There was only one thing DC United fans knew for sure going into the 2011 season, and that was this season couldn’t be any worse than the previous one.  After setting the standard for futility, the team not only climbed its way back into respectability (through its play on the field and front office dealings) but even for a while was positioned for a potential top three finish in the Eastern Conference.  However, a cold dose of reality doused those plans, and for the fourth consecutive season DC was outside the playoffs looking in.

For a team with a good fanbase and decorated history, where do they go from here?  In a sense, the word “forward” will define this offseason in a few different ways.  DC United, you are up next in our Three Questions offseason series:

1. Who will play forward for DC United?

This may be the easiest and hardest question to answer this offseason.  Looking at the roster, the answer looks to be “some darn good options”.  The defending MVP returns and looks to build on his amazing performance for half the season last year, and Chris Pontius also returns from injury after a first half of the season that helped him catch the U.S. Soccer Federation’s eye.

But De Rosario is arguably more effective as an attacking midfielder, and Pontius is definitely more valuable on the wing opposite Andy Najar.  That leaves DC with two forwards under contract: an aging but useful Josh Wolff and young contributor Blake Brettschneider.  With Charlie Davies’ seeming departure back to Europe, the team lacks a pure-forward scoring threat.  The acquisition of one could potentially allow De Rosario to move back into a CAM role and make DC’s attack even more potent, or at least give them some options on offense.  Will the team pursue another forward, or be content with what they have at that position?

2. Will the youngsters take the next step forward?

The Black-and-Red’s youth academy has done an excellent job of churning out talent, including rising star Andy Najar and starting keeper (and USMNT prospect) Bill Hamid.  After the disastrous 2010 season, the team focused on adding more youth especially in the back and have been rewarded with one of the most promising, and up-and-coming, defenses in MLS.

Undoubtedly, players like Perry Kitchen and Hamid are the future of this team and the team has shed some of the veterans that these players had bypassed on the depth chart.  At some point that youth has to realize the potential.  Does Hamid continue to improve his quick thinking and cut down on the poor decisions?  Can Kitchen play as a holding midfielder at the MLS level (he played primarily as a fullback/centerback last season)?  Can the likes of Woolard, Korb, and White push for permanent starting roles?  The success of DC depends on it, and not just in the short term.

3. Will the stadium situation move forward or stay in neutral?

Unfortunately for DC area soccer fans the off-the-field situation is overshadowing the on-the-field progress.  Until the stadium situation is resolved in some way, and by resolved I mean there is at least a 5-10 year plan in place, it is harder to build this team.  And management does need to decide is what kind of team this is.  At the beginning of last year, it was a “youth revolution” both by choice and by necessity, but when the team saw there was a chance at the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference it acquired Dwayne De Rosario.  This offseason the team shed more of its older, more expensive salaries to free up roster and cap space.

So what does it do? Does it throw academy players like Conor Shanosky into the fire and give them significant minutes to see what they actually have in the academy and fast forward the youth movement? Or does management go “all in” and gamble by signing some expensive overseas designated players/high-salary players?  That strategy backfired in the past but with the Eastern Conference still not dominated by a group of teams like the West, there is an argument to be made that it is the correct strategy.  However, until the team knows what its revenue estimates and home location will be two years from now, these types of decisions are infinitely harder to make.

Until Saturday’s match versus RSL, Dwayne De Rosario was a good pickup for DC United.  The team was playing better with him in the lineup and he gave them an offensive spark that they had lacked with Dax McCarty.  Then on Saturday night he took it to a new level.  First he fed Andy Najar a beautiful pass that the Honduran converted for the first goal of the game.  Then Najar returned the favor and served up a ball that De Rosario headed home.  Next it was Josh Wolff who had the assist that De Ro slammed home.  Finally, the Canadian national in the 31st minute struck a free kick that curled so perfectly into the top left corner that the crowd and players could only shake their heads in awe.  And like that, Dwayne De Rosario had fastest hat trick in MLS history, DC had a critical three points, and the league could only gasp at the incredible play of the former MLS Cup MVP.

So Dwayne De Rosario now has the inside track for the Golden Boot but now scribes are wondering if he could garner even more hardware.  After winning his third Player of the Week recognition today (all with DCU), the discussion in the media has centered around whether he can win the Most Valuable Player award at the end of the season.  Despite being named to the MLS Best XI team a record five times, he has never been named MVP.  Is this the year the midfielder/forward finally wins the award?

