Live from an I-95 derby rivals home turf this D.C. United News and Notes. Yes yours truly is in Philadelphia covering the coronation of Landon Donovan and the MLS SuperDraft. It has been a whirlwind week for United with signings, trades, and drafts in which United can gain players and not lose them! What a wonderful world.
By the way, while the MLS SuperDraft is cool, if you ever have the chance check out the NSCAA Coaches Convention. Although the MLS SuperDraft is a pretty cool deal (where else can all of us soccer junkies meet outside of a bar or the cloud) the coaches convention is the real party. For example: yours truly today got to listen in on a fascinating discussion with the Manchester United training staff and hang speak with the Youth Academy Director of Bayern Munich over a beer. What world! It is a five day event which this year is headed by appearances by Raul, Pele, and SIr Alex Ferguson and it is all about the American (and Canadian) game.
Now with the plug done let’s take a look at what has been going on with D.C. United!
D.C. United selects Aguilar, Metzger in MLS SuperDraft
One year ago, it was D.C. United who were one of the big players at the SuperDraft, wheeling and dealing with every team possible. This season? Grab a pillow. While teams like Toronto F.C. and New York City FC (for the wrong reasons) were the big players.
In the first round, D.C. United selected Miguel Aguilar with the number seventeen overall pick. Aguilar just finished four years at the University of San Francisco where he scored 15 goals and tallied 9 assists. He is a right-footed forward which would complement United in that most of United’s wingers (Nick De Leon, Chris Pontius, and David Estrada) are left-footed.
Now the question is where does he fit on the roster? He is clearly behind Fabian Espindola and Eddie Johnson, as well as the midfield/forward hybrids that the team has in bunches (De Leon, Pontius, Chris Rolfe, and Luis Silva).
But is he ahead of Michael Seaton? The 18 year old Jamaican international has done pretty much everything he can with the Jamaican national team (scoring two goals in eleven matches). This is a difficult situation that all MLS teams face. Do they allow the young prodigy time to develop or do they go with the guy who is a bit older and has more experience but whose upside is less and whose resell value is also smaller?
Dan Metzger will be familiar to many supporters in the D.C. area since he previously played for the University of Maryland. Metzger was an All-ACC first team midfielder in 2013 and an All-Big East midfielder in 2014. He possesses good speed, but his dribbling and passing skills need some fine-tuning. His defense is also a bit of a concern. If he makes the squad out of training camp, he will certainly be going down to the Richmond Kickers.
D.C. United Acquires Markus Halsti, Jairo Arrieta
The primary reason why D.C. United was so non-descript during the MLS SuperDraft was because the team really took care of their major needs earlier in the week, signing defender-midfielder Markus Halsti and picking up forward Jairo Arrieta Orlando City SC.
Halsti comes from Malmo in the Swedish Allsvenskan where he made 115 appearances and finished a run in the UEFA Champions League. D.C. United Coach Ben Olsen will likely have him play alongside Perry Kitchen along the defensive midfield with Davy Arnaud spelling one of the two for U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League play.
The Arrieta move seems more like a move to insure the team has a replacement for Fabian Espindola during his 6-game MLS suspension. Arrieta has a similar sort of playing style to Espindola although he lacks the results in MLS. Since signing with the Columbus Crew Arrieta has only eleven goals over four seasons.
With a fully healthy Luis Silva and Chris Pontius, Olsen is likely to go with a 4-4-2 with either of the two up front and Eddie Johnson. Depending upon how the team does against Alajuelense in the CONCACAF Champions League Arrieta might find himself in a more prominent position in April and May.
