What Went Wrong: DC United At Least Has Youth
What went right: As sorry as this sounds, the best thing that DC United has going for them is their Developmental Academy. Andy Najar was signed from the Academy this past preseason and he went on to be tied for the team lead in goals and assists, in route to a Rookie of the Year contending campaign. Another Academy product Bill Hamid was starting ahead of Troy Perkins in goal for a good chunk of the season.
What went wrong: Oh there was so much that went wrong. Coaching, decision making, foreign talent evaluation. But injuries hit United harder than any other club. Their starting backline heading into the season should have included Bryan Namoff, Rodney Wallace, and Marc Burch, but the three combined to play only 15 matches. The team also failed to replace outgoing attacking players like Christian Gomez and Luciano Emilio.
What we learned: Curt Onalfo isn't a good head coach (well, actually some people already knew that) and Chad Ashton isn't a good scout. Offseason acquisitions Christian Castillo and Danny Allsopp didn't adjust well to the league. Midseason additions Branko Boskovic and Pablo Hernandez were supposed to fix the lack of scoring, but neither tallied a single MLS goal.
Where we go from here: United is in desperate need of a proven scorer. The team set the record for most scoreless matches in a season with 17. It’s a problem that they know they’ll have to address, and could look to add a second designated player this offseason. The only good news about D.C.‘s terrible record is that they also possess the No. 3 overall pick of the draft.
Core 11 (players that should be protected): Working under the premise that Homegrown Players do not need to be protected (Najar, Hamid), United is likely to protect Perkins, Boskovic, Wallace, Burch, Dejan Jakovic, Julius James, Clyde Simms, Santino Quaranta, and Chris Pontius. That's nine. No one else really seems worth keeping, but the team will have to decide between Hernandez, Devon McTavish, and Jed Zayner.
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