This being the first year of a new decade, I thought it would make for a great time to look back at the previous 10 years and put together a roster of the best players to play for DC United between 2000 and 2009.
I admittedly borrowed this idea from another local SB Nation blog: Hogs Haven. HH's All-Decade series has gone so far as to name long time backup offensive lineman and special teams specialist Ethan Albright (once the lowest rated player on any NFL roster in Madden 2007) to their squad.
I toyed with creating a full 24 man roster, but decided that developmental spots and international spots might get in the way. So instead we will be naming an 18 man gameday roster. And we'll be using a diamond 4-4-2 formation, so you'll get to vote for: 2 goalkeepers, 3 central defenders, 3 outside defenders, 3 wingers, 2 defensive midfielders, 2 attacking midfielders, and 3 forwards.
Stay tuned over the next several weeks leading up to the season as I'll be posting a new position every other day or so. Just remember as you are voting that we should only be focusing on each player's success during the 2000-2009 decade, nothing before, and nothing outside of DC United.
I had to limit the number of players up for each category in some way, so in order to qualify for the All-Decade team, a player must have been with DC United for more than one season, and must have played at least 10 games for DC in one of his seasons.
Some of these positions are obviously going to be more competitve than others. So let's start with an easy one...
For the first starting forward for your DC United All-Decade Team, please select from one of the following:
Jaime Moreno (2000-2001, 2004-2009), 207 matches, 81 goals, 63 assists.
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
Please feel free to lobby for your favorite in the comments section, and check back later in the week for the next position.