DC United 4th in latest Examiner.com MLS Power Rankings

June 26, 2:44 PMWashington Soccer ExaminerEd Morgans

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An 0-1-1 week dropped DC United from second to fourth in the latest Examiner.com MLS Power Rankings. United tied last week at Seattle, 3-3, scoring the final two goals to get the point; then lost badly at Colorado, 3-0. 

United is off this week from MLS play, and will not take the field again until Tuesday night, when it hosts the Ocean City (NJ) Barons of the PDL in the third round of the US Open Cup. The match will be played at the Maryland SoccerPlex and will kick off at 7:30 p.m. United got to this point in the tournament by beating FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls in the MLS qualification tournament. The Barons knocked off Crystal Palace-Baltimore and Real Maryland FC to earn a match vs. Major League Soccer competition. 

Below is the ballot I submitted for this week's Power Rankings. There were nine submissions this week for the poll, and all nine selected the New York Red Bulls dead last. Houston was the unanimous number-one team, and rightfully so in my estimation. These rankings were compiled prior to the two MLS matches on Wednesday, in which Toronto beat New York, 2-0; an FC Dallas tied Colorado, 1-1. 

1. Houston: I would have expected them to win over the weekend, but that doesn't mean anyone else in the league is better than the Dynamo. 
2. Colorado: Omar Cummings was the Bandit to United's Smokey. 
3. Chivas USA: More a function of the Rapids moving up than anything Chivas did wrong. Suddenly, the West is powerful. 
4. Chicago: Move up despite launching into SuperLiga play. Nothing like some midseason exhibitions to tune up for the second half of the league season. 
5. DC United: They were horrible at Colorado - and that's no surprise, they've been horrible at Western teams since 2007. 
6. Columbus: Picked a good week for an awful loss to FC Dallas. There's no one else in the league that wants to be ranked this high. 
7. Toronto FC: Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play. 
8. Seattle: Great fans deserved better than gagging away a 3-1 lead to United last Wednesday - in a game most of the country missed an hour of. The 1-1 draw at New York may as well count as a loss. Unacceptable, even on short rest.
9. Real Salt Lake: I give RSL an advantage over KC and NE, one because RSL played in the league over the weekend, and two, they got a tie at red-hot (or orange-hot?) Houston. 
10. Kansas City: Continuing in the mediocre range. 
11. New England: I really think they are better than this vote at No. 11, but I can't find a logical argument to move them up right now. 
12. FC Dallas: Can't get too high on them because they've been bad much of the season, but the win over Columbus is a quality win for the former Burn.  
13. San Jose: Movin' up like George and Weezie after a win over the Galaxy. 
14. Los Angeles: The more games they lose, the more all the draws begin to look like a significant number of missed opportunities. I'm not buying what the LA Rebuilding Project is selling. 
15. New York: Tied Seattle, but still the opposite of Secretariat - much the worst.
 

* The contract of goalkeeper Louis Crayton will not be extended beyond its conclusion on June 30, the club announced yesterday. The move doesn't come as much of a surprise, given that Josh Wicks has locked down the number-one job for now, and the club used a SuperDraft pick on goalkeeper Milos Kocic out of Loyola. Crayton was thought to be the top keeper entering preseason, but a preseason injury left him on the bench for United's first two matches, which Wicks started. Crayton shut out Houston in his season debut, but gave up a bad goal in a 2-1 loss at Real Salt Lake. Head coach Tom Soehn used all three goalkeepers on multiple occasions this season and Wicks was finally the one to play at a high level consistently enough to win the job. United will have an open roster spot as of July 1. Crayton was 4-7-6 in league play as United's goalkeeper, with five shutouts. 

The conspiracy theorist could wonder if Kocic and Wicks got all their time so the organization would know well in advance that it would not re-sign Crayton, or maybe it already did, but that's a bit much to digest I think. Crayton had his chances to earn the top spot back, and didn't. Wicks was the first to step up and has been justifiably rewarded with playing time. There's no logic to cutting Kocic, who the club must have drafted for a reason. So Crayton's depature is highly logical. 

* Midfielder/forward Santino Quaranta and defender Dejan Jakovic will represent the US and Canada, respectively, during the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup - scheduled for July 3-26. Quaranta has two goals and six assists this season and will look to build on his total of 11 full international caps with the US. Jakovic was acquired prior to the season from Red Star Belgrade and while he has struggled at times, has seemed to take control of the central role when United employs a 3-5-2 formation as it has for the majority of the season. Jakovic has appeared once for the Canadian National Team. United has league matches scheduled for July 4 at Columbus; July 18 vs. Colorado; and July 25 at San Jose. Were the club to beat Ocean City on Tuesday, United would also host an Open Cup match on July 7 against either New England or Harrisburg (USL).

Both departures could have adverse effects on United. Quaranta's ability to play multiple positions and his production this season have been a key to United's first-place standing in the Eastern Conference. Rookie Chris Pontius can pick up some of the slack, but veterans Christian Gomez, Jaime Moreno, and Luciano Emilio will have to be strong in Quaranta's absence. With Jakovic gone from the back line, and Soehn preferring a 3-back formation; Greg Janicki might get the call in the middle between Bryan Namoff and either Marc Burch or Avery John on the other side. Janicki will have to carry a lot of responsibility in that case, and will need to mark well against opposing forwards, especially those with speed.

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