In a case of not needing to look far and wide for a solution because it was already right there, D.C. United has brought assistant coach Pat Onstad out of retirement to play goalkeeper while Steve Cronin recovers from a broken wrist.
Onstad had hung up the boots after a stellar MLS career with San Jose/Houston and joined D.C. head coach Ben Olsen’s staff after passing through both stages of the MLS re-entry draft last fall without being selected, a process that also turned him into a free agent – a crucial development that made him available to D.C. with Cronin set to miss 8-10 weeks or more after getting injured during United’s preseason training camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Onstad will be immediately pressed into duty this weekend as United begins its second stage of preseason in California, but don’t quite pencil him in the opening night first eleven.
Presumed starter Bill Hamid – even if there was a legitimate competition was with Cronin, it’s impossible to characterize it any other way than the job is Hamid’s to lose – is expected be sufficiently recovered from shoulder surgery and in form enough to man the nets when D.C. hosts Columbus on March 19. But D.C. does not want to rush him, and it needs a safety valve because neither Chase Harrison, who joined the team from USL last year, nor Joe Willis, who was selected in last month’s draft, are ready to handle an MLS start.
Signing Onstad, the details of which D.C. United has here, also makes sense because finding an available starter-quality goalkeeper with preseason already well underway is not an easy task. First, no MLS team wants to carry multiple veteran keepers on its roster due to salary cap constraints. Second, most keepers of that level are already with teams and are looking for some combination of games and job security. The prospect of filling in for the short-term only to fall back into a competition just to be the backup or be out on the street again isn’t enticing. As I mentioned yesterday, Woodbridge-native Andrew Dykstra, who was recently released by the Chicago Fire, didn’t think D.C. was the right fit for him because he’s in search of playing time and a longer-term development situation.
