By Jay Sekulow
The left's outrage over the IRS turns to a plea to 'move on'
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann calls Hamid and 23-year-old Chicago Fire shot-stopper Sean Johnson "our future goalkeepers that we monitor, that we nurture, that we help in their development," noting that the national team coaches "want to always keep them connected to us."
D.C. United still sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just one win on the 2013 campaign. But for the first time in more than two months, the club managed to avoid defeat Sunday.
Five years ago, Kyle Porter's anonymity evaporated. That tends to happen when a soccer player takes his career to a top-flight club in Germany — even an 18-year-old prospect whose only action would come in reserve matches.
United, who open the 2013 season with a conference final rematch at the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, began pursuing Ruiz after he scored for Guatemala in a 3-1 loss to the United States in October.
The MLS playoffs have been full of twists and turns for D.C. United. After a poor second-half performance against the Houston Dynamo on Sunday, the club will have to find yet another memorable moment if it wants to play for this year's championship.
It's tough to imagine Chris Pontius lagging behind. But sometimes, the man just can't keep up.
In the world of soccer, conventional wisdom says a draw at home is far from ideal. When it comes to a two-game, total-goals series, in fact, the result can be downright disheartening.
A raucous RFK Stadium crowd may have witnessed the theatrics of postseason soccer for the first time in five years Saturday, but neither D.C. United nor the New York Red Bulls seemed well cast as playoff contenders. When all was said and done, United and the Red Bulls found themselves deadlocked 1-1 after the first leg of their two-game, total-goals Eastern Conference semifinal.
Going into D.C. United's regular-season finale Saturday with postseason seeding at stake, Chris Pontius knew what he wanted. It definitely wasn't a match in the knockout round. And it wasn't a playoff date with Houston or Chicago, either.
On a bright September morning nearly six weeks ago, D.C. United's playoff aspirations grew dim.
As the final whistle blew, the waves of emotion washed away four years of frustration. Flags and flares emerged from the boisterous sea of black that filled RFK Stadium’s lower bowl. And as D.C. United’s players and coaches mobbed each other, Ben Olsen and Chris Pontius savored a long embrace.
In his fourth year, Dejan Jakovic has been around the block in a D.C. United uniform. More so, in fact, than all but one of his teammates. While the club has overhauled its roster, the 27-year-old lingers as a rare remnant from another era.
Lionard Pajoy scored in the 67th minute to lead D.C. United to a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union on Thursday night.
For the vast majority of Branko Boskovic's tenure with D.C. United, the highly paid veteran's fitness has lingered as a concern.
As Dwayne De Rosario hobbled onto the RFK Stadium pitch, attired in street clothes during a pregame ceremony honoring his 100th MLS goal, reality sunk in. If D.C. United are going to emerge from the stretch run with a playoff bid, they’ll have to do it without their captain and catalyst.
"Bill kept us in so many games early on we just had no business being in," United midfielder Chris Pontius said. "If it's mentally wearing on him, he's not letting it affect him in a negative way."
Bill Hamid builds toward future with U.S. national team in Germany call-up →
"It's the guy you want to have on your team," said All-Star midfielder Chris Pontius. "It's the guy you don't want to play against."
D.C. United pleased to have MLS villain Carlos Ruiz on their side →
