It was a freebie waiting to happen. I'm still waiting for him to maintain a shutout after a continuous habit of giving up bad goals left and right. Just unacceptable.

Deep into stoppage time, Gonzalez made up for his costly tackle by scoring on a header from Landon Donovan in the 91st minute. Hello, hello, hello; there's another thing we learned on Saturday: they can still score off of set pieces.

Another things we learned: even with 10 men, Chicago can still lead a match. And shame on you, Landon Donovan. This should have been 2-1. But failing to capitalize on a red card to Gonzalo Segares for the elbow to Leonardo just won't cut it.

Donovan has been struggling to find his scoring form, and he and Edson Buddle will continue to do so as long as they provide unimaginative looks on the attack.

Tristan Bowen...oh dear, what a letdown. How dare you fail to get the fundamentals down pat when connecting on a pass, making a pass.

This young man would have made an impact if the basics had already registered. Bowen was a flat-out embarassment on Saturday.

His replacement, Bryan Jordan, didn't fare any better with his bad touches. As the Offspring song title puts it: "The Kids Aren't Alright."

I do appreciate Dema Kovalenko's toughness and Sean Franklin's grit near the end. We would love to see more of this as the rest of the regular season unfolds.

My man of the match goes to Todd Dunivant: the only consistent player on the pitch donning the white strip of the Galaxy at Toyota Park.

This just makes you wonder: if David Beckham returns to help finish off the rest of the season, can he be the spark plug this reeling Galaxy team needs? I would hope so.

Give him 15-20 minutes to generate some production as a provider, and I would imagine things will change.

And Juninho, please, for the love of all things Bruce Almighty, get your family business finished out. This team misses your presence.

Finally, to Edson Buddle, I say this: snap out of your funk. Now. There is no need for you to quit near the end of the second half. Edson Buddle's intensity has been on the downswing, and it showed on Saturday.

Holy Daughters of El Kabong, that is another team that the Los Angeles Galaxy failed to do well against. At least the losing streak is over; will the winless streak follow suit when the Crew come to Victoria Street?

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Wednesday night Nate Jaqua scored twice and Steve Zakuani supplied two assists.  

The Rave Green will continue its bid to repeat as Cup champions when it hosts the Columbus Crew in the Open Cup Final on October 5 on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.

The Sounders have achieved a seasonal MLS mark of 9 wins with 8 losses and 5 draws for 32 points.  Overall after including friendlies and international competition the team stands at 12-10-7 overall.  Seattle is on a current domestic hot steak with only one setback in the team’s last 11 matches.

After coming from behind to beat Freddie Ljungberg and the Chicago Fire 2-1 at home last week, Sounders FC rides a franchise best seven game unbeaten (5-0-2) streak into New England.

The 3-0 home win over the Revolution on June 5 matched the biggest victory margin for the club. The Revs are 6-12-3 with 21 points.  While they have lost three in a row the team has notched a 5-4-2  home mark. New England lost at home to Monarcas Morelia 2-1 in the SuperLiga final on Wednesday.

Seattle's surge to begin the second half of the season has propelled it currently into the second of four wild card slots. Eight teams qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs, the first two teams in each division and those with the next four best point totals.

Seattle returns home September 9 to host reigning MLS Cup champion Real Salt Lake in a nationally televised contest on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.

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The movement featured a lot of players going away from Salt Lake, on loan to be specific. The team has temporarily moved a number of younger players to USSF Division-2 Pro League teams in an effort to get them more playing time.

David Horst (24), Collen Warner (22), Chris Schuler (22), and Alex Nimo (20) all had seen limited MLS regular season action and were loaned out to get more game experience.

With no reserve division in place for youngsters to see some action, Real Salt Lake added to their loaned list when they sent highly regarded 16-year-old prospect Luis Gil, who had yet to play in a league game yet has been dubbed a future “No. 10” for the United States National Team, to AC St. Louis.

All the activity is a creative solution to the youth development issues that plague the league. The players may not be ready for the demands of MLS, but there is no longer a reserve division in place in order to get players much-needed game experience.

Still, Real Salt Lake is the only team in the league to use loans as an option. It’s difficult to figure why other teams have not taken the same route.

With that in mind the question is, should the New York Red Bulls loan out the highly touted Juan Agudelo?

