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The Donnety Award, for D.C. United's most disappointing player

Even though the season was good, there were still some disappointments

By Ben Bromley

This season, like last season, lacks consensus candidates for the Donnety Award, given to D.C. United's most disappointing player. But give the award we must. For those who don't remember, the award is named for Matias Donnet, the Argentinian star midfielder who had played previously at Boca Juniors and Venezia before coming to D.C. in 2006 with loads of potential. But he would play in only eight matches, score only one goal, and leave in disgrace before the end of the season. Former winners of this award include Eddie Johnson, Brandon McDonald, Christian Castillo, Danny Szetela, Zach Wells, Jose Carvallo, and Hamdi Salihi.

  1. Fabian Espindola: Compared to his standards, this was a down year for Fabian Espindola. He started off the year serving his six game suspension for pushing a linesman last year and was injured off and on throughout. He played half the season, scoring 5 goals but still contributing 7 assists. Hopefully next year he will bounce right back to where we expect him to be.
  2. Michael Seaton: The first player in MLS born after the league started, Seaton had (and still has) tons of potential. Traded in August for an international roster spot and targeted allocation money, Seaton ended his United career with five games, two starts, and no goals.
  3. Luis Silva: Another player traded during the season, Luis Silva disappointed mostly because he could never stay on the field due to an almost bizarre number of ailments. He did have one game-winning free kick goal early in the season though.
  4. Markus Halsti: The Champions League midfielder came to United as a ballyhooed signing, but injuries and then squad rotation kept him from playing with the first team consistently until August. After that, he and Perry Kitchen struggled to recreate the magic Kitchen had with Davy Arnaud.
  5. Michael Farfan: Injuries really were a talking point of the season, with Michael Farfan also spending much of it on the bench. He tantalized us with one match against the Vancouver Whitecaps early in the season, but was never able to find that magic again.

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