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With the acquisition of Christiano Francois and Christian, the amount of available roster spots on D.C. United is down to one or two. And after United released Khari Stephenson very early in the preseason, to allow to him a chance to catch on with another team, today United released their second player of the preseason: fourth round SuperDraft pick Travis Golden.
Didn't make the final roster but it was a great experience! Thank you @dcunited for giving me this opportunity #justthebeginning
— Travis Golden (@trickytrav514) February 13, 2014
Golden is a center back out of Campbell University in North Carolina, who was projected to make the switch to left back if he was to have a chance in MLS. However, with Chris Korb and now Christian ahead of him, his chances of making the roster took a large hit. Hopefully Golden can catch on with an NASL or USL PRO team before the start of their seasons.
With the release of Golden, that leaves only two players left in camp who are not yet signed to a contract: Zach Barnes and Victor Munoz. Barnes has primarily played as a central midfielder in the preseason for D.C. United, although it has also been suggested he could see time at outside back. Munoz is a more creative left midfielder, who has played in the second half of two of the three games so far. There are now thirty players in camp, with thirty potential roster spots available. I would expect the team to leave one roster spot open, as they have not started the season with a full 30 for the past few years and might want to keep space open for a potential weighted lottery or summer signing.
UPDATE: Goff is now reporting that Zach Barnes has been released as well. With these two moves, it seems likely that Victor Munoz will make the team and that they will go into the season with 29 players.