The 17-year-old forward is a tantalizing prospect. He represented the United States in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, scored the equalizing goal against Brazil in the U-20 Copa Chivas tournament, had a strong performance in the Milk Cup where the United States was crowned champions, and was recently named to the U-20 roster for a tournament in Peru.

For New York, he has appeared in three U.S. Open Cup games and also played in exhibition matches. Scheduled so the reserves could get some time, Agudelo scored twice against Army and once more against Rutgers.

While he has shown to be a dangerous player, he has not played a single league game for the Red Bulls.

He also does not appear to be remotely close to the field as he is buried on the depth chart behind Thierry Henry, Juan Pablo Angel, Macoumba Kandji, Salou Ibrahim, and Connor Chinn.

Currently, it is not a bad thing to be training with the likes of world-class forwards Henry and Angel, watching them, and learning the position and the game from two elite players.

However, there is no substitute for experience gained in live games; something Agudelo is getting none of currently.

With so much depth at the forward position, no reserve league, and the future of a promising young player at stake it might be in the best interest of New York to follow Real Salt Lake’s strategy and loan Agudelo next season.

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The victory enabled the Sounders to shut the door on an unenviable statistic they sought to eliminate.  Since the franchise’s inception last season Seattle had been unable to penetrate the Chivas USA goal in four matches.

Sounders FC is bidding to become the first repeat U.S. Open winner since 1982-83.

It is unbeaten at Starfire, which also houses the team’s training facility, in six matches.

Eager to erase the scoreless string against the visitors, the team of forward Jaqua and Steve Zakuani went to work early to produce the first goal of the evening in the 11th minute.  A Fredy Montero pass enabled Zakuani to break free behind the Chivas USA defense on the left flank.

Zakuani responded to the opportunity, cutting to the end line. Zakuani's cross met Jaqua in front of the goal for a one-touch shot that beat keeper Zach Thornton and put the home team on the scoreboard.

Colombia Comet Montero has been red hot recently so it was no surprise when he added another tally to his output, a score in the 58th minute that would turn out to be the decider in the contest.  The second goal was also created by the busy Zakuani, who juked his defender and drove the ball low across the middle. Montero tapped it past Thornton from six yards out.

The ambitious Colombian set his sights early in the season as he predicted 20 goals and 10 assists.  He stands exactly at the 10 pinnacle for assists while this was his 12th goal in all competitions.  After being named MLS Player of the Month for July Montero was named the league’s most recent Player of the Week.

Nate Jaqua has long been a favorite with Sounder fans.  Announcement of his name in the starting lineup at forward evoked a loud cheer from the Seattle faithful.  Jaqua is roughly what Pete Rose was to baseball.  

Rose was nicknamed Charlie Hustle for his determined and aggressive play on the baseball diamond.  The 6-3 Eugene, Oregon native Jaqua could be called the Charlie Hustle of soccer with his free flowing style, which was in evidence Wednesday night when his team needed him.

In stoppage time Jaqua scored his second goal of the night and sealed the victory with the aid of another Sounder who, like the Oregonian, is a veteran and a crowd pleaser.  Roger Levesque entered the match as a substitute in the 82nd minute.  He made his presence immediately felt by delivering a cross from the right flank that Jaqua headed home past helpless Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton.

Chivas USA pulled even temporarily in the 68th minute, giving Sigi Schmid’s squad its only scare of the night.  Jesus Padilla converted on an assist from Justin Braun.  Padilla had come on as a substitute 14 minutes earlier.

Kasey Keller, Seattle’s veteran goalkeeper and captain, felt that the team had relaxed its defenses temporarily and generated a hole on which Padilla capitalized to knot the contest.  After grabbing the ball to put it back into play Keller shouted out his displeasure to his mates.

On the entire evening, however, it was an occasion to relish for the home team.  It was Seattle that constantly pressed the attack, creating numerous opportunities, along with some near misses, without which the already decisive 3-1 result could have been larger.

The Sounders held a commanding 19-10 advantage in shots with a 9-6 edge on goal.  Seattle was on top 10-7 in the corner department.  Keller recorded five saves on the night while his counterpart Thornton stopped six shots.

After the match Sigi Schmid assumed the frequent posture of a winning coach, that of being pleased but not satisfied, seeking additional improvement from his club.  Schmid would have liked a clean sheet on the night for a team that has one of the proudest defenses in the MLS.  At the same time he recognized the evening’s effort for what it was, an occasion of solid achievement.

