Opening Kick: Where do we go from here?
It's over, ring the bell throw in the towel, it's all over. It started with a bang, a convincing 3-0 victory over the Columbus Crew, and it ended with a whimper, a 1-0 loss at home to Sporting Kansas City. The DC United playoff push that was, never seemed to materialize and as the MLS season reached the most pivotal point it became painfully clear that United were far from fixed. Now that the season is over, we need to take time to reflect and figure out where the hell United goes from here.
Let start with the positive: Best trade ever! The mid-season swap of Dax McCarty for Dwayne De'Rosario will go down as one of the savviest moves in MLS history. De'Ro, as he will now be referred to, scored 13 goals and added seven assists in 18 games for United. That torrid pace was just enough to give De'Ro the 2011 MLS Golden Boot Award. His dramatic impact on United may even lead to an MLS MVP award, which would be an astonishing feet for someone who was traded twice in the same season. De'Ro playing on a hurt ankle in a must win 1-1 tie with Portland this past Wednesday was inspiring, too bad it inspired a guy on his couch and not his teammates.
Bill Hamid, Perry Kitchen, Andy Najar: One thing United have in their corner is youth. Hamid was solid in goal all season, parlaying his form in to a National team call up. Kitchen was a revelation at right back, even if he did feature on one of the worst defenses in recent memory. Najar was solid and gave me the sense that this guy is destine for Europe. Najar and Kitchen tied for most games played for United each featuring in 31. Take solid youth, pepper in some veterans, shore up the defense, have a solid keeper and find a reliable forward and you have a winning formula. United currently has two out five of those characteristics, now sign De'Ro to an extension and you have three out of five, and according to my math, that ain't bad. Oh, and I almost forgot about Chris Pontius, who like Hamid was in the National team conversation before a season ending injury during a game at Chivas USA late in the season. If Pontius can return to full strength for the season opener, and can stay healthy, this team will thrive. The loss of Pontius was evident as it turned DC's budding attack in to a land of confusion.
Now the Negative: How does a team move forward, with no forward? Identical to the problem that plagued the USA at the World Cup in 2010, DC has no strikers. We thought Charlie Davies was the guy, his 11 goals are nothing to scoff at, but at times he disappeared, completely. It was frustrating to watch, I've been routing for Davies to make a full recovery from that horrific car crash in 2009, but something isn't right. His play is erratic, and the quickness that used to define his game seems all but lost. It appears that the Davies' experience is over in DC.
This just in, Josh Wolff you suck, but good news you don't suck nearly as much as Joseph Ngwenya. I was horrified to see that DC has signed Ngwenya in the offseason and even more horrified when I saw him on the season opening roster. How bad is he? How about zero goals this season? Still not convinced, let me paint a vivid picture for you: Last Wednesday, during United's must win game against the Portland Timbers, at home; DC was all tied at 1-1. They needed to win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. During stoppage time, De'Ro sent a beautiful low pass across the face of goal, and Ngwenya came streaking through the box. For a professional soccer play the degree of difficulty for this shot was zero, but just as the ball met his foot, he missed the point blank open net. No goal, season over. Pathetic!
Bring on 2012, but don't you dare bring on Ngwenya.
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