It depends on how much you emphasize the word “valuable” in MVP.  Since coming south on I-95, DC United is 5-2-5 in games he has started and has scored 22 goals; he has scored ten of those goals and assisted on another six.  Overall he has 13 goals and eleven assists, best for first and fourth in the league respectively.  Regardless of where he plays (attacking midfielder, forward) or with whom he plays (Wolff, Charlie Davies), he continues to make plays for DC.  Because of their excellent record in games he has started, DC is making a playoff run a year after having the worst record in MLS in 2010 and their worst season in franchise history.  Saturday’s hat trick was his second in DC; as Samuel Chamberlain notes his first was also critical as it rescued a point at home for DC in their 3-3 draw with Toronto.  He also notes De Ro has scored the game winning goal three times in DC’s five post-acquisition wins.  Statistically, De Rosario has a great case but in terms of value to his team, his case is eve better.

But if De Rosario wins the MVP award, he will be a unique awardee, in that he will be the first MVP winner in a major sport to play for three different teams.  It’s important to note in this discussion why that is the case.  De Rosario started the season with Toronto FC but everyone knew his time was short with that team; the previous season he had shown publicly his discontent with his paycheck.  While with Toronto he looked like an aging player who had alienated the fans and fellow players.  When he was traded to the Red Bulls, he was seen as a star that would propel the already soaring club to a desired MLS Cup.  Except he didn’t.  While with New York De Ro looked out of place and was not the offensive creator that the Red Bulls had sought.  When DC came to them wanting to swap similarly underperforming Dax McCarty straight up for him, the deal was made and people wondered who was getting the better deal.  If you vote for Dwayne De Rosario for MVP, you are essentially voting for a half-season MVP performance, as he has only really played like an MVP since the DCU trade.

Will Dwayne De Rosario win the MVP?  Two things will help him, one in his control and one outside his control.  The first factor is if DC makes the playoffs.  Fairly or unfairly in all sports MVPs are judged on how their teams do; a failure to make the playoffs would undercut his “valuable” argument.  However, if DC makes the playoffs (and especially if they secure a top three spot in the Eastern Conference) it will be hard to argue that Dwayne De Rosario was not the key player in taking a team that last year was miserable into the playoffs.  The second factor is the players he is competing against.  Landon Donovan has the stats, but he has been overshadowed down the stretch by his teammates and scored just one goal in the last seven games.  Brek Shea looked like a lock but he and Dallas have begun to slow down as the season wears on.  Kyle Beckerman has been dominant defensively and in the midfield, but it is hard for guys who don’t score to win an MVP.  If no one else has a huge highlight-worthy night, the award might be De Ro’s to lose.  In the end, factors both in and out of his control might finally give Dwayne De Rosario a long-awaited MVP award.

Breaking this weekend was the surprising news that 2010 MLS MVP candidate Edson Buddle was poised to make his long-discussed move overseas.  What made it surprising was that the move was not to Birmingham City, which is where he had long been rumored to go, but to FC Ingolstadt, a Bundesliga 2 club that is currently in danger of being relegated to the third German soccer division.  Fox Sports, which broke the story, reports that the major reason why Buddle chose the German club was his work permit fell through in England and the club was offering him double his MLS salary.  Ingolstadt may sound familiar to American soccer fans – American national Amaechi Igwe is currently on the roster while Freddy Adu held a try-out with the club recently.

For the Los Angeles Galaxy, the moves leaves them in quite a bind.  Their leading scorer is gone, and the player they selected in the re-entry draft (Juan Pablo Angel) to compliment him has not yet signed a contract, leaving the club with a huge void up front.  Expect Angel now to have a huge boost in his negotiations and be able to obtain the designated player slot he is seeking.  But even if Angel does sign, the Galaxy can no longer be considered the overwhelming pre-season favorites for the 2011 MLS Cup.  Their only signed forward is Jovan Kirovski and while Angel is quite good, he is also older than Buddle.  More importantly, it is a big hit to their depth up front.

But there is a larger issue here, and it is the failure of MLS to secure American internationals for the league. Regardless of how highly you view the league (and I personally regard it very highly), some Americans are better served playing overseas than in MLS.  Not just the best national team players like Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey, but even players who have played in the U.S. and need to see if they are as good as everyone thinks they are (Stuart Holden) or are up-and-comers that need to be tested in an international system (Jozy Altidore).  But Buddle is the kind of player that not only benefits from MLS but also benefits the league.  He grew up in the U.S. system and achieved his big break through this year playing for an MLS club.  He is the kind of player that, if he continues to succeed in the U.S. and on Bob Bradley’s team, becomes more of a name in the American soccer world and makes MLS a more legitimate league for having quality players like him.

That’s not to say that Buddle does not deserve a shot overseas; maybe MLS is holding him back and he needs to see just how quality of a player he is.  But when that opportunity falls through due to a permit problem, he moves to a side that will not allow him to play against the world’s best.  Ingolstadt is not a top-flight club; in fact the club in its current incarnation has only been around seven years and has never played in the Bundesliga.  This is not a move up; it’s a move down in terms of league quality.