"Obviously we weren't happy with the goal we gave up because we always try and be perfectionists and so forth,” Schmid said.  “I thought our ball movement at times was good. [Steve] Zakuani was sharp today. He had the better of [Mariano] Trujillo on the outside. That was important for us. It's a field that lends itself to speed of play, getting faster and I think we took advantage of that."

Congolese and London bred speedster Zakuani had recently returned from a pelvic injury.  His return was swift to the delight of Sounder patrons as he enjoyed one of his greatest games in a Seattle uniform with his hard charging dynamics and brilliant feeds that produced assists accounting for the scoring difference on the night.  

"I think he got a lot of respect early on, once he took them early and set up that first goal," Schmid explained.  “After that, I think [Mariano] Trujillo packed up and for sure in the second half they got people over there to double him. [Rodolfo] Espinoza came back a lot in the first half to help on him and in the second half they tried to double and triple him. If you can make magical moments like that or moments that impact games, that's what makes the difference in games."

Schmid also paid deserved tribute to Jaqua on his inspiring play.

"Well, they all count whether they are six yards away or twenty-five yards away,” Schmid said.  “He has made a couple of good runs. He made some good runs today. We talked about it before the game. I said, 'Hey, you're the leading scorer in the Open Cup. You want to stay there.'  Obviously he tried to stay there, or is there with the two goals tonight. A lot of the work for his goals, great service by Roger [Levesque], great service by Steve [Zakauni]. We were unlucky a couple of times, Steve's header at the back post was one that we could have had as well. I am very happy for Nate and he got a couple of goals again today."

Jaqua has scored five times in U.S. Open Cup competition.

Since Schmid will be facing the Columbus Crew, the team he coached before moving to Seattle, it was only natural for him to comment on the upcoming match for the U.S. Open Cup title from that standpoint.

"It's sort of ironic that it's the team I'm coaching now against the team I used to coach and so obviously I know their whole coaching staff,” Schmid revealed.  “I know a lot of their players there. So it's going to be emotional that way. But we are very happy that we are hosting the game. And we are very excited. We want to sell out Qwest and we want to be able to hoist a trophy in front of all those people."

The next order for business for the Sounders is a trip to Foxborough, Massachusetts.   Saturday they face the New England Revolution in an MLS match at 4:30 p.m. PT. After that the team hosts reigning MLS Cup titlist Real Salt Lake September 9th in a nationally televised contest on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.

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No, but it can certainly co-exist.

For as long as I have lived here in the Delaware Valley, that has always been the mantra: soccer sucks and no one cares.

News Flash! People do care and there is evidence that professional soccer can not only survive in Philadelphia, but also thrive, thanks in part to the sixteenth member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the friendly confines of PPL Park.

Last night, the Philadelphia Union not only hosted, but beat one of the top club teams in the world, thanks to a 1-0 result over visiting Chivas de Guadalajara.

The Mexican side not only brought their attacking style of play, but also several hundred of their spirited fans, which only added to the electrifying atmosphere on this balmy summer night.

“Two things I hear when people walk in here [PPL Park],” said Union President Tom Veit. “Oh, what a great building and then oh, what a great atmosphere. You can’t build that, you can’t create that, it’s gotta be organic, its gotta happen when its right, especially in soccer, which is a sport where the passion of the fans help create the atmosphere.”

In addition to last night’s game against Chivas de Guadalajara, the Union has played seven MLS Games at PPL Park so far this season, and emerged a 1-0 winner over Scottish club side Celtic.

Before the MLS announcement that the Union would join the league, there had been one U.S. Men’s National Team game played here in Philadelphia in 30 years.

Since the announcement, the city has hosted several Gold Cup games and the U.S. National team in their last match before departing to South Africa for World Cup 2010.

Oh, did I also fail to mention that the Union, in conjunction with the Philadelphia Eagles, helped put 54,000 fans in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field this summer for a 1-0 loss to English Premier League power house Manchester United?

“I don’t think any other MLS team has done this,” expressed Veit. “Within the first 120 days of the building being open we will have hosted two national team games, two friendlies with two of the top club teams in the world, we will have the league leading LA Galaxy coming in, theoretically we could have [David] Beckham, NY Redbull with Thierry Henry and we also have Villanova playing South Florida here.”

So, I guess it’s safe to say that PPL Park has exceeded Veit's expectations?

