1. Goalie: United has never had a dominant keeper like Matt Reis or Joe Cannon that’s anchored the team. Rimando has great reflexes but can make you nervous at the same time. The early keepers had such solid defenses in front of them that it’s almost not fair. Advantage: Scott Garlick, cause he’s been a good keeper no matter where he’s played.
2. Defenders: This is pretty easy – Nelsen was stellar, especially in 2005. Agoos was a solid left back and contributed a lot to United’s attack. Eddie Pope scored so many important goals for the club that you can’t ignore him. The last spot for me is between Llamosa, a smart defender and accurate tackler, and Petke, a tireless and spirited stopper. I have to go with Petke for the energy he brought on to the field and how well he complimented Nelsen.
3. Midfielders: Etcheverry is a lock, although you could maybe might be able to in some ways argue that he potentially should have retired a year or two sooner. Check Ben Olsen, except for the injury years he’s contributed. John Harkes is my 3rd choice. Finally, I have to include Christian Gomez, his arrival sparked our title run in 2004, I don’t think we’d have made it there without him.
4. Forwards: I have to go with the other Bolivian on the ballot, Jaime Moreno. Can’t argue that one. The other is harder to choose. Arce and Lassiter had great seasons early in their career but depended to much on others creating for them. While, Eskandarian has only had one good season with the team, but it was a championship season and much like Gomez, without his goals United would not have lifted any hardware.
For coach, is there really any option. Bruce Arena, enough said.
Finally, a few words about a couple other players that I left off. Brian Namoff, Brian Carroll, and Josh Gros are still young players, but promising. I had a hard time excluding Earnie Stewart but he brought a lot of intangibles to the team that while vital, are hard to measure. Chris Albright, you couldn’t score at RFK if you were the only one on the field, I can’t believe your listed as an option under forwards. Stoitchkov is only on this list because the front office is afraid of what might happen if they had left him off.