The 2010 season officially gets underway for DC United tomorrow with the start of training camp at RFK. We've seen plenty of changes to the United roster this offseason, so I figured this would make the perfect time to introduce a new feature: the Rolling Roster.
In the table after the jump, we'll look at all the players who have been invited to camp, and review their status, along with their chances of making the final roster.
| Player | Pos | S | D | I | Notes |
| Troy Perkins | G | 1 | 2007 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year returns | ||
| Josh Wicks | G | 2 | If he's healthy, should compete with Kocic for #2 goalkeeper position | ||
| Milos Kocic | G | 1 | 1 | Could find himself the odd man out if the team has confidence in Hamid | |
| Bill Hamid | G | 2 | DCU Academy signing might be trusted as the #3 this season | ||
| Bryan Namoff | D | 3 | We've heard conflicting reports all offseason as to how he is recovering from his concussion | ||
| Dejan Jakovic | D | 4 | 2 | Canadian should do even better this year with the team playing a 4-4-2 permanently | |
| Julius James | D | 5 | 3 | Will his heroics in the final game of the season allow him to keep his starting job? | |
| Marc Burch | D | 6 | Our default starter at left back could face some competition this year from Wallace | ||
| Rodney Wallace | D/M | 7 | May be asked to slide back to defense after starting most games on the left wing last year | ||
| Devon McTavish | D/M | 8 | This versatile role player give us depth in many positions | ||
| Lawson Vaughn | D | 9 | His chances of returning depend greatly on Namoff's health | ||
| Jordan Graye | D | 3 | Rookie out of UNC could knock Vaughn off the roster if he shows well in camp at right back | ||
| Lyle Adams | D | 4 | Our second round draft choice in 2008 comes crawling back | ||
| Otto Loewy | D/M | 5 | Anchor defender out of Winthrop could be a dark horse after missing all of 2009 due to injury | ||
| Clyde Simms | M | 10 | The team's 2009 MVP needs to have another big year | ||
| Santino Quaranta | M/F | 11 | Started out strong but faded late in 2009 after struggling with injuries. Definite starter at right wing. | ||
| Christian Castillo | M | 12 | 4 | Salvadoran joins the team with high hopes of adding attacking proficiency on the left | |
| Danny Szetela | M | 13 | Can he step out of the doghouse and right into the starting lineup? | ||
| Floribert N'Galula | M/D | 14 | 5 | Time will tell if this Congalese player's skills are as good as his resume | |
| Tiyi Shipalane | M | 15 | 6 | Showed good potential when he saw him in a Harrisburg City Islanders jersey last year | |
| Brandon Barklage | M | 6 | He was surprisingly impressive in 2009 before an injury ended his season too early | ||
| John DiRaimondo | M | 7 | Scored the winning goal for the Richmond Kickers in the USL-2 title game | ||
| Two-Boys Gumede | M/F | 8 | 7 | Many were surprised this highly rated player from Alabama-Birmingham went undrafted | |
| Daniel Wasson | M | 16 | Made 22 appearances for the Colorado Rapids before moving on to the 2nd Budesliga | ||
| Christian Gomez | M | 17 | United failed to issue him a contract extension, but still lists him on their website | ||
| Chris Pontius | F/M | 18 | We're all hoping he doesn't suffer from a sophomore | ||
| Jaime Moreno | F | 19 | 36-year old needs to keep scoring to stay ahead of Jeff Cunningham on the all time goals list | ||
| Danny Allsopp | F | 20 | 8 | Australian striker will be asked to contribute immediately in a starting role | |
| Boyzzz Khumalo | F/M | 21 | 9 | Looks to be a frequent substitute either at forward or on either wing |
So not actually a whole lot of competition right now for the 20 senior roster slots. I would expect guys like Vaughn and Wasson to be on the bubble. But there's much more competition for the 4 developmental roster slots. If Hamid and Barklage are probably the two definites, and Graye and DiRaimondo are the leading candidates for the other two slots, that means that the trailists are going to have their work cut out for them.
This is always fairly difficult to do, as it is often not very clear whether a player takes an international slot if is qualified for the developmental roster, so I had to make a couple assumptions:
1. We heard a couple months ago that Christian Gomez received his green card, so I'm assuming he no longer counts against our 8 international roster slots.
2. While Floribert N'Galula is young enough to occupy a developmental spot, I don't see him coming from Europe to take that kind of money.
3. I'm assuming Gumede does not have a green card since he was born in South Africa, but it's very possible that I'm wrong.
Reviewing the roster has also given me a couple of other questions, that I'm expecting to be answered within the next few days:
1. Why is Christian Gomez still listed on the roster? If the names of other departures like Habarugira and John have disappeared from the dcunited.com roster, why is Gomez still there?
2. Troy Perkins is listed as #0 on dcunited.com. Is he a big fan of Gilbert Arenas? Or is he just still in negotiations with Milos Kocic to buy back the #1?