“If you had asked me what your dream was, this probably would have been it. You go in and hope for the best, plan for the worst and yet it has been all that we could have expected, especially from our fans but we still get up every day saying we still have a lot to do.”

Well, in addition to creating a slice of heaven for soccer fans here in the Delaware Valley, this 18,500 seat venue along the Delaware River has also created about 600 jobs for residents of Chester, Pa. and surrounding areas.

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They are a strong contender for the MLS Cup and their resurgence makes Saturday’s first-matchup with defending champion Real Salt Lake huge.

However, the game will become an even tougher task for a club trying to prove that they are legitimate contenders—not just headline heroes—as the Red Bulls will be without four starters, making them a very different team.

Midfielders Rafael Marquez and Dane Richards, defender Roy Miller, and goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul will all miss the match because they were called-up to the national teams for the next set of FIFA International dates.

Marquez, Mexico’s captain for the past three World Cups and has earned 95 caps, was selected to play in the September 4th friendly against Ecuador and the September 7th match versus Colombia.

The team’s third designated player, Marquez has been a calming force in the Red Bull’s midfield, and he will be missed. He has provided good possession, good passing and vision, and great service from free kicks, not to mention his crackling goal against Toronto FC in a 4-1 Red Bulls victory.

Richards is a player who has benefited greatly from the acquisitions of Marquez and Thierry Henry. The two attract a lot of attention on the ball and have great field vision, which leads to a lot of open space for the speedy Richards to run into and receiver brilliant passes, which he has capitalized on.

The Jamaican International was at the beginning of the season a target of criticism from fans, but he has turned it on as of late with his latest heroics coming in the form of a goal and assist in New York’s 2-0 victory of San Jose.

The Red Bulls and its team’s fans aren’t the only ones who have noticed his impressive play as of late. Jamaica called him in for the team’s game August 11th when he scored his first international goal, and has recalled him for the matches on September 5th against Costa Rica and September 7th versus Peru.

Miller was signed in the offseason and has been a good contributor to a much-improved defense. He has played in 19 games, mostly at left-back, and his pace out wide and his ability to overlap and get involved in the attack while still being organized enough to get back and defend have been a welcome addition to the squad.

He will play for Costa Rica September 3rd against Panama and September 5th versus Jamaica.

Coundoul, with his agility and acrobatics, has seven shutouts this season and leads MLS in saves with 76. He has his moments of less-than-stellar play but overall he has played very well for the Red Bulls. Senegal will rely on him for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier September 5th against the Democratic Republic of Congo.

These players are key contributors for New York and they will be sorely missed. However, championship-caliber teams can rely on their depth for instances like this and the Red Bulls bench has been productive this season.

There are a variety of possibilities for how the Red Bulls can respond; they have a versatile group of players who have been featured at multiple positions on the field.

The most obvious replacement will be Greg Sutton for Coundoul. Sutton is the only other keeper on the roster and played in his place August 11th against Toronto when Coundoul had been selected to play for Senegal.

In that game, his only regular season appearance, Sutton shutout Toronto and helped the Red Bulls earn three points.

In place of Marquez, look for Backe to go with Seth Stammler.

One of the longest tenured Red Bulls on the squad, Stammler had started the game before Marquez arrived and in his place August 11th when he was called in for another Mexico exhibition match.

A defensive-minded player, the team might play a little conservative in an effort to gain points on the road with a depleted lineup. Stammler would provide good coverage in the back while still allowing promising rookie Tony Tchani to spring forward and connect with Henry and Juan Pablo Angel.

While Richards was missing, Macoumba Kandji was playing on the wing.

The young and raw, yet inconsistent Kandji lost his starting spot when Henry arrived on the scene.

He has been watching and learning from Henry and Angel, two highly skilled forwards. Kandji is admittedly unfamiliar with the midfield position, but is eager to get on the pitch and the Red Bulls could use his speed and his appearance as another offensive weapon.

Miller’s absence is the one that leaves the most possibilities for someone else to step in. Many fans may be calling for the return of favorite Mike Petke to the starting eleven. However, Petke would only be available to play center back and the defense would have to be further broken apart.

In a lineup that will see a lot of shake-ups, finding some consistency—something that was never present in previous head coach Juan Carlos Osorio’s regime—is important.

