Happy Monday, everyone. It was a busy soccer weekend, so we’re gonna start with the worst part of the weekend just to get it out of the way:
Decision Day ends in disappointment for D.C. United with a 3-0 loss to Charlotte FC (DP)
DC United entered Decision Day only needing a draw to qualify for the playoffs. Instead, they crash out with a 3-0 loss to Charlotte to end their season.
Washington Spirit keep momentum going at home with 2-0 win against Chicago Red Stars (DP)
Audi Field was ROCKING for this one! The Spirit win in their final regular season home match.
DC United’s Christian Benteke wins 2024 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi (MLS)
Despite DCU not making the playoffs, Christian Benteke was a bright star all season long. And now, he has a golden boot to pair with that bright light. Congrats, Christian!
Match Recap | LDN vs. PIT (LUFC)
Loudoun United lost to Pittsburgh, which drops them below the playoff line with one game to go.
Orlando City fan faces 40 years in prison for injuring child with flare (PSW)
Do. not. throw. flares. into. a. crowd. Someone in Orlando did it at a match earlier this year and now he faces some hard federal time.
Lionel Messi at the Club World Cup makes sense – but how he got there is ridiculous (The Athletic)
FIFA made it official, giving the final spot at the Club World Cup to Inter Miami. Of course, we all knew they just needed any reason (even if they had to create one) to have Messi in the tournament. With Inter Miami winning the Supporters’ Shield, that’s all they needed.
Luke Jenkinson is out as the Director of Performance. He came over with Wayne Rooney, and was one of the few to stick around after Rooney left. He’s joining San Diego FC.
United was ready, and has already announced his replacement. David Rhodes is coming over from Burnley. His Twitter handle says he’s a doctor, but his Twitter bio has a spelling error in it, so… uh, welcome to DC, David!
Maybe it’s a silly take for some, but if MLS gifting Messi a club World Cup spot means the supporters’ shield is the criteria moving forward for qualification EVERY TIME… I think it’s a net positive for the league. The Supporters’ Shield has been a “so what” award for too long, when it should be much more celebrated and coveted. I obviously don’t love that Miami got there by making a complete mockery of MLS roster restrictions (sure, Suarez is on TAM money, sure 🙄), but this could turn out to be a good thing long after the Barcelona contingent’s legs are dust.
It’s not going to be the qualification every time. It’s a one time only thing for the hosting slots.
Also the Club World Cup should not exist.
I agree that the Club World Cup is a player killer. It shouldn’t exist.
But it benefits too many parties who control things to die on the vine easy.
MLS should show some integrity and not make this about who has the pinkest shirt
It really makes a joke of the whole MLS competition. They hand Miami everything and then slap fines on Atlanta for silly roster rule infractions.
It will be even more of a joke when Miami gets taken to the cleaners by Real Madrid or someone in the CWC.
Darth Garber knows where you live……
DC’s last game definitely stung. But it stung because the team had done better than I expected them to do this year, which is a credit to Troy Lesesne and the players. Making the playoffs would have been a nice feather in the cap, but the eye has always been on 2025.
I do kind of wonder if there’s something of a silver lining here. If the team had made the playoffs, there might have been more of a temptation to try and bring back some more players from this year’s roster. Missing out allows you to perhaps be a little more heartless and pragmatic.
I think Klich is gone. I think Canouse is gone. I think Rodriguez is gone. I think Dajome is gone. Miller and Santos are gone.
Ally Mackay gets to finish shaping the team as he sees fit. He’ll have an opportunity to bring in some really consequential players, and should have the resources to do it. The question will be, how good is he? Time to find out.
If we’re playing a 4-2-3-1, I’m hoping Canouse can do well enough to stay. I also think Rodriguez would be good to hold onto potentially if we move Klich on, but maybe Pirani is the big bet, and the Rodriguez money could be used better.
I want Russell to stay, and though a lot of that is a soft spot, I do think he’s worth his money if he can play 90 minutes at the level we’ve seen before again
Yeah, but even setting aside the ulcerative collitis, Canouse has never been one to stay particularly healthy. It’s maybe possible that any of the folks I mentioned come back on renegotiated deals, but we’ve never had much success to speak of with any of them either. And none of them are Mackay’s guys.
Expect a cap-friendly renegotiation. The two parties respect each other. Canouse is good for DC United and visa versa.
I think it would be good to keep one of Rodriguez/Klich if we can get them to agree to a reduced salary. They’re both relatively proven in this league at this point and provide some tactical flexibility.
