I have it on pretty good authority that DCU does want to do a tribute match. It's up to Marco when he wants to do it.
I mentioned this in another thread but last night I decided on the teams I'd want to see play in a tribute match for Marco Etcheverry. I want to see the current squad play the 1996 MLS Cup winning squad. Bring Arena back to coach the '96ers for one last game. Find some old uniforms for them to wear. Everything should be as it was back on that fateful day in Foxboro save one thing: Harkes should give Etcheverry the captain's armband. (Well, it'd be nice if it weren't rainy and cold too.) And what more fitting opponent for the '96ers than DC United's next generation? Such a match would symbolize everything Etcheverry meant to the team and it would symbolize the gravity of what his departure really means: the passing of an era.
Etch's team = DC United players circa 96,97,98 (Harkes, Pope, Sanneh, Olsen, Agoos, Moreno, etc) Other team = Etch's peers from the rest of MLS and the world of soccer. (El Pibe, Cien, Maradona )
This (96'ers vs present squad) is a great idea. How do we make it happen? I know I have exactly zero connections/pull with the dcu front office . . .
96 DC United squad vs Current Squad Etcheverry plays a half with is team. I'm pretty sure we can bring back all of the old timers from 96.
How about a testimonial match against the Bolivian national team, let him play a half for each side? I always love those.
Bolivia vs. DC United MAE plays 1/2 with either team DCU guest players - Harkes, Pope, Agoos, Sanneh, and Llamosa and of course Moreno and RDA revise the golden triangle
I'm a Metro fan. I hate DC. But, I tip my hat to Marco "El Diablo" Etcheverrey on his retirement. Without question, he was the single best foreign player to sign and stay with MLS. He was an ironman in terms of endurance. He was a threat always. He was the pain in the ass that opposing fans loved to hate. He didn't bitch about the league, he just went out every night and played. DC were lucky to have him and keep him. The League is young, but that's one number that DC ought to retire. I cannot think of another player who gave as much to MLS as he did. I hope I never have reason to say anything nice about DC again, but it would be an injustice for any fan of MLS not to recognize this man for his contributions to the start up and survival of this league.
I think it should be D.C. versus whatever the Bolivian team Marco is on now followed by the rumored U.S.-Panama game. That would really be a big occasion and would get a huge crowd, as both games deserve but might not pull on their own.
I think he should have a couple SA buddies versus a couple of his DCU buddies hehe list: Valderama, Zamorano, Aguinaga, Chilavert, Soto, Ortega, Romario, Pena list: Harkes, Pope, Agoos, Olsen, Moreno, RDA, Sanneh, Llamosa i know its 8v8 but i cant think of anymore players
You could add Erwin "Platini" Sanchez, Luis Cristaldo, and Marco Sandy to the SA team and Gori, Soñora and Maessner to the United side, but I would still love to see the Bolivian Nats and United play. ps....PLEASE don't bring Bolivar, as I would have to boo my ass off
The whole point of a testimonial match is that the player who is receiving a tribute gets to keep the money from the gate. What you're saying is that the USSF should hand over its revenues to Marco Etcheverry. That is, unless this game isn't really a testimonial, but some sort of fake testimonial that doesn't really give money to the player but has the vague appearance of being some sort of ill-conceived, pretentious, "classic" way to do things. Totally superficial. I do think Etcheverry deserves a testimonial, but some of you are coming close to self-parody in this thread. Here's what it comes down to: if an Etcheverry testimonial won't be able to draw a real crowd, then it shouldn't be played. And ditch this idea of connecting it to a US match. The USSF doesn't even have testimonials for its own players-- it's laughable that they would have one for a Bolivian.
I guess you're not familiar with the way the DCSEC works. Nobody makes money on their watch but the DCSEC. And if you bring the Bolivian Nats and play them against DCU, people will show. I agree however that it shouldn't be tied to the USSF in anyway.
It can't work at RFK if a rental fee were to be charged and the profit would go to the player? Other than that, it looks like fantasy soccer. "Real clubs play testimonial games for their most important players, so if DC were to play a testimonial game for Etcheverry, that would make DC a real club," never mind the fact that without a beneficiary, this isn't a testimonial but massive, collective ego-stroking.
I'm not quite sure how you arrive at that conclusion. If you were to poll the 7600 plus season ticket holders and the thousands of countless walkups, I would imagine the overwhelming majority would welcome the chance to say goodbye to Marco properly. No ego stroking, just a way to say thanks for all the thrills he's given us since 1996.
I understand what you're saying. The Metros haven't had anything like Marco Etcheverry, but if we had, I would want to see him off well. I just don't see how a testimonial match that gives him a last hurrah (from many people who were loudly desperate to see the last of him), but without giving him the gate-- exactly unlike what I have always understood a testimonial to provide-- benefits anything but egos. One last opportunity to cheer for Etcheverry, but at the same time sending him to his new club at a salary of-- what was it reported as-- $25,000? Well, gee, thanks. And what prompted me to say something was the terribly conceived notion to link an Etcheverry "tribute" to a US-Panama match. That unlikely doubleheader-- giving undeserving DC fans an important US national team game under the auspices of honoring a player who doesn't have any meaningful relationship to the USSF-- seemed like total opportunism and hubris.