The central tandem of Carlos Mendes and Tim Ream has been exceptional. They have anchored a defense that has allowed only two goals in five August matches. Those two will stay in the lineup, leaving Petke on the bench again.

Coming in should be midfielder/defender Danleigh Borman. He has appeared in 16 matches, started 11, and is seventh on the team in minutes played.

While there is a lot of movement going on for such a big match, there are two things that should keep the organization and its fans happy.

One is that workhorse midfielder Joel Lindpere has declined any Estonia National Team call-ups for the remainder of the season, stressing the importance of being with the Red Bulls on their quest for the team’s first championship.

The other thing is that Thierry Henry and Juan Pablo Angel are healthy and will both be starting against Real Salt Lake. The best forward tandem in MLS will put the pressure on Salt Lake’s defense, possibly even hiding some of the vulnerabilities of the rest of the makeshift squad.

The Red Bulls would have loved to trot out their complete lineup to strut their stuff against the reigning champions, but that is not the case. It still is an important fixture, and the team is still talented enough however, to compete and earn at least a point.

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“We’ve given up way too many early goals this year,” Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein said after Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Kansas City Wizards. “What that does to us is it ends up making us chase the game and allowing teams to sit in and counter against us.”

Los Angeles is 0-5-1 when they allow the first goal this season. All of the six first-half goals allowed this season came in the first 20 minutes of each game.

Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant gave a concise explanation regarding the goals given up early.

“A lot of it’s coming from the midfield, we’re up and they’re breaking on us and it’s some freak play in behind,” Dunivant said. “It’s not like [opponents] are getting in behind and breaking us down so we need to adjust to that. It is the common theme.”

For Klein, Los Angeles's nasty habit of chasing the game is simply unacceptable.

“It’s more indicative of our style of play and when we go down early and we have to chase the game and chase the game and chase the game, it allows teams to sit in and be tight against us,” Klein said on Saturday. “Usually teams have to come out and spread themselves out and that’s when we can catch them.

"When you give up that early goal you’re not able to do that.”

Midfielder Landon Donovan was quick to note that the difficulty for teams to come from behind after getting scored on early was a common theme in Major League Soccer.

“In this league, it’s hard to chase any game because we don’t have enough talented players,” Donovan said. “There aren’t enough talented players around the league to do the things to make plays when the other team has 10 guys behind the ball.

"When you see Chelsea or Man U or Arsenal or Barcelona play, they have enough quality players where they can play against 10 guys behind the ball and still create really good chances. That’s always going to be hard for us. We need to get back to the things we’re good at and if we do that, we’ll win.”

Los Angeles is 13-0-0 when they score first. They will look to make it 14-0-0 when they take on the Fire.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. PT and will be televised by Fox Sports Prime Ticket and TeleFutura.

INS & OUTS

Solving the complacency dilemma:

“I wish there was a simple answer,” Donovan said during training this week regarding Los Angeles's complacency issues. “If there was, we’d have figured it out. We’re doing our best to get back to basic things again.”

After a 11-1-3 start, LA's skid has hit a decrepit 2-4-1, with consecutive defeats for the first time in what has been a forgettable couple of months.

“We have to figure out who we are and what we’re all about and if we can do that we’ll have a chance,” Dunivant said. “If not, and we continue getting through these games like this, we’re not going to win the championship—and that’s obviously our goal this year.

“We haven’t responded well enough," he said. "I think that’s something we did very well last year, coming back. Especially in a lot of the early results, we were coming back and getting draws, fighting and scrapping. Our mentality has to change a little bit. We have to be more of a scrappy team. We have to be more of blue-collar team.

“Maybe we’ve listened to too much of the hype about being in first place and gotten a little complacent and thought maybe we could change our style of play or whatever. All that feeds into your mentality and you’re seeing the results and it’s not good.”

Donovan knows this all too well.

“There’s a natural tendency in sports when you get a big lead to take your foot off the gas a bit,” Donovan added. “We’re certainly at fault for that. But now, we’re right in the thick of it.

"Now, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be in the playoffs, it doesn’t mean that we’re still not going to have a good year, but if we’re going to be as good as we can be, we need to be a lot better.”

And if it starts with the first match in September, more power to both Donovan and Dunivant. So the story goes.

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The results were simple enough too. A pretty good team, I’d say. (Review it here.)

But as it turns out, the process of choosing the team and some insights about the league that came from it are probably what was the most interesting.