Canouse, Miller, and Dajome are definitely gone. I like Canouse as a player and think he’s a great human being, but he can’t stay healthy and doesn’t really provide anything that Enow/Peltola can provide. And if Lesesne is still committed to playing Jackson Hopkins at CDM then I think Canouse is the odd man out. Miller is on too big of a salary and Bono has shown good enough distribution that I think he’s not worth keeping even on a much lower salary. Dajome’s speed and work rate might be enough to keep him around, but the lack of end product is concerning and I’m doubtful he’d be willing to take the 50% pay cut we’d need.
Santos I think should be kept as a player-coach if possible for a reasonable salary. He’s still got undeniable skill on the ball and provides a lot of leadership both on and off the ball.
The biggest gaping needs that Mackay needs to address (imo at least) is adding an elite level CB and a couple of fullbacks. If we think we can keep Akinmboni next season, then I think McVey might be on the trading block as well.
I’m getting more on the bandwagon of accepting an offer from Bournemouth or whomever and selling on Akinmboni. Yes, he could develop more here, but United’s record of actually developing young players is kind of spotty. And we’re in our Benteke window, so if we can move Akinmboni for a decent but not great return and then reinvest that into a really high quality CB (and maybe draft a CB to fill the Hayden Sargis role), then that’s helpful.
Getting quality fullback depth is also essential. We should have Conner Antley back, and we may sign Graham Jones as a homegrown player, but I would still like two more full backs (especially since Dajome and Santos are likely to be gone).
Right on time, Goff reports that DC has received a third offer for Akinmboni from Bournemouth. He says it’s for $1 million which could go up to $2 million, and then a sell-on fee. With these numbers, I understand DC’s hesitation. I think I would do the deal if it was a $2 million base offer, though.
Bournemouth being cheapskates. He’s worth 3 million in this market if he’s worth the transatlantic flight. Maybe United settles for 2 and change, but they shouldn’t.
Anyway, about United, I want United to get better owners. Someone in the recap for the Charlotte debacle closed out by pointing out the silver lining that “at least the players seemed to care,” and while that is indeed the case, holy shit, is that damning for the organization. The bar is “the players cared about missing the playoffs,” and that is wildly bad for the reputation and standing of the club. This falls on the owners for letting us get to this point, and it’s time they were gone.
Well, the year before they didn’t seem to care, FWIW
Matt Doyle reviews DCU’s season: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/dc-united-what-we-learned-from-their-2024-season
I think he’s generally spot on. I’m not sure that Ku is ever going to be a 12G/7A guy like Doyle says he can be, but if he is, then the team will be in pretty good shape!
Two eye-popping numbers were that the team underperformed their expected goals allowed by 18.4 (!), and that the club spent $4.5 million on Enow and Schnegg. The first one is obviously the primary place to start with fixing the squad, and even a reversion to the mean will mean great things for 2025. The second number, who knows if that’s right. It shows that United isn’t afraid to spend some money, but it still remains to be seen if they’re getting good value for that spend. Schnegg and Enow could prove to be worth it, but it’s inconclusive at best right now.
I think the $4.5 is over the term of the respective contracts, plus any transfer fee, if applicable.
Yeah, a killer CB and 10 is the majority of the shopping list. I guess if a goalie drops in for either depth or starting, it may help. I do feel that our goalies got a bit hung out to dry.
Some partial context for that underperformance of expected goals allowed: MLS put out their compilation of the goals of the season, and at least three of them (Carles Gil, Jack McGlynn, Elias Manoel) were scored against DC.
Every time Enow is in the game, teams score goals very easily. Perhaps it is not his fault, bit it makes me wonder about him in this system.
Two ways of looking at Benteke’s dominance in our team stats – did we overrely on him, or did we take advantage of his being in such good form for much of the year? Bono to Benteke being as high up our *overall* passing list is concerning given that Miller to Bono was also our signature move under Rooney (when we weren’t meekly recycling possession). We truly have no other dangerous threat on the roster, even though guys like Stroud and Pirani are good for a handful of goals as a result of the chance creation Lesesne’s system generated. I don’t think the team ditched their game plans in favor of getting the ball to Benteke, it’s just he was able to make a lot happen when we did feed him, and other guys couldn’t.
Now, we obviously sucked on defense all year. Entirely too many injuries and absences to ever get an organized unit together, between DM, CB and outside backs. I don’t think we have the quality to play this kind of expansive soccer without leeching goals. We definitely need a high-level CB to pair with Bartlett or whoever else comes in. If we had the chance to bring in a new GK, I would take that too. Bono is ok, but that’s not gonna cut it.
