I was admittedly never a great champion of Earnie Stewart's time here with United, but after re-watching the highlights of the MLS Cup it is quite clear that we would have never won this championship without him. Play #1) His cross off of Alex Zotinca for the own goal. Play #2) His GAME SAVING tackle in the 65th minute vs. Arnaud. (I won't even get into his play in New Jersey.) --For once, Wynalda was right... The man has played in three WORLD CUPS. HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. Thank you for your time with DC United Earnie Stewart. We will always love you and your time with us here WAS well spent.
Earnie stepped it up late in the season and into the playoffs, just when the competition got tighter, and the stakes were up. That's a clutch player. Great job, Earnie!
It seems we spent so much time ragging on him, and once he finally gets us our fourth Cup, he leaves. So long, Earn.
Outside of Marco and Bobby, Earnie is probably next in line for getting crushed on these boards.. I've been a fan of his from the git-go and I'm glad as hell that he came up big (not just today either) when it counted.. It's no doubt that Earnie had some clunkers along the way, but in the end, when it counted, his experience and composure made a big difference.. Godspeed Earnie, your contributions to getting us our 4th Cup title will never be forgotten..
Wynalda's been right before, in fact, he's right pretty often. Wasn't it him in the beginning of the season who said DC would win it all?
Earnie told us all at the post-game party that he will definitely be going back to Holland next year. We are going to miss him a lot.
We'll have allocations for Earnie and Bobby though at least, correct? If Nelsen left that could be three total, but hopefully he accepts the deal that MLS offered him.
The allocations will come in handy with teams now being able to have 4 SI's and with the roster expanded by four. If Nellie leaves then definitely one of the allocations goes to getting a new central defender. I'll miss Stewart a lot.
Good luck to him in Holland. It was a class move by him to come here and help grow the sport in this country for a couple years before taking his farewell tour in the country where he plied his trade for so long. Thanks for the Memories, Earnie. '94, '98, '02, 03, 04.
More like... Let's hope Kevin Payne and the FO boys get their heads out and realize Ryan is worth MAXIMUM SALARY to this team and a whole lot of groveling/begging. This low ball, take it or leave it $hit will get us no where. We only have to look at a Roy Lassiter and our failure to replace him to see how far the loss and failure to replace one player can take us. Some may say thats different as good defenders are more common, but I would argue back twice as hard that SPECIAL defenders like Nellie don't grow on trees in ANY COUNTRY.
Where did you hear it was a low-ball figure? I assumed that the offer on the table was for max, or close to max salary.
it was a decent offer (i believe 200,000 RANGE) BUT it wasnt MAX and it wasnt the top salary in MLS for a defender. --Low ball may be a bit over doing it but I honestly think that any offer other then the top paid defender in MLS is "low" for Nelsen.
There was a thread... Its around here. Kevin Payne went public with this "offer." A lot of us felt it was crap PR the moment we saw it. --We need to keep this thread about Earnie though. He deserves it.
Stewart was never a good match for DCU. MLS teams really can't afford to pay maximum salary for a wing player who does his best work either off the ball or in support of others. And expectations weren't fair--Earnie was supposed to be the guy who came in and gave us what Eskandarian did this year--and Earnie was never that kind of "go to" finisher--that's not his game. And Earnie came into a team last year that was Animal House. But those who've said we don't win this championship without Earnie are so right. He's mister professional--a true pro. He helped to rebuild this club on the field into a classy, competitive, sharp outfit that does all the little things that winners do. Look at this club--we delay other's restarts and take our own quickly. We work just as hard at the end of matches as we do at the beginning (although the legs are slower). We make runs off the ball and give it up for teammates. We track back on defense and cover for others. We show patience on the field. We don't get silly fouls (other than Dema of course). We're organized on the field and play a system--a scheme. That's how Nowak coaches his teams to play. And that's the example that Stewart sets on and off the field. Kudos to Earnie.
Without Earnie, we don't get a fourth star. Earnie provided the leadership and guidance way back in February that helped the other players buy into Nowak's system. He embraced those changes and even added to them (weren't the team suits his idea?). Peter recognized this and made him captain when Nellie wasn't around. His play on the field has been nothing short of professional and workmanlike. Sure he's missed some sitters, but then the whole team has at one point or another.....it just seemed like Earnie was missing 2 or 3 a game for a while. All this while out of position. Then he stepped up in the last weeks of the season, and the playoffs. Earnie has earned a spot in the illustrious annals of United history, and in our hearts.
Yeah, I used to rag on him pretty badly, when we were complete crap as a whole. Now I feel bad for it. We're losing a true legend and a real class act.
Indeed, Earnie deserves a lot of credit for being the one who played the role of Nowak on the field. I think one play typified what type of player stewart is. Go back and rewatch the goal Gomez scored in the Eastern Conference Finals. Earnie collects the ball on our half of the field, makes a pass and then continues his run downfield. Earnie then gets the ball back, takes on a defender and makes a perfect pass across the box to Gomez. Earnie made the play look easy. It wasn't.
I read it somewhere this morning (dcunited.com?) that Earnie announced on Saturday he was heading back to Holland. As a long-time avid fan of the man, both on the U.S. team AND on DC United, I am very sad to see him go. All one has to do is read the quotes from his teammates to really know what he has meant to this team. In my opinion, he was worth every penny we spent on him and I hope one day we see him back on the DC United bench as coach (after Nowak, due to his astounding success of winning multiple MLS titles here, moves on to bigger challenges....).
Unfortunately the Nats are unlikely to even play another friendly at RFK, so we may not get a chance to applaud Earnie one last team as a group. Shame.