So, let’s look at how the team was picked.

Really—and this is no surprise—a challenge of this nature is mostly an exercise in finding the MLS players you think are the biggest discounts and picking a group of them that fit together to play a certain style, or at least effective, soccer.

Staying my course of hoping and dreaming for attractive, inventive soccer, I aimed for players I hoped could deliver that. I also wanted to focus on balancing the strength of the team across the field, for instance, avoiding deep sacrifices in midfield to pay for a top forward (who would then probably never get good service anyway.)

But, with such a limited budget, goals for attractive soccer and team balance are not easy to achieve.

Goalkeeper

Frankly, this was probably my easiest choice. Being the beautiful-soccer dreamer that I am, I tend to devalue goalies. I know it’s unfair to them, but so be it.

More than that, Kevin Hartman’s relatively low $80K salary (due to his recent status of being in club limbo?) made this a no-brainer. He is proven, experienced and inexpensive.   If I wasn’t going to get him, I would have gone with a cut-rate discount like Brad Knighton, for $40K.

Defenders

I’ll admit, I struggled here. Players who made my immediate short-list included: Omar Gonzalez, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jonathan Bornstein, Sean Franklin, Gonzalo Segares, Darrius Barnes, AJ DeLaGarza, Tim Ream and Geoff Cameron.

The Gonzalez choice in particular was troubling, since a young player as the anchor in the back-line with a six digit salary is tough to swallow; however,  his future looks bright.   Jhon Kennedy Hurtado would have been a slightly less expensive, but also solid choice for that same role.

I have a much better opinion of Bornstein than many USA fans do, and for $100K figured him a sure thing for my back line. In the end though, I couldn’t pass up the savings that the recently returning Gonzalo Segares offered.

Reliable Geoff Cameron and the speedy Sean Franklin rounded out the back line.

Midfielders

At first, I worried that I’d not find a suitable midfield. It’s clear that the better midfielders are commanding a reasonably high premium in MLS. From a pure value standpoint, the players that jumped out at me were: Brad Evans, Joel Lindpere, Marco Pappa, Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Najar and maybe Andy Williams or Dax McCarty.

Alonso seemed like such a value that in nearly every iteration I tried, he ended up being my holding midfielder. I was very hopeful to add a crafty, creative central midfielder in front of him—with Arturo Alvarez and Javier Morales being high on the list relative to their costs—but I could not justify the sacrifices I’d need to make elsewhere on the field to accommodate them.

Instead, I went with creativity on the wings (Pappa, Najar) and a box-to-box player in Evans to partner in the center of midfield.

Forwards

I really wanted Fredy Montero.  I think for $180K his creativity would have been a terrific value.

(Yes, for many, another few thousand would get Edson Buddle, who most MLS watchers would then consider a shoo-in when looking at price to production. But despite all the obvious reasons I should be swooning for Edson, I don’t.)

One option would have been to pair Montero with a cheaper, but hopefully effective, role-player forward. While it might work as an OK complement, I think that a very solid front line combination that forces defenses to focus on two danger-men is more likely to illicit mistakes from over-matched MLS defenders is than a mismatched superstar/bit-player combination.

There are some good, inexpensive choices out there who could fill the second-fiddle role, with players like Dominic Odouro, Adam Cristman, Justin Braun and Joseph Ngwenya as examples.

Speed demons Maykel Galindo and (the much maligned) Robbie Findley were compelling values as well.

But in the end, I went instead with the strong and skillful Alvaro Saborio and the fast, powerful and crafty Omar Cummings.

So, that’s my lineup and my rationale. The low salary cap in this challenge, and for MLS generally, typically means taking some risks on younger, less expensive talent. It also means that if you are going “big” on one player, that player had better produce in a very significant way, because you quickly risk balance in other areas of the field to compensate for one large salary.

My risks included a near-rookie back line and a hope that Andy Najar has the kind of future that seems so close to his grasp.

In Part Three, I’ll look at what this value-based selection exercise taught me about MLS, and in particular my hometown New England Revolution.

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The Union could expand their roster up to 26 men with the signing of two home grown players. The 20-year-old joins the Union from the Harrisburg City Islanders, Philadelphia’s USL-2 affiliate.

Per Major League Soccer and team policies, the details of the signing will not be disclosed.

