Ben Olsen burst onto the MLS scene soon after the league launched, bringing a potent mix of skill and effort to a powerful D.C. United team. As injuries robbed him of some of his speed and likely ruined his chances of remaining in Europe, where he had impressed on loan with Nottingham Forest, he stuck with United and was a midfield general whenever healthy. He made it to the World Cup in 2006 with his experience and willingness to do anything for his team.
Along the way, he became one of the most popular athletes in Washington. Not on D.C. United — in D.C. He was always quotable and charitable. The fact that Nick Rimando and Jacqui Little asked him to officiate at their wedding should tell you what his teammates thought of him, and the fans who came up with elaborate displays for him felt the same way. (Fine, Red Bulls fans, go ahead and wretch, but I’m just telling you the reality here. Besides, if you’ve made peace with Richie Williams, surely you can forgive another United midfield irritant.)
Whether Olsen, only a few months removed from his playing days, is ready to take over as head coach of a dysfunctional D.C. United team is anyone’s guess. He will have one advantage over Curt Onalfo — everyone will be rooting for him.
But at D.C. United, the problems surely go a bit deeper than the head coach. Let’s look at a couple of years of incoming players (skipping minor developmental player moves), since 2007, when United won the Supporters Shield:
2007 postseason:
– Zach Wells (trade for Bobby Boswell). Boswell regained most of his form after the move; Wells went through a revolving door in goal.
Also in the postseason, United lost Brian Carroll in the expansion draft, which would haunt them later.
2008:
– Drafted Andrew Jacobson (2nd), Ryan Cordiero (3rd), Tony Schmitz (4th). Jacobson opted for France’s Lorient but returned to be a solid reserve in 2009 before going to Philly in the expansion draft.
– Franco Niell (Argentino Juniors). Most notable for being very, very short.
– Gonzalo Martinez (Millonarios). Not dreadful but didn’t last beyond the season.
– Marcelo Gallardo as Designated Player. Didn’t quite live up to expectations.
– Gonzalo Peralta (Arg. 2nd division). Like Martinez, not dreadful, not quite good enough to keep.
– Jose Carvallo (U. Deportes/Peru). The fifth of a truly disappointing wave of South American signings.
– Santino Quaranta, who turned out to be the feel-good story of the year and is still a solid contributor
– Quavas Kirk (trade for Greg Vanney). Vanney was near the end of a solid career; Kirk hasn’t quite put it together and is in the second division now.
– Francis Doe off waivers. At this point, just grabbing players and hoping someone sticks.
– Louis Crayton (Basel/SUI). Frankly, I always liked Crayton in goal, though he had some erratic moments.
– Boyzzz Khumalo and Greg Janicki on loan from USL-2 Pittsburgh. Each guy filled some holes here and there; neither player still with team.
Overall: A disaster. Only Quaranta remains with the team, and he was a low-risk gamble who happened to pay off. The can’t-misses all missed badly.
2009:
– Drafted Rodney Wallace (1st), Chris Pontius (1st), Milos Kocic (2nd), Lyle Adams (2nd), Brandon Barklage (3rd). Finally had first-round picks and put them to good use.
– Christian Gomez (re-acquired after year away in trade for Ivan Guerrero, DP slot — other considerations each way). Gomez just didn’t have much left.
– Ange N’Silu. No longer with club.
– Dejan Jakovic. Useful defender when healthy.
– Josh Wicks (trade). Goalkeeper wowed media in 2009 with a couple of good games but flamed out.
– Avery John, after acquiring rights from Revolution. Contributed through 2009, didn’t stick.
– Danny Szetela. Worth a shot, didn’t pan out.
– Ely Allen. Small impact.
– Julius James. Solid defender.
– Bill Hamid (from Academy). Fantastic goalkeeping prospect.
– Steve Cronin (on loan). Too many injuries in goal. Cronin wasn’t half-bad.
– Postseason: Ben Olsen retired, Andrew Jacobson left in expansion draft.
– Overall: No huge misses as in 2008, just not enough to strengthen the roster beyond the draft picks, Jakovic and James.
2010
– Cristian Castillo (technically in 2009 postseason). Already gone.
