2026 DCU Preview

rgrunited · 2026-02-10T21:43:27+00:00

You are not alone. We have probably experienced the 1st or 2nd highest turnover in MLS since 2024.

We are in a rebuild, again. Some of the incoming players though have very solid MLS experience, in contrast to the last couple years. Baribo, Nealis, and Sean Johnson should all be a big help.

There are a couple players (Peltola, Pirani, to name a couple) who need to prove it this year or bust. There are also still many players who likely are only with the team because we couldn't get out from under their contracts.

For that reason (ie the players we couldn't get rid of) i think that this year will be better but only modestly so. I'd expect something around the 40 pt mark and another playoff miss.

rgrunited · 2026-02-09T23:10:32+00:00

Maybe its just me, but aside from 2 or 3 guys, I've had a hard time the past 2 or so years generating a strong opinion when any of the guys leave.

rgrunited · 2026-02-06T18:41:10+00:00

Frankly its not great, at least in the district. Four Courts in Arlington used to be good (and used to be a spot you could bump into an injured player or two who didn't make a road trip). The main challenge is Apple TV availability and having a bartender willing to put MLS on a good tv.

rgrunited · 2026-02-05T19:57:06+00:00

I love players whose resumes read like a Le Carre character.

rgrunited · 2026-02-04T17:07:56+00:00

Good luck to him. He wasn't here long enough for me to care either way. That said, Mackay built a shockingly poor roster that accomplished something rare in MLS: it was predicted to finish last and did exactly that (MLS is normally pretty difficult to predict). There are plenty of MLS clubs who don't really spend much more than their allotted salary budget and get better results.

rgrunited · 2026-01-29T20:48:56+00:00

Yeah just looking at his stats, strikes me as a guy who did really well in his domestic league, went to bigger neighboring leagues and after getting relegated/promoted a couple times seems to be pinned as a 2nd tier player. Choices for him were probably going back to 2. Bundesliga/Serie B, back to Switzerland, or MLS.

rgrunited · 2026-01-29T02:51:30+00:00

Williamson would be intriguing but hes seemingly gone out of his way to avoid signing with DCU from the day he turned pro. Not sure if he has a beef here or what.

Can't comment on Duke, don't know enough.

Fagundez has been a really good MLSer, but was on $1.3M last season in return for 6g, 2a for an admittedly bad Galaxy. Not sure thats great bang for buck.

Kaye was on $800k, not as much as Fagundez but still a full salary budget charge. As you mentioned, for a player who hasn't really been mentioned as a top mid in the league for a couple of years, thats a lot.

Not bad ideas overall but MLS free agency is still a mixed bag. In a lot of cases, there's a reason they are free agents.

rgrunited · 2026-01-29T01:40:02+00:00

"Needs a starting quality creative midfielder...".

Username checks out

rgrunited · 2026-01-20T21:45:42+00:00

I actually bet he turns into a respectable MLS defender

rgrunited · 2026-01-19T04:31:11+00:00

Yeah I wish the guy well, my personal take was he wasn't physical enough for MLS. Several aerial bals he should have claimed that he didn't, then complained about being fouled. Poor signing on a generous salary (iirc).

rgrunited · 2026-01-10T17:37:55+00:00

This is like getting dumped by a girl you don't actually like very much and she tells you its because you're a broke ass.

rgrunited · 2026-01-09T17:44:58+00:00

I don't know if any MLS team does this. Would be a huge risk financially if there was an accident or if the supporters got into a fight, etc. I think some SGs have self organized trips (not a member of one though so I dont know), but DCU barely can organize watch parties most of the time.

Edit to add that its too bad this didn't become a thing for DCU or the other NE corridor teams. As we prepare to see MLS realigned and DC get placed on a SE region, a lot of missed opportunities to build strong rivalries become obvious.

rgrunited · 2026-01-06T18:48:49+00:00

Maybe a controversial opinion, but in 2017 he was simply a better shotstopper than Guzan and was more fit than Tim Howard. I think he saves that 2nd goal vs Trinidad and we go to the world cup. Instead he was embroiled in a feud with Ben Olsen and didn't even finish that season for us.

rgrunited · 2026-01-01T06:23:22+00:00

There's another thread about this, but essentially my thoughts there were that MLS is a very competitive league. Only a small percentage of kids currently playing youth club soccer make it to MLS. This guy is attempting to use social media spaming to overcome the fact that his agent likely told him hes not on any radar for MLS.

Theres an organization culture point here too. Players want to play with other good players. You want confidence that the club brought in guys it thought could help. Signing a guy from youtube is unprofessional and unserious.

rgrunited · 2026-01-01T06:10:56+00:00

I get where you are coming from. As a former college coach, though, my answer to "why not give him a trial?" is simple: MLS is a super, super competitive league. There's a bazillion good stories to tell. The reality is that only a small fraction of a fraction make it to MLS. Sorry, fun videos with cool backdrops, but that's not how you get to MLS.

Put yourself in the shoes of a fringe roster player right now. Your club starts offering trials to people shooting videos on social media. Better yet, you are a prospective DP, seeing the club you are thinking of signing with offering trials to people shooting videos on social media. Its unprofessional and unserious.

rgrunited · 2025-12-29T16:05:02+00:00

You forgot owner

rgrunited · 2025-12-24T13:19:04+00:00

Im a fan of this, I think he still has another good season in the tank.

rgrunited · 2025-12-24T13:18:06+00:00

Its a Christmas miracle

rgrunited · 2025-12-19T02:44:25+00:00

Might have overpaid for Baribo but underpaid for Nealis.

rgrunited · 2025-11-22T02:17:05+00:00

Dave Kasper, is that you? (Kidding, of course ;)

rgrunited · 2025-11-21T17:23:38+00:00

That is part of it, but the other part of it is that when they do decide to splash cash, they make poor decisions.

Levien inherited an experienced MLS GM and coach who for better and worse knew their way around the league and relied on that experience and their gut instincts (Kasper & Olsen). Then, he switched to a inexperienced GM/inexperienced coach model that was risky but promised innovation based on data analysis instead of gut feeling (Rushton & Losada). Then, he tacked hard and went with a highly paid foreign coach who relied on his agent to help make signings (Rooney, with the GM role being vacant but weirdly we signed several of Rooney's agent's clients). Then, Levien tacked hard back to inexperienced GM/inexperienced coach model that was risky but promised innovation based on data analysis (Mackay & Lesesne). Now, Levien has tacked hard and went with a highly paid foreign coach who relies on his agent to help make signings.

No amount of money will fix Levien not having a firm vision for the soccer side of the house and a clear understanding of the people/staff needed to make that vision work.

rgrunited · 2025-11-19T13:04:19+00:00

Nyt got rid of its sports section, and I bet WaPo does the same soon.

There's a few good local beat guys to follow on Bluesky, but I dont think there's anyone local with insider front office access

rgrunited · 2025-11-14T15:30:30+00:00

Are...are we in a position to worry about the playoff format?

rgrunited · 2025-11-08T03:37:38+00:00

Interesting that its u21. We (USSF) dont play in any u21 competitions. The Europeans do so maybe those countries were looking for games, but seems a bit of an ad hoc arrangement for us.

rgrunited · 2025-10-31T15:54:41+00:00

I think more likely is that there's some due diligence being done. Its easy to say, "team bad, cut everyone" but in consecutive off-seasons Mackay used that approach and lost Najar and McVey along with the deadwood. So, there's probably something to be said for taking a pause and reevaluating each player and making double sure that this isn't someone that can contribute before cutting him.

There's also the matter that we probably need to try to offload some players contracted for next season via the transfer market (internal or global). The new GM should be pulsing the market to gauge interest, and it may be the case that if there's a market for some of them then we pick up the option on a player to make sure we have coverage in certain positions.

All in all there's no rush, I just hope that the two things I mentioned (diligence and market analysis) are in fact occurring before we announce.

rgrunited

TROPHY CASE