A product of the U-17 Residency Program, Williams represented the United States in two youth World Cups, the U-17 World Cup in Korea (2007), where he played for former head coach and current Philadelphia Union Coach John Hackworth, and the U-20 World Cup in Egypt (2009).

Raised in Boston, Mass., Williams is the second player to join the Union from the Harrisburg City Islanders.  J.T. Noone was signed by the expansion side on July 30, thanks to a partnership signed by these two organizations last February.

Philadelphia Union Communications

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D.C. United have played 26 competitive matches this year, and managed a meager 25 goals from them.

The figure becomes even worse reading when U.S. Open Cup matches are taken out of consideration: 15 goals in 21 matches reads United’s utterly laughable league scoresheet so far this campaign.

The record for ineptitude in the final third is 25 goals in Toronto’s inaugural 2007 season, and while I’m all for one-upping those Canadians whenever possible, this is one record no one in D.C. wants to claim.

In order to avoid that ignominy, United will need to tally 11 goals in its remaining 8 league games.

To offer some perspective on just how it long it might take United to score 11 goals, Danny Allsopp is currently the club’s top scorer, registering a lofty four goals—for the entire season.

The fact that new coach Ben Olsen has apparently dumped any hope of saving face in the league for a Portsmouth-esque assault on the Cup certainly doesn’t bode well for avoiding the infamous record either.

So who is to blame for this Biblical goal drought?

Chris Pontius and Santino Quaranta, stalwarts of United’s attacking midfield, have been largely anonymous this season.

Pontius showed flashes of brilliance in Seattle and a handful of friendlies, but nothing of note in the league.

Some expected Adam Cristman to pick up the goal slack following an unfortunate metatarsal injury last season, but that has not come to fruition either (putting faith in a Kansas City import was always a dubious prospect anyway).

Seventeen-year old Academy product Andy Najar has been one of the lone bright spots this season, netting three goals in 19 appearances and showing real signs of promise for the future.

What can be done to end this dearth of goals you ask?

The obvious answer is a Capitol Hill favorite: throw some money at the problem.

One need only look toward New York (with envious eyes) to see the fruits of splashing a little cash on a goal-poacher in this league of heavy parity.

The D.C. backroom staff must have considered this option, but decided rather than actually spending money on a quality player who can score goals (heck maybe even win some games), they should instead squander their Designated Player spot on a midfielder who hasn’t had a nose for goal since almost a decade ago in the Serbo-Montenegrin Football League, and no reputation whatsoever outside of Central Europe.

In his defense, Branko Boskovic can hardly be expected to have the impact of an Henry, Castillo, Marquez, or even Guzman, because he is quite simply not an out-and-out striker. Boskovic is merely an innocent pawn in a very, very poorly played game.

The midfielder impressed mightily as recently as 2008 in the heart of a Rapid Vienna side that won the Austrian Bundesliga, and indeed had he been placed at the interior of a quality MLS side he may have found real success as a ball winner and distributor.

But if ifs and buts were candy and nuts, D.C. would have more than four wins.

D.C. took a swing with finally signing another D.P. (only the third in club history).

It was far from a threatening hack, but fans in Philadelphia, Columbus, and New England must certainly be feeling the breeze from the almighty miss.

The D.P. in MLS is a tricky entity, he must be measured not only by impact on the team in terms of wins and losses but also (perhaps more importantly in a perverse sense) in terms of fannies in the seats.

Boskovic has delivered on neither.

How the United staff could so quickly set aside the memory of a successful goal-scoring crowd favorite D.P. like Emilio and opt for an over-the-hill central mid from football's Hinterlands is beyond my obviously limited soccer understanding, yet perhaps given time Olsen will be able to remedy the mistake.

D.C. supporters are passionate to a fault, yet some of the most understanding and intelligent fans of the game in general I’ve ever had the pleasure of coming across.

They understand that sports are cyclical, and United is not subjected to the cruel fate of a relegation system that most other leagues in the world use.

It is certainly not a far stretch to imagine how the past few seasons of soccer in D.C. could have United ending up as America’s first Leeds United or Nottingham Forest: a grand old club languishing several rungs down the ladder and with no escape plan to speak of.

This season may be tanked, but we can all at least look forward with hope to the Olsen era, and perhaps even a D.P. signing that can pay dividends in goals scored.

Maybe not, probably not, but at this point hope (and the Cup) is all that’s left for this proud franchise.

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