Two games to go, starting with a Brian McBride send-off in Chicago this weekend (4 p.m., Comcast SportsNet). Jeez, it was only a short time ago that a match between these two teams would inevitably be a postseason preview. This year, not so much. A few notes heading in:
- D.C. is back at pseudo full strength. Long-term injuries aside, United (6-19-3) has its internationals back – Branko Boskovic (Montenegro), Julius James (Trinidad & Tobago), and Dejan Jakovic (Canada) – and Andy Najar is also back after serving a yellow card suspension. Jaime Moreno is suspended for last weekend’s red card, of course, leaving him with only next week before his D.C. career is over.
- Dubious goals-scored records remain squarely on the horizon. With 19 goals in 28 matches (0.68 goals per match), United needs to score at about ten times the rate it has this season to avoid finishing with the fewest goals in a season (25), a record that was set by Toronto in 2007. D.C.’s previous worst was 31 goals in 2002.
- With MLS announcing the rules of the expansion draft, which will take place on Nov. 24, who should D.C. United protect? Here’s a provisional list of 11 plus some bubble guys (remember, Bill Hamid and Andy Najar both don’t need to be protected, since they are Generation Adidas and homegrown):
- Julius James
- Dejan Jakovic
- Jed Zayner
- Jordan Graye
- Rodney Wallace
- Chris Pontius
- Clyde Simms
- Santino Quaranta
- Troy Perkins
- Devon McTavish
- Branko Boskovic
Protected list bubble
Marc Burch – there may be reluctance to take a guy who was injured all year, which would mean there’s no need to protect him.
Stephen King, Kyle Morsink – In Conor Shanosky, a homegrown player who also doesn’t need to be protected, D.C. has its defensive midfielder of the future. One or both of King and Morsink is expendable.
Danny Allsopp, Pablo Hernandez – My interpretation of the international rules leads me to the conclusion that D.C. will have to protect three internationals. Jakovic and James are the obvious first two. The team likely could afford to expose Boskovic, simply because most teams are working hard on their own to land designated players, but they have to protect him if he has a no-trade clause in his contract. If they decide to expose him, my guess would be Allsopp over Hernandez. Carlos Varela would seem less likely.