The Fox Sports article nails the issue – Ingolstadt offered Buddle twice his salary after Galaxy would not give Buddle a designated player contract.  Now with two designated players already, LA had some choices to make but on any other club Buddle would be considered DP-status.  And he should be – as I said, he raises both MLS’s and the national team’s profile, as well as any club on which he would play (as well as being a really good player).  But again an American goes overseas because MLS will not fork over the money to keep them in the U.S.  In this way, Buddle is very similar to his possible teammate Freddy Adu – Adu’s career is stuck in neutral but he is not going back to MLS, a logical place to jumpstart his career, because he is making more overseas playing for second division clubs.

MLS has made good progress in keeping talented players in the U.S., both experienced and star players (designated player rule) as well as young college stars (Generation adidas).  But now MLS needs to consider how it can keep the Buddle-type players (who are successful) and the Adu-players (who could be successful) in the United States.  I would recommend a new designated player category for American players, which similar to other designated players would only have part of their salary count against the cap.  This would allow teams financial flexibility to bring these players home and not only give them exposure to U.S. audiences, but allow them to compete against good competition.  Ultimately, the answer may be a system like in Europe of free agency and academies, but until MLS is as lucrative as those leagues an American DP slot is the best way to keep American stars in the most beneficial place – here.

To kick off our MLS Cup 2010 Preview, I am pleased to share that we will be live blogging the match on this site Sunday night beginning at 8:30 PM Eastern.  For those of us not in Toronto, please visit this site to share thoughts on the two teams, ESPN’s coverage, or the warmth of your home as opposed to those at the stadium.

On Sunday night, two American teams will invade a Canadian pitch to resolve which is the best team in Major League Soccer.  Oddly enough, only one player on either roster is actually Canadian – FC Dallas defender Edson Edward, who was born in Ottawa.  BMO Field previously hosted the 2008 MLS All Star Game, so it is not a stranger to large MLS matches.  In honor of Canada’s national winter sport (hockey), below is a breakdown of the match up face-off style.

Dallas Attack vs. Colorado Defense:  Anyone who has followed any bit of the playoffs knows the Dallas attack starts with David Ferreira.  The key to stopping the Dallas attack is stopping the presumptive MLS MVP, which no team in the playoffs has done so far.  The Rapids duo of Mastroeni and Larentowicz are next up, and their contribution will be critical to the Rapids’ game plan.  Of course the Dallas attack does not stop with Ferreira; the midfield duo of Dax McCarty and Brek Shea are also playmakers who can threaten the Colorado defense.  Despite a 1-0 win in their last match and a solid keeper in Matt Pickens, they will be hard pressed to slow down a high-powered Dallas attack.  Advantage – Dallas

Colorado Attack v. Dallas Defense:  The Dallas defense can be summed up in one word – Hartman.  The keeper has been unworldly in the regular season and especially in the playoffs; his first-half saves against the Galaxy kept the momentum with the visiting team.  His back line will have a hard time containing the best forwards in MLS, especially Omar Cummings on the wing.  If Kevin Hartman wasn’t in goal, I’d give this advantage to the speed and skill of the Rapids.  But until the Dallas keeper proves me wrong, I’ll bet on him to keep this category even.  Advantage: Push

Hyndman v. Smith: Again, it’s tough to bet against the MLS Coach of the Year.  Hyndman’s gameplan against the Galaxy was excellent, using the speed of his team to exploit weaknesses in LA defense.  Gary Smith is also a good manager, but usually excellent beats good.  Advantage: Dallas

Intangibles: My initial thought is that Colorado would be better equipped to play in a cold match, but they lost their only visit to Canada this year while Dallas drew FC Toronto 1-1.  Neither club has won a championship, so that is a push.  But their roads to Toronto have been very different.  Colorado overcame a scrappy Columbus team and a solid San Jose team to make it this far.  Dallas beat the defending champions and the Supporters Shield winners.  Advantage: Dallas

Prediction: Dallas looks to have the upper hand in the matchup, but Colorado is a very talented team.  I expect a back-and-forth match with Dallas pulling away in the end.  Dallas wins 3-1.

The end of the regular season has put me in a contemplative mood. Not only because I am left trying to figure out how the San Jose Earthquakes missed the postseason again, but because I am asked to fill out my 2009 MLS Awards Ballot. Following the Quakes as closely as I do, I enjoy access to players and coaches from all MLS teams as they make their way through Buck Shaw Stadium. As I study my choices for Coach of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, and so on, I look back on those interactions and interviews for clues that will help my decisions. With that in mind, I don’t hesitate to fill in the name for Most Valuable Player – Jeff Cunningham of FC Dallas.

For most of the 2009 season, San Jose and Dallas remained rooted at the foot of the Western Conference standings. Each week I’d calculate how the Quakes could surpass the Hoops and perhaps make a run up the table. Saturday, June 7^th, saw the Earthquakes visit Pizza Hut Park with a chance to jump over their bottom feeding rivals – but a late Kenny Cooper goal tied the game at 2-2. San Jose would never get any closer to Dallas in the standings as they slowly faded away over the long summer.

FC Dallas would also continue to struggle as the season approached the halfway mark. Poor defending kept them from making up ground to any of their conference rivals. It was becoming apparent that Cooper would be leaving in the summer transfer window, while Cunningham was lacking any scoring productivity up front. Crowds at Pizza Hut Park were well below 10 thousand and the supporters were getting frustrated.

But then a remarkable turnaround began, started by the signings of Heath Pearce and Jair Benitez in defense and the resurgence of Cunningham as an offensive threat. The Jamaican-born forward, now a citizen of the United States, scored twice against the New York Red Bulls on Independence Day in a 2-1 victory. He collected Player of the Week honors with that accomplishment – an award he would go on to win three more times over the second half of the season. By the end of July, Pearce and Benitez had shored up the defensive line, and Cunningham was tallying scores at a blistering pace. In a 6-0 victory over Kansas City on August 1^st, he scored four times to set a single-game career high. The once US Men’s National Team member has gone on to score 16 goals during his last 14 games, an incredible accomplishment that now has him leading MLS in scoring with 17 goals – one more than the Colorado Rapids’ Conor Casey. Tack on his league fourth-best 8 assists and Cunningham clearly shines brightest as MLS’s most potent offensive force.

The renaissance in Frisco, Texas had gone relatively unnoticed by the rest of the league as no one gave the Hoops much chance of making it to the MLS Cup playoffs. When a road game against the hapless San Jose Earthquakes rolled around earlier this month, Dallas was sitting at 33 points in the Western Conference, but riding a 5-3-1 streak since the All-Star break. In a league built on competitive parity, I had seen the Quakes do something similar in 2008 – rise from obscurity to contend for the postseason. Might this Dallas squad be following that same destiny?

That mid-week match at Buck Shaw Stadium was the home finale for San Jose, and they certainly wanted to give their supporters something to cheer about in an otherwise dismal year. However, Cunningham and his teammates would have none of that, as they dispatched of the Quakes with relative ease 2-1. Cunningham assisted on the first goal by David Ferreira, and then finished off the game in the 81^st minute with his league leading 17^th goal of the campaign. As the somber crowd filtered out of the stadium, the Dallas victory officially eliminating San Jose from the playoff race, and I made my way to the visitor’s locker room to meet the Man of the Match myself. After a brief interview with Coach Schellas Hyndman, where he praised the playmaking of his star forward, I joined a small group of reporters waiting for Cunningham to emerge from the showers.

With his straggly beard and small frame, Jeff Cunningham does not strike an imposing figure. The mercurial forward is playing for his fifth team in as many seasons, and the rumors are that he was not a good presence in the locker room. I have experienced inaccessible players before, and braced myself for another such encounter. Instead, I was met with a smile and a friendly hand shake. He quickly impressed me with how quick he was to praise the defensive line. “You should be talking to those guys, not me” he said as he pointed out Pearce and Benitez at the other end of the room. Goalkeeper Dario Sala was also commended before the attention turned back onto his game night heroics.

He exuded confidence when describing his performance on the night, outwardly scolding himself for not converting on two scoring chances he had in the first half. The game winning goal was not a classic, just a simple finish from a well weighted Dax McCarty through-ball, but it did give him 17 goals on the season and the league lead. When I asked him specifically about the race for the MLS Golden Boot, Cunningham was very candid with his reply. “It means so much to me. I think about it often, I can’t sleep sometimes because I’m thinking I really need to do well in this game. I was thinking about (Conor) Casey somewhere in his hotel room (currently preparing with the USMNT) watching this game and it put added pressure on me. I need to keep the pressure on Casey.”

This wasn’t the standard one-game-at-a-time variety of response; rather, Cunningham was honestly stating his desire to be the scoring champion in MLS. I appreciated his almost cocky answer, and the notion that his single minded focus on scoring provided him with so much motivation. FC Dallas has benefited from his prolific scoring as well, and currently stand tied for the last playoff position going into the final weekend of the season. Cunningham relishes the idea of making it into the postseason. “We’ve been playing some good football the last month, two months, really since the All-Star game. If we make it in, there are going to be a few teams afraid to face us.”

Even if FC Dallas does not qualify for the postseason, the efforts of Jeff Cunningham cannot be discounted. Without his goals and assists, we wouldn’t even be discussing the realistic probability that the Hoops sneak into the playoffs with the seventh or eighth seed. Forwards are paid to score goals – without them a team is doomed to mediocrity – making them the most valuable commodity on the roster. To me, Cunningham is the best forward in MLS this season. He deserves the league’s Most Valuable Player award.