Virginia native Bill Hamid named MLS Player of the Week

Annandale, VA native Bill Hamid was voted MLS Player of the Week following his shutout of the New York Red Bulls this past weekend. Hamid is a product of Premier Athletics Club. 

Washington, D.C. (March 18, 2013) – D.C. United announced today that goalkeeper Bill Hamid was selected by the North American Soccer Reporters as MLS Player of the Week. Hamid earned the honors after a strong performance and second straight shutout against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. Hamid was tested often and helped preserve the shutout with an impressive seven saves.

Hamid’s final save of the game came during stoppage time as he cleared a Brandon Barklage shot off the line with a last-ditch effort to preserve the clean sheet. Hamid, who won Major League Soccer’s Save of the Week in week one, is also leading the League in shutouts (two) and saves (13).

READ/WATCH: A closer look at Hamid’s impressive day

The Major League Soccer Player of the Week is selected each week of the MLS regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.

D.C. United returns to action on Saturday and will look to extend its home undefeated streak to 20 games over the 2012 and 2013 Major League Soccer campaigns.

Reston, VA 9-year-old Getting International Attention

Reston resident Sebastian Conlon, 9, has been playing with the Great Falls Soccer Club Milan Blue