I would love a game against Argentina in Philly, gives them a chance to show that they are ready for big events. Gives me a chance to go, anyone know who long it take to get to philly from RFK?

First!

OK, Second!

I would love a game against Argentina in Philly, gives them a chance to show that they are ready for big events. Gives me a chance to go, anyone know who long it take to get to philly from RFK?

Posted by: dc Fan | March 4, 2008 01:11 PM

It take s about 2 and 1/2 hours but if you speed like me about 2 hours

do we have to compensate anyone if we decide to sign santino?

I understand Ben is recovering but do we have enough depth yet at DM? Could Kelly Gray fit the bill?
Thanks Steve for all you do.

The only exception is the home opener April 5 vs. Toronto, which can be seen only on pay-per-view and online.
-------------------------------------------
Or at the stadio, which all of us will be doing, right?

do we have to compensate anyone if we decide to sign santino?

Posted by: froboy | March 4, 2008 01:17 PM
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

No. He was waived by RBNY so he is free. I highly doubt the FO would even glance at him otherwise.

England @ Wembley, Argentina... why does the US keep scheduling cupcakes?

thanks, i was confused b/c DC seems pretty good at getting compensation for guys they don't have under contract and don't have any intention to sign

To: Alfio Basile
From: D.C. Soccer Fans

Come to Philly! Stay for the cheesesteaks! Be sure to bring Messi, Aguero, Tevez, and your other creative entertainers with you. Our boys need a good test of character ahead of the serious World Cup qualifying.

What about Kyle Martino as a backup mid?

Why is DC out for a game on June 8th?

Martino made $52,500 last year. Since he has been waived his salary is negotiable and we should be able to get him for less than that. I think he is an upgrade over Mediate.

Didn't DCU "discover" Santino 9 years ago?

DC not being considered, probably because RFK (46,000) is too small for ticket revenue purposes and FedEx (91,000) too big and expensive to rent.

New York/NJ is the obvious choice. Philly seems to be a longshot. How about Pittsburgh!!

Hey Goff,
Ives posted a list of waived players up for grabs in the waivier draft...and Celestine Babayaro was on it.
What gives?
Thanks.

philly hosted the usmnt twice...

1989 over 40k in franklin field...

1991 over 45k at the vet...

philly can handle big events, they did so before mls was invented

I think Pittsburgh would be pretty cool. Heinz field looks like it would be a nice soccer venue.

BTW Steven, there is no such thing as a "discovery" of an existing MLS player.

The first event at Lincoln Field in Philly (2003) was a sellout between Man U and Barca.

With the recent addition of the MLS team in Philly I think the Argentina game should go there. It is a chance for the SOBs to show up in force and I get to go to the game too! Everybody wins!

I'd agree, as long as (a) it doesn't rain and (b) nobody else plays on the field for a week. I remember watching one Steelers home game this past season where some high school championships took place the day before the Steelers game, it rained, and the turf was atrocious. After one punt/kickoff, the ball landed pointy-end first into the ground and just stuck there.

------------

"I think Pittsburgh would be pretty cool. Heinz field looks like it would be a nice soccer venue."

Some of DC's games are HDNet exclusives again, right?

BTW Steven, there is no such thing as a "discovery" of an existing MLS player.

Posted by: tex | March 4, 2008 02:14 PM
-----

Not quite true. The Galaxy "Discovered" Alexi Lalas several years ago when he was playing in the A-League (following his first go-around in MLS). I made fun of him for that at the 2002 All-Star game.

tex, we're talking about Tino 2.0 not Tino 1.0

Whole new guy......

Pittsburgh is a great idea. They'd pull from central PA, the Ohio Valley, plus the 'burg area.

I'll see yins there!

Some of DC's games are HDNet exclusives again, right?

Posted by: | March 4, 2008 02:29 PM
____________

So far, only the 6/14 game against NYRB is exclusive to HDNet, as per the DCU schedule:
http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/schedule/season.jsp?team=t103

good luck tino, we are behind you 100%. See you at the games...go united

Quaranta is not an "MLS player." He was waived out of the league. DCU claimed him last week.

