Tuesday night, D.C. United takes on Chivas Guadalajara at Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal series. The series is tied at 1-1 after Omar Bravo and Luciano Emilio traded goals in the second half of the game at RFK on March 15.
The eight players who were not a part of the 18-man roster returned to D.C. on Sunday and included Bryan Arguez, Kasali Yinka Casal, Jeff Carroll, Rod Dyachenko, Kiki Willis, Shawn Crowe, Brad North and Guy-Roland Kpene. The remaining 18 practiced for the final time in Guadalajara at Chivas' training complex, Verde Valle, on Monday evening.
United's newest acquisition, Brazilian midfielder Fred, will be available to help with the attack while Chivas will be without Omar Bravo after the star forward picked up his second yellow card in Champions' Cup play in the last game. The match kicks off at 9:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports Español.
The refereeing crew for the evening consists of Roberto Moreno from Panama (head referee), Jose Luis Carmago from Mexico (first assistant), Hector Delgadillo from Mexico (second assistant) and Jorge Gasso from Mexico (fourth official).
Anacostia Cleanup
Fans and members of the D.C. United front office took part in Saturday's Potomac Watershed Cleanup on behalf of United Builds. They picked up trash along a section of the Anacostia shoreline at Poplar Point and managed to fill up 38 garbage bags with the trash they found in addition to pulling out a propane tank, carpet and grill.
Viewing Party
D.C. United fans are invited to watch the club's season opener on Saturday at the ESPNZone in downtown D.C. (555 12th St. NW). The Black-and-Red take on the Colorado Rapids in the debut of their new stadium, Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The match will be broadcast live on ABC and is set to kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Bonds likes soccer
It looks as though Barry Bonds may be developing quite the affinity for soccer. The San Francisco Giants slugger took in the Mexico-Ecuador match at Oakland Coliseum with D.C. United Co-Managing Partner Will Chang on March 28. Both were there to honor retiring Mexican International and Chivas USA player Ramon Ramirez. While in Oakland, Chang also spoke with Lew Wolff (owner of the Oakland Athletics and the licensee for the MLS franchise in MLS), MLS Comissioner Don Garber, Justin Compean (President of the Mexican Soccer Federation) and Hugo Sanchez (Head Coach of the Mexican National Team).
BobbyBoswell.com Update
Check out BobbyBoswell.com for a new video of Luciano Emilio's humorous antics and ball skills. Boswell has been posting periodic updates from the team camp in Guadalajara and also recently including a teaser for an upcoming video of his April Fool's Day prank on the United rookies. Check out the reigning Defender of the Year's site here >
United staffer on Subbuteo
D.C. United sales representative Zach Walker was recently interviewed on Inside Soccer on the subjects of D.C. United and Subbuteo, a game he is an avid fan of. Subbuteo is a type of table soccer game that Walker describes as "chess on caffeine." The interview can be heard here >
