News coming from RFK is saying that Ben Olsen will be on Tom Soehn’s 18-man roster. This is the first time all season that he has been made available. He will be on the bench for this match even though his ankle is still sore.

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The rescheduled match up between DC United and the Houston Dynamo, which was previously rained out, will be held Tuesday, July 22. The two teams actually meet up three days prior in the Superliga. This match is also 2 days before the MLS All Star game against West Ham United.

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Here are just a couple news and notes coming from RFK…

DC United Striker Luciano Emilio, coming off of his first hat trick of his career, was being looked at by the head coach of the Mexican side Morelia. United has said that the club will not sell the striker. As a matter of fact, United has planned to rework Emilio’s contract this summer.

United has brought in Manuel Vallaurio, a goalkeeper on trial for this week from Monaco. If the club is satisfied with this 21 year old goalkeeper, United has the option to bring him in on loan as a low salary senior roster player.

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In a brilant display of soccer, DC United walks away with three points after a huge 4-1 victory over New York. This was a very well played match for DC as they saw a couple of firsts in this match.

Luciano Emilio saw his first hat trick in his MLS career. Since his beginning of season scoring drought Emilio has been able to find the back of the net in the last 3 matches, two of which in stoppage time as game winning shots.

Clyde Simms was also able to find back of the net for his first goal of the season with a scorching shot off of a Jaime Moreno free kick. That goal is up for Goal of the Week honors which you can find here.

DC is still without a shut out this season. As Tom Soehn has said, “We’re working hard on getting a clean sheet, but we haven’t gotten a clean sheet yet and that’s troublesome.” Hopefully next Sunday Zack Wells and DC United will finally get a clean sheet as United hosts San Jose, who has only scored 9 goals all season. Kickoff for that match is at 3:00pm on Comcast Sportsnet.

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Has DC started to find it’s spot in the MLS? They have finally started to move up in the East in the MLS. They are starting to also find the back of the net.

For most of the beginning of the season Luciano Emilio was having trouble finding goal, but in the last few matches this has not been the problem. Hopefully last year’s Golden Boot winner will be able to retain his title.

Jamie Moreno has also been playing much better as of late. He has been criticized for his goal scoring record since a lot of goals are only coming from penalty kicks. He showed those who criticized his record by scoring off of a deflection during the Chicago match.

Looking towards next Saturday against rival New York Red Bulls, DC is going to have to go out without Marcello Gallardo and Bryan Namoff due to both players receiving red cards during the Chicago match.

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As announced in the Soccer Insider, written by Washington Post reporter Steven Goff, Volkswagen will be named as a new sponsor for DC United. Their logo will appear on the front of the very plain front of DC United’s Jersey. The deal, which will be formally announced at a press conference on Tuesday at 9:30am, is set for over $14 million. This is the second highest sponsorship just behind Herbalife’s sponsorship of the LA Galaxy which pays out $4 million annually; the Volkswagen deal will pay around $2.4 million over 5 years. My only question is does this set up United for more talks about a new home? Could Poplar Point Stadium be one step closer to being a reality? Only time will tell with this one, but is great news for DC United.

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I will start off by saying that it is tough to be a DC United fan right now. United is currently sitting in last place in the East with a 2-3-0 record and just over the likes of Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake, newly reformed San Jose, and winless defending MLS Cup Champions Houston overall. I will take a step back and say that yes it doesn’t look good for the club, but it is still way early in the season. It is only May and we don’t see any playoffs until October. There are some problems that DC needs to address and with these that could help to bring this squad back to championship contending material.

The midfield is a mess at this point. Part of which may be the different formations DC has used since it is different almost every game so far. It almost seems as though Clyde Simms has been thrown in to a position that he is not fully comfortable with. He has to pretty much control the field for the whole team, and still slightly young compared to the the options DC has, he has been doing an admirable job, but still has a little work. The outside wings seem to be different everytime DC goes out and I liked how Santino Quaranta filled the void of both the deeply missed Ben Olsen and the recently injured Devon McTavish. Also, having Fred out due to injury did not help one bit. He helps to set up many plays on goal that DC could not get. Rod Dyachenko tried to fill in for Fred, but he was overpowered in a position that he did not play often.

There needs to be better communication between Wells and the defensive line. Throughout the Colorado match, it did not seem as though Wells made much of an attempt to call out to his defense at all.

The switching on and off of Moreno and Neill needs to stop. We know that when Moreno is on the field, he is able to create some great plays on the offensive side. We need that play maker. He is filling the very missed role of El Diablo himself, Marco Etcheverry.

I would have to say that Man of the Match would have to go to Bryan Namoff with his great defensive tactics. Namoff helped prevent the number of goals to rise more than they already were.

United’s next match will be on Thursday as the Chicago Fire come to RFK. Kickoff is at 7:30PM.

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DC United announced that Francis Doe, who had been on trial with DC then signed with the club on April 22, has received his work permit. He will be available for Sunday’s match at Colorado.

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Last season DC started the season at 0-3-1. After that start DC went on to go on a 13 game unbeaten streak. This season, before the match started, DC was in a similar spot at 1-3-0. After a classic DC United match, DC walked away with 3 points, the first time since playing Toronto FC on April 5.

Jaime Moreno added two more goals off of two penalty kicks to the all time leading goal scoring record. Santino Quaranta is making a statement after being with DC for a couple seasons then a couple of other teams then back to his stomping ground of DC. He scored another goal in this match to make the lead even bigger for DC. Finally DC United’s Designated Player, Marcello Gallardo, also scored again. He is fitting into the missing spot left by Christian Gomez.

What is next for DC? They travel away to take on Colorado. Could DC be settling into what they did last season and go on an unbeaten streak? They need to work as a team. It seems in the games that they fell apart in, they were not flowing in the game as a team. DC has the talent, some may say the best in the league, but if they can not find their flow, they fall apart quickly.

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So it’s been a couple of days after this match. This was a good and bad match for United. There were some flaws in the play of the match. The backline once again seemed lost. Granted the altitude may have had an effect on the entire team,. We will see as they move on to take on Toronto FC Saturday as their home opener. There were some good signs on the offensive side of things. Fred seemed to try to get control on the offense and helped by Gallardo. Emilio seemed to be off in this match. There were a couple of good chances, but he was unable to finish. I think we will see a different United side since the stadium was 7,000+ feet about sea level. Hopefully Pachuca will seem off due to the the difference of elevation in the opposite direction.

In other news, Cezar, who has been training with United and was on loan from Atletico Minero, has been let go and will not be offered a contract from United. They did not hesitate in filling his spot. United acquired the rights to Toronto FC Superdraft choice Mike Zaher. He will train with the squad and work towards a roster spot.

On the Jaime Moreno front, after an interview with Steven Goff of the Washington Post, he said that he was hoping to see at least one half very soon, and Tony Soehn responded by saying that they are going to be careful not to push him too fast too quick.

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