I think the last big piece I would aim for is a dangerous wide player. I kind of question if we can find a #10 who has the work rate and endurance to carry out Lesesne’s plans. Much more likely to get a skilled and goal-dangerous winger.
I wish we could get Lucho back…
I want to re-emphasize this point: “I don’t think the team ditched their game plans in favor of getting the ball to Benteke.” Doyle has his good and bad moments as an analyst, and he’s only one of many MLS watchers to take this position, but saying that DC’s offensive game plan was “lob the ball to Benteke” is telling me you didn’t watch DCU at all this (or last) year without telling me you didn’t watch them at all this year. The team moved the ball through the midfield a lot, had some very creative build-up sequences that have been largely absent since the glory days, and flatly did not use Route 1 as the Plan A for creating good chances.
The way to disabuse ppl of such inaccuracies is, of course, to win games, especially playoff games, and thereby increase the number of eyeballs actually watching the on-field product in full, rather than looking at a stat sheet and a highlight reel and declaring expertise.
Rookies’ Buzzard Points lift Spirit 2-0 over Chicago for 17th win. The tally to date (to be continued in the playoffs):
Buzzard Points (home goals): Hatch (3pks), Rodman, Sarr (5); Bethune (4); MORRIS (3); Santos (2); Hershfelt, Krueger, Metayer, Silano, STAINBROOK, Sullivan (pk)
Talones (home assists): Bethune (5); Rodman (4); Hatch (3); Carle, Kouassi, Metayer, McKeown, Santos, Sarr
Taloncitos (drew home pk): Bethune (2); Kouassi, McKeown, Rodman
Chad Ashton is out!
May Dave Kasper soon follow.
My legit response to this:
Chad Ashton was still in?!
I had no idea….
(Not to slight him, he was a company guy, it’s just things were always so dark when he was tossed the microphone, so to speak.)
Cummon, Commentariat! As a fan since 1996, a STM since 2005, and a dues-paying Screaming Eagle, I hope that I have earned my bona fides as a committed DC United fan.
But another Buzzard Point-based club, the Washington Spirit, won their 17th match this Sunday (10 at home), is in second place in the NWSL, is guaranteed at home quarterfinal playoff match, needs one more win to nail down a home semifinal match (assuming Spirit wins its quarterfinal). Plus, Spirit receives DP coverage equal to DCU coverage — much to DP’s credit.
And NOT ONE WORD from the Commentariat on this thread the morning after???!!!
Watching the Spirit is watching many of the world’s best female soccer players. Eight current or recent USWNT players and six national team members for other countries. Trinity Rodman and, I’m confident, Croix Bethune are among the world’s top ten (discounting the Euro-centric bias of some rating sites).
Loud, pulsating Spirit crowds that approach DCU’s actual (as opposed to announced) crowds and an ownership committed to fielding the world’s premier soccer team.
The season at Buzzard Point isn’t over. Let’s everyone get on board.
Sorry the game was on while I was participating in a ministry at church. Though I did get updates to my phone. From what I can tell it was a good game.
David, your rebuke (and encouragement) has merit. I just only have so many hours. I do agree that they are really stocked, have a committed and visionary ownership and play on a pitch destroyed by an underwhelming MLS team (yowzers, that’s venom). I am thrilled the games are rocking.
MLS put together a compilation of all of Benteke’s goals: https://youtu.be/oWvnheCSbRE?si=aWQJYpF1jdanzv2l
Kudos to the Spirit. I wish Canouse was returning but I’m afraid that’s not the case–he just can’t stay healthy. I think Doyle is right on one thing–we’re going to move on from a lot of players. I thought McVey was solid. Rodriguez showed a lot. But I think MacKay’s attitude will be; “but an I do better for the same amount of money?” and the answer will almost always be “yes.” Furthermore, we’re going to have to let go of some talent in order to upgrade A-mid and get a quality CB.
I know I am a broken record with Russell, but if you get the target organ out of your body (colon in this case, he is entirely functional again) in an autoimmune disorder, you may stop having those other injuries. I am serious about that. Often ulcerative colitis comes on like a slow burn, and then once it really gets going, the diagnosis is made apparent. In the meantime, the patient was getting all kinds of ala carte problems.
I really hope he sticks. He may have to negotiate lower, but I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that blows today’s money for tomorrow’s security. He has a back up side plan in real estate, and family for both parents are in Lancaster. With kids, that’s big. Let’s see what happens.