No DCU games will appear exclusively on HDNet this year. (Other outlets will also carry those HDNet games.)

1-1 Gunners sneak through on away goals.

Regarding the TV schedule, will the DCU Telefutura games also be on CSN as was the case last year?

Some Telefutura games are on Comcast as well.

www.dcunited.com

I'm hoping we get to try our hand at hospitality up here for the US-Argentina match. This would be a perfect opportunity for on site marketing by Philadelphia MLS.

Hope to see you guys soon.

Steve, I'm not sure I understand the waiver issue. Why would NY/NJ waive Tino, if they could have held his rights and maybe got something for him?

Or, why would DC United NOT waive the rights for somebody like Vanney, who we were clearly not going to keep on the roster?

Though we might crack jokes about NY/NJ from time to time (ok, always) I still have a hard time believing their management are such naifs as to screw up something as simple as that. There's some subtlety there that I'm not grasping.

Come on, Matte, it's all ball bearings now! What, do you need a refresher course?

I believe the difference between Vanney and Tino is contract status.

Vanney was out of contract and DC United was unwilling to pay that stiff what he (and apparently the Galaxy) thought he was worth. So, they traded him rather than waive him and let him go for free.

Tino was under contract with a bloated salary. Red Bulls understandably did not want to pay that salary...and my guess is that no other team wanted to either. So, they had to waive him to "reset" his contract status to out of contract...only he was truly out of contract at that point so any team could grab him.

"Why would NY/NJ waive Tino, if they could have held his rights and maybe got something for him?"

Uh, he was making $105k under his old contract, and was utterly unable to get in good enough shape or fight off injury long enough to be a functional professional soccer player. Contrast that to Vanney, who may not be worth his ridiculous 2007 salary but still could play.

Maybe Santino will make DC's squad, maybe not. It's nice that being fired and kicked to the curb, recognizing that he has a wife and kid but no job skills to speak of or a college degree was enough to get him to lose weight, get in shape, and try to show a minimum of professionalism. But to extrapolate this into another RBNY bashing session is pretty stupid. Quaranta was kicked from club to club for a couple years, and his value dropped each time.

is that a complete list of waived players.
the red bulls waived a few players. how come no names from them?

Ives posted a list of waived players up for grabs in the waivier draft...and Celestine Babayaro was on it.
What gives?

-----------

And why is Chase Hilgenbrinck on that list? Didn't Colorado just sign him from a team in Chile?

Mastodon Juan - don't be so sensitive. I wasn't bashing NY/NJ. Just trying to understand why things worked out the way they did. DE was able to explain it pretty succinctly without getting his panties in a bunch.

LA couldn't manage to talk San Jose into trading for Yallop-favorite and SJ native Kelly Gray? I mean, I thought even LA could manage to snag a draft pick or something there.

I see several people asking if DC should take Kyle Martino. I'm going to assume those people have never seen Kyle Martino play. We don't want or need him.

I doubt United will have any interest in Kyle Martino. We've already got enough former Galaxy right wingers on our team. Martino's another guy like Quaranta who had a lot of potential coming into the league but hasn't yet panned out. But even with that said, it would still be surprising if a lower tier team like San Jose or RSL didn't take a chance on him.

Santino Quaranta - just keep him! its very simple.

Martino is from UVA -- isn't he bound to play for DCU at some point?

@Posted by: Andrew | March 4, 2008 02:01 PM

Babayaro was really expensive and honestly didn't show anything spectacular that would warrant dumping other players for him. If you can find video of the Seoul vs. Gals game, you'll see a pretty poor performance in the LM for him (and he did Mike Randolph no favors either who had a horrible game as well)
I could see someone with tons of cap space take a chance though. He did look decent in the attack. It would have to be a team that felt it had a rock solid LB and decent enough cover in CM to make up for some of his lacking defenisve skills in midfield (because I don't see him moving back to fullback like he used to play any time soon) Chivas USA would probably be the best fit with Jonny B playing behind him, but I doubt they'd take on that kind of cap hit.

PHILLY, esp with us getting a MLS in 2010, great to jumpstart the area in, and again, it will draw big!