– Troy Perkins (traded Fred to acquire allocation rights). Hasn’t been as steady in return to D.C.
– Drafted Jordan Graye (4th). Not a bad fourth-round pick, actually.
– Danny Allsopp. Curiously hasn’t nailed down starting spot, though perhaps that’s something Onalfo got wrong.
– Floribert N’Galula. Lasted one month of preseason.
– Adam Cristman. Came over from KC with Onalfo and has had some good moments up front.
– Kurt Morsink. Also an Onalfo guy. Physical midfield player.
– Andy Najar. An extraordinarily fortunate find through the Academy system from Edison High School.
– Juan Manuel Pena. Distinguished veteran who seems incapable of playing 90 minutes at his age.
– Carey Talley. Well-traveled guy back for second stint with United to provide experience off bench. Pressed into service by injuries at back.
– Stephen King. Useful utility midfielder acquired in trade.
– Pablo Hernandez. Forward has shown a few good flashes along with a propensity to hit the ground a little too easily.
– Branko Boskovic. Designated Player. Seems solid so far — will he settle in and prove to be worth the expense?
Overall: Jury’s still out.
Through this period of nearly three years, the best acquisitions were a returnee looking to rebuild his life and career (Quaranta), two first-round picks (Wallace, Pontius) and two Academy players (Najar, Hamid). And the Academy has had a shakeup this year with John Maessner’s abrupt exit.
The foreign signings? Allsopp, Brankovic and Hernandez are the remaining hopes from an undistinguished record. The club is still reeling from the disaster of picking up more than one-fourth of the senior roster in one South American swoop, only to see all five players disappoint to some degree.
And this season, most of the solid core players — Burch, Jakovic, Pontius, Wallace, Devon McTavish, Clyde Simms — have all been cut down by injuries at some point.
United president Kevin Payne says Olsen is an interim coach (MLSSoccer.com story) and surely won’t be the head coach beyond this season, though he may someday hold the spot. “He’s taking one for the team,” Payne says in both the MLSSoccer.com piece here and the Post post below.
So is Onalfo, who has long-established ties to the area. It could be argued, though, that taking guaranteed money through 2012 (Washington Post blog item) and not having to coax a winning performance out of this team gives him the better part of the deal. Getting fired isn’t the best item to put on one’s resume, but Onalfo might come out of this experience better off in the long run.
Will D.C. United?
Duresport.com 
Some context on these moves:
Boswell-for-Wells trade: I’d argue that Boswell never becomes the player he is had he stayed under Soehn. I give Kinnear a ton of credit there. The problem wasn’t giving up Boswell, it was failing to scout Wells, who was clearly not an MLS starter.
Carroll in the expansion draft: Carroll had lost his spot in the lineup to Simms, who was and is better suited to a 442 (I know the Crew claim to line up in a 442 now, but Warzycha’s formation consistently looks more like a 4231 than anything else). The problem here was that we protected Burch and McTavish instead of getting Carroll’s market value.
2008 moves: Jacobson was the only good draft pick, and we had to wait a year to play him. I think you’re being far too generous towards Martinez and Gallardo (who become totally disinterested by mid-season) as well as Peralta (who was awful). Quaranta was a good move. I never figured out why we got rid of Doe, who was dirt cheap and gave us speed up front (something we have lacked seemingly forever).
2009 moves: Re-signing Gomez was idiotic, since we let him go because he didn’t have enough left in the tank. A year later, he had less! It still makes me angry. Szetela cost us our spot in the allocation order; it seemed like a worthwhile move at the time, but obviously now it was a mistake.
2010 moves: Castillo played the right position and had a good WCQ cycle, but never came close to adjusting to MLS. Perkins has been a big disappointment, especially considering the big salary and the costly trade it took to get him. Allsopp doesn’t deserve to start because he only plays well in low-pressure friendlies and against USL-2 teams (he has, in my book, just one good game in MLS, and even that was against Kansas City at their very worst). Boskovic and Hernandez look like guys that can truly make a difference, but it’s too little, too late from the front office.
All good points.
Szetela was certainly worth a shot. Someone should do a follow-up and see what has happened to him.