The starting lineup for the DC United All-Decade Team is now set!  Here's how it looks: 

Man.  Can we just use that as our starting lineup on Saturday instead?

Anyway, now it's time to fill up our bench.  We have 7 bench spots and they will be broken down like this: 1 goalkeeper, 2 defenders, 2 midfielders, 1 forward, and 1 other player.

As a reminder, all players must have been with DC United for at least 2 seasons, and must have played in at least 10 games in one of those seasons.  As your voting, please remember that these votes should be based on a player's performance with United only between the years 2000-2009.

The candidates for the first substitute midfield position are:

Brian Carroll (2004-2007), 121 matches, 2 goals, 11 assists
Santino Quaranta (2001-2006, 2008-2009), 111 matches, 21 goals, 23 assists
Marco Etcheverry (2000-2003), 94 matches, 13 goals, 35 assists
Freddy Adu (2004-2006), 87 matches, 11 goals, 17 assists
Bobby Convey (2000-2003), 79 matches, 8 goals, 13 assists
Dema Kovalenko (2003-2005), 77 matches, 12 goals, 14 assists
Fred (2007-2009), 72 matches, 11 goals, 16 assists
Richie Williams (2000, 2002), 55 matches, 0 goals, 5 assists
Earnie Stewart (2003-2004), 47 matches, 4 goals, 6 assists
Rod Dyachenko (2006-2008), 42 matches, 1 goal, 3 assists
Mark Lisi (2001-2002), 31 matches, 4 goals, 5 assists
Jose Alegria (2001-2002), 31 matches, 0 goals, 2 assists
Eliseo Quintanilla (2002-2003), 27 matches, 5 goals, 5 assists
Dominic Mediate (2007-2008), 18 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists

Some tough decisions to make up there.  But keep in mind that we'll have a second poll for the second substitute midfield position later, so at least two of these players will make the final cut.  So go ahead and vote now and tell everyone who you voted for and why in the comments.

For the final position in the All-Decade Team's starting lineup, we turn once again to the defense to try to find a central defensive partner for Ryan Nelsen.  The first round of voting for central defense wasn't as close as I thought it would be, with Nelsen running away with 69% of the vote. 

Will this one be closer?  There are some very strong candidates below, including an MLS Defender of the Year winner, a member of the 2004 MLS Cup winning team, and a player who was a big part of United's early history, although not quite as much in this decade.  Most have gone on to bigger and better things, but only one player from this group played in more than three seasons, and he happens to still be on the team.

The candidates are:

Bobby Boswell (2005-2007), 80 matches, 4 goals, 4 assists
Devon McTavish (2006-2009), 64 matches, 1 goal, 4 assists
Mike Petke (2003-2005), 58 matches, 5 goals, 1 assist
Eddie Pope (2000-2002), 57 matches, 1 goal, 5 assists
Facundo Erpen (2005-2007), 49 matches, 4 goals, 4 assists
Judah Cooks (2000-2001), 16 matches, 2 goals, 1 assist

Please make your selection and go ahead and tell me why in the comments section.

After an extended absense due to the heavy volume of posts that are always generated at the start of a season, we return now to the All-Decade Team.

For those of you who may have missed some of the earlier voting sessions, we are creating an 18-man roster of DC United's best players from 2000-2009.  We hold the voting by position, and the starting lineup is 9 11ths complete.

We already have one starting forward, and it wouldn't be a big shock to anyone that that man is Jaime Moreno, with a dominating 92% of the vote.  I don't expect the voting for the second starting forward role to be quite as much of a runaway.

Just remember that you should be voting based on each player's performance between the years 2000 and 2009, and only based on how they did while in a United uniform.  Here are your nominees:

Luciano Emilio (2007-2009), 83 matches, 41 goals, 8 assists
Alecko Eskandarian (2003-2006), 81 matches, 20 goals, 7 assists
Chris Albright (2000-2001), 48 matches, 4 goals, 1 assist
Jamil Walker (2005-2006), 41 matches, 3 goals, 8 assists
Ali Curtis (2002-2003), 37 matches, 6 goals, 5 assists
AJ Wood (2000-2001), 31 matches, 3 goals, 3 assists
Abdul Thompson Conteh (2001-2002), 30 matches, 15 goals, 1 assist
Boyzzz Khumalo (2008-2009), 19 matches, 1 goal, 3 assists

Here we have a generational conflict between two of the greatest players in DC United history.  United has never won anything significant without one of these guys on the field, and each has been instrumental in delivering championships and other trophies to the team.

It's once again time though for me to remind you that we should only be voting on what a player has done for United between the years 2000 and 2009.  Etcheverry's MLS Cup victories in 1996, 1997, and 1999 shouldn't count in this poll, although I wouldn't blame you for voting for him anyway.

What would be surprising to most casual soccer observers is that one of the most recognizable names in US soccer history isn't likely to finish in the top 2 in this poll.  And no, just to be clear, I'm not talking about Dyachenko.

The candidates for central attacking midfield for the DCU All-Decade team are:

Christian Gomez (2004-2007, 2009), 124 matches, 45 goals, 33 assists
Marco Etcheverry (2000-2003), 94 matches, 13 goals, 35 assists
Freddy Adu (2004-2006), 87 matches, 11 goals, 17 assists
Rod Dyachenko (2006-2008), 42 matches, 1 goal, 3 assists

Similar to our list of potential starting left backs, here we have a nice collection of some pretty decent MLS starters.  But its hard to see many all-stars among this group, and it sure feels like a significant dropoff after seeing the name Ben Olsen among the candidates for our previous position.

Not unlike the list of defensive midfielders (Carroll and Simms still separated by only one vote!), each of our three leading candidates here played the position in very different ways.  Bobby Convey was young and quick and a good crosser, and left United with high hopes of being a fixture on the National Team, but has yet to fully establish himself anywhere since.  Josh Gros was the epitome of a workhorse midfielder, running what seemed to be a marathon every match, with a cast on at least one arm at a time.  And Fred was an attacking midfielder stuck on the wing, and was at his best when making deep runs and playing off fellow Brazilian Emilio.

This might be the hardest vote so far for me.  As tempting as it is to get it over with and vote Gros just because he was a fun player to watch, I'm hesitant to do that, because all three candidates are good.  Hell, just take a look at Fred's stats even though he had the fewest games out of the three.  How will you decide?

The candidates to be our staring left winger are:

Josh Gros (2004-2007), 110 matches, 9 goals, 14 assists
Bobby Convey (2000-2003), 79 matches, 8 goals, 13 assists
Fred (2007-2009), 72 matches, 11 goals, 16 assists
Mark Lisi (2001-2002), 31 matches, 4 goals, 5 assists
Jose Alegria (2001-2002), 31 matches, 0 goals, 2 assists
Eliseo Quintanilla (2002-2003), 27 matches, 5 goals, 5 assists

So far, we've had some positions that are extremely close (including the central defensive midfield position, where only 1 vote separates Brian Carroll and Clyde Simms at the moment), and some positions where voting is merely a formality.

This will be more of the latter.  Which is really unfortunate for some of the players here, who might have been more fortunate to make the starting lineup at some different positions.

Regardless, your nominations for starting right midfielder for the DC United All-Decade Team are:

Ben Olsen (2000, 2002-2009), 162 matches, 20 goals, 30 assists
Santino Quaranta (2001-2006, 2008-2009), 111 matches, 21 goals, 23 assists
Earnie Stewart (2003-2004), 47 matches, 4 goals, 6 assists
Dominic Mediate (2007-2008), 18 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists

I have to start off by apologizing for my absense from this writing series.  MBA classes, evening work functions, and happy hours have kept me away far too long.  But let's get back to it now with another position that I expect to be fairly competitive.

Defensive midfielder has always been an important position for this team.  Throughout its history, DC United's attacking style has revolved around a star #10 central attacking midfielder, and the occupants of this position didn't tend to contribute too much defensively.  So naturally more pressure would fall onto the feet of the central midfielder.

Putting together this list of players was fairly simple when compared to some of the other position lists.   There are no Craig Ziadies and David Stokes' on this list.  No fringe players who didn't really deserve to be starters.  Each player on this list has been among the best defensive midfielders in the league at some point in his career.  And yet you could say that each plays the position in a different way.  One is still a starter in DC, and the other three have since gone on to bigger things.

And so your nominees for the 2000-2009 team are:

Clyde Simms (2005-2009), 133 matches, 3 goals, 7 assists
Brian Carroll (2004-2007), 121 matches, 2 goals, 11 assists
Dema Kovalenko (2003-2005), 77 matches, 12 goals, 14 assists
Richie Williams (2000, 2002), 55 matches, 0 goals, 5 assists

And so we move from a position with two excellent candidates that are equally deserving of being on an All-Decade Team, to a position with two candidates who have been little more than fringe starters for their entire MLS careers.

The candidates for this position are solid proof as to how left back has been a weakness for DC United.  After Jeff Agoos occupied that position for all of the 1990s, DC has struggled to find a consistent replacement.  Unfortunately the only year that Agoos played for us this decade was 2000, making him ineligible for this poll.

So please cast your votes below, or boycott in protest if you'd like.

Brandon Prideaux (2002-2006), 116 matches, 0 goals, 0 assists
Marc Burch (2007-2009), 72 matches, 2 goals, 8 assists
Craig Ziadie (2001-2002), 19 matches, 0 goals, 3 assists

I promise to give you a more exciting position next time.