Moving On?

Thursday afternoon Don Garber spoke with Steve Goff of the Washington Post and stated (paraphrasing here because I’m too lazy to get the actual quote, which probably would have taken less time than typing all of this) that if United doesn’t get a new stadium, they will be forced to move.

It’s good posturing on “The Don’s” part. But will it work? I say no. At least not while Adrian Fenty is still mayor of the nation’s capital.

Since Miss Cleo’s gone the way of Milli Vanilli and parachute pants, I can’t predict the future. But there is one option I haven’t seen anyone discuss yet, so let me be the first. Because that’s what we do here at “My 2 Cents.” (See: Beckham, David to Chelsea.)

What if the rumors to St. Louis get some legs? I don’t see that current expansion ownership getting a franchise, even if Albert Pujols is involved. So how about MLS reprising what happened in San Jose? Take United’s team and move them to The Lou, and then in a few years with new owners bring back an expansion franchise -- because MLS still wants to expand beyond the 18 teams it will have in 2011 -- to D.C.

Will this happen? Probably not. Honestly I’d rather see United move to Baltimore -- how about that for a rivalry with Philly? -- so I could walk to home games, but that has as much of a chance of happening as the Orioles making the playoffs.

Honestly, in this economy with relatively no land in NOVA to build upon, and limited areas in Maryland with Metro access, the prospects of finding a location for a new stadium seem fairly remote. I could see playing at Navy-Marine Corps -- which is FieldTurf, but did host games during the ’84 Olympics -- and its capacity of 34,000, but getting fans there from the D.C. area isn’t going to happen.

Personally, I say combine forces with Sasho Cirovski, do away with Frat Row, and build a new stadium for United and the University of Maryland right off of Route 1 and minutes from the College Park metro station. A guy can dream, can’t he?

Other thoughts…

- Speaking of stadiums, USSF announce 70 possible sites for games when the U.S. is awarded the World Cup in 2022 (assuming England gets WC ’18). Since this isn’t every other blog -- notice the lack of “Americans Abroad” or “Soccer on TV” listings -- I won’t cut and paste all 70. Though that laziness factor has something to do with it too. Either way, I find it amusing that RFK is on the list. Though the stadium will host the U.S. national team three times in roughly 12 months, and is a potential World Cup venue, it’s “substandard” for DCU. Things that make you go “Hmm.”

- Eddie Johnson scored. And Cardiff fans were chanting his name. And this time they didn’t have pitchforks and torches while doing so.

- As Mark pointed out yesterday, Jurgen Klinsmann is on the proverbial hot seat at Bayern. This begs the question: if the Golden Bomber gets canned, was it a blessing in disguise for Landon Donovan? Had another manager taken over this summer in that scenario, a situation like Clint Dempsey and Freddy Adu saw in their moves to Europe where the man responsible for bringing them over was axed shortly their after would have arisen. Sadly, I think Donovan’s path would have mirrored Adu’s more than Dempsey’s in that case. Obviously that’s all conjecture, but something MLS talent needs to consider should they finally make that move.

- Seven games, all on Saturday thanks to Easter, in MLS this weekend. Here’s a preview of each in ten words, or thereabouts. Home teams listed first.

San Jose v. Chicago: Quakes home field advantage not enough to thwart Blanco’s return to starting lineup. Prediction: Chicago 2-1

Toronto v. Dallas: TFC rebounds to be the latest team to beat up on Dallas. Prediction: Toronto 2-0

Real Salt Lake v. D.C. United: Me starting four RSL players in MLFS is good news for United. Prediction: 1-1

Columbus v. Colorado: Crew need this game more with tough schedule looming. Prediction: Columbus 2-0

Houston v. New York: Houston doubles total number of April wins in the past two seasons. Prediction: Houston 1-0

Seattle v. Kansas City: The real Emerald City (Seattle) leaves the fictional Emerald City (Oz/Wizards) green with envy. Prediction: Seattle 2-0

Los Angeles v. Chivas: Donovan shines in L.A. derby, but Galaxy defense still concedes goals. Prediction: 2-2

- Pat Walsh