It’s Tuesday, and we’re still feeling the good vibes from this weekend’s D.C. United win over Orlando City.
Let’s give this match a little bit more love for starting our week off right. Shout out to Kensy Arlt (D.C. United’s video producer) and the comms team for this gem:
It’s been a while since a D.C. United coach has been named in MLS’s weekly roundup, but Saturday’s dub propelled Wayne Rooney to Coach of the Matchday. We love it.
For their outstanding performances against Orlando, Donovan Pines made the XI, and Christian Benteke made the 18 for Week 9’s Team of the Matchday.
As first reported by the Washington Post, the Black-and-Red acquired Vancouver’s Cristian Dájome for $350,000 in general allocation money (GAM) hours before the tranfer window closed.
Former D.C. player Julian Gressel had thoughts…
The past few days haven’t been all sunshine and roses. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that D.C. United defender Mohanad Jeahze was arrested in Sweden on allegations of assault while on personal leave. Jeahze has been suspended while Major League Soccer and the Swedish authorities conduct an investigation. The player was already unavailable due to an injury sustained during the match against CF Montréal on April 15.
According to records obtained by the Washington Post, Jeahze will remain in custody until May 8th because “there is a risk the suspect evades prosecution or punishment,” suppresses evidence and will “continue his criminal activities.”
D.C. United issued the statement below:
Sound on for this one:
And we will NEVER stop finding this funny:
Not sure what to make of the Dajome signing. Is he just depth behind Taxi and Benteke? Not sure how else he sees the field in the 3-5-2 unless he’s a wingback. Anyone have better insight?
Maybe gives us some flexibility? I imagine we’ll be pretty fluid in terms of formation even if the 3-5-2 is working well right now. Also, we really do need depth behind them.
Think this is it. If we had a healthy Robertha, perhaps this move doesn’t happen. Think we learned with Berry that you’re not going to replace Benteke’s holdup play with anyone within the league, not by a long shot. Seems like he’s fast, strong enough, and skilled to be a different kind of forward if Benteke needs a rest or can’t go.
I think this is less about getting a wingback and more about the forward position.
I think this is about a relatively low risk investment to get a veteran attacker with skills who previously was a goal scorer–can’t have too many of those. If and when we play a 4-3-3, he slots in to the front. Otherwise, he’s depth when we don’t want to put a young guy out there.
I don’t think he’s intended to sub for Benteke (though we may have to resort to that). The USL striker we were going for was Erik Hurtado. He’s not tall but he’s strong–he could be a target man. That was the move to give Benteke depth–and that move didn’t happen.
To put it another way, it’s like acquiring Asad: veteran depth piece that is appropriate in some situations.
I’m skeptical that we’ll play a 4-3-3 this season at some point, we don’t have the personnel for it. Our squad is way more set up for a two striker system, and the depth for most of the offensive positions just isn’t there for a front three based on how Rooney put it together. For me, the biggest thing is that Benteke is definitely a central player, and Taxi would be wasted if we asked him to stay too close to the touch line.
Hurtado? Too funny. First, I’m fine if it didn’t work out. He’s not very good. Second, he just joined San Antonio a couple of weeks ago. So, he could’ve gotten a deal with DC United if the FO had just been a little more proactive a few weeks ago?
Can we talk about how the DC United FO continues to show no regard for building its fanbase or supporting existing fans? No video for tomorrow night’s US Open Cup match.
Remember when the team wouldn’t stream US Open Cup games from the Soccerplex, saying it wasn’t technically possible because of lack of connectivity? Then, Washington Freedom games were streamed and even telecasted.
I had hoped to invite my oldest friend who is visiting for work for a couple of days, but on Monday, he asked about doing just dinner because he isn’t sure he’ll be done in time for the match. So, I returned my season tickets for the match. I figured no big deal, because I could watch the stream later. But, noooooooooo!!!
Really — it blows my mind how little thought goes into building community with fans. It’s all about spending the least amount of money, and trying to push as many people to the game as possible by NOT providing any video.
I mean, if MLS didn’t have this contract with Apple, would the team even offer live video of any home matches?
And the Dajome trade? Again, DC United have no scouting dept, so the team always looks to castoffs from around MLS — perhaps extracting the last drops of juice when other clubs are done with those players. Maybe he works out, but the fact they couldn’t get anyone on the int’l market speaks volumes. You can get useful players this way — maybe Ruan even helps you beat Orlando that one time — but no way do you climb above the other clubs by getting their surplus.
I mean, MLS should be issuing some kind of sanction against DC United and Houston Dynamo for not providing a video stream.
This is disheartening. I gave my club seats to an old friend and his wife (I have been very busy, and am just tired, wednesday road trip form Haymarket just too much ffor me……but I’ll be there Saturday….). I was planning on watching it on the television via stream or something…
It’s not a league game, so as cheap/incompetent as it is, they clearly don’t care enough to do anything about it. Even more of a shame for the Kickers honestly, I live in Richmond and people seem pretty excited about them lately. Would definitely have had some eyeballs on then from down south.
To your point about Dájome, I think you’re being kind of harsh on him. He’s had some success and no longer fits in Vancouver’s plans, plus they’re hanging on to a lot of his salary this year. Plenty of MLS teams find value in bringing in cast-offs from other teams to either fill in gaps or provide depth. I’d much rather give him a run than a guy in USL or some 3rd-rate league in Europe. Definitely still missing a back-up to Benteke though, but who would honestly be able to do anything he does so well? It’ll probably require a change in tactics if he’s sidelined.
I am glad to hear that Richmond is rallying for the Kickers. Yeah replacing Benteke would likely require a shift in tactics, unless Haaland is in Kasper’s sites.
Well guess I’m not watching it…
And it looks like Erik Hurtado is joining DCU after all. Goff is reporting that the deal made it just before the deadline. I know a number of folks aren’t excited about this move. My feeling is that anytime Benteke goes off, that’s a big drop-off, that data shows that Benteke is a beast in MLS by multiple analytics. Nah, what Hurtado allows us to do is still have a target man. I can live with this as a short-term solution.
Strongly considering just calling him Berry2