal. He was replaced at half-time by Kyle Martino who had several clever passes and played well, but couldn't get the team to attack goal like it did under Convey. Most impressive were Edson Buddle and Eddie Gaven up top (despite Testo's brace, both of these guys showed better than Testo IMHO) and Eddie Johnson who, like Esky, was played on the wing (to allow Buddle, Testo and later Gaven to play up top). Johnson came out at half and Gaven came in later. Players shifted positions to allow more forwards to get some time up top. The big non-MLS guys there were David Testo and Chris Wingert, neither of which looked particularly impressive to me. But then again, when you score twice, even against inferior comeptition, that can't be ignored. BTW, Testo seems bigger than I remember. -Digital
David Hayes, The only time he has not been on a playoff contenting team was when he was with DC United. He is a proven player not like the suspects being suggested.
MLS would have to buy him. He has two more years on his deal at Richmond. He said Kickers would not stand in his way if MLS wants to take him (nothing that they didn't want to take him last year).
Hmm, I thought Buddle was horrible. He was one of the laziest forwards I have ever seen, and I like Quaranta He did shoot at least, but all his shots were too wide. Stokes did play well, but I thought "Gooch" played better, or at least I noticed him more. I assume he was #4, there was no roster available. Stokes still made a couple of rookie mistakes, but I like the experience he's getting on this team, it will help United. Esky didn't impress me at all, other than some hustle. Problem is, he is sooooo slow, and doesn't seem to like to shoot the ball much. SInce you say he played left wing, I guess it makes sense now why he spent so much time as a left fullback. Carrol was speedy, and was sniffing around in the goal mouth alot late in the game, but didn't take advantage of his chances, and really wasn't that impressive. Gaven did look fairly good, but he's still just a Metro Testo has a very quick, powerful shot.