D.C. United interim head coach Ben Olsen is looking for volume discounts with all the players going under the knife. Here’s the update:
Bill Hamid (shoulder) – trained today, status for now unchanged.
Chris Pontius (hamstring) – out, no final decision yet
Rodney Wallace (broken fibula) – out, no rush on getting him back
Marc Burch (broken foot) – surgery Monday
Adam Cristman (knee) – surgery today
Barry Rice – the head laceration is actually a concussion so he’s out.
Juan Manuel Pena – re-aggravated his quad strain today. “He’s had a tough year,” said Olsen. “I really feel for him because he’s a great teammate, and he’s a guy who has been playing for long time in some very good leagues with some very good players. There’s a lot of knowledge there. He can probably start putting on a white shirt and helping me out a little bit.”
Trialist Carlos Varela was given a couple days off, but the team expects to make a decision on him at the end of the week. Also in practice today was Falls Church native Howard Turk, who spent a couple seasons at Virginia but from the looks of it isn’t in Charlottesville this fall.
With the U.S. under-20 team, including United midfielder Conor Shanosky, in Peru – they got blasted by Paraguay, 5-0, in their first match – Thomas Rongen will hand off the color commentary duties this weekend in Toronto to former Georgetown head coach Keith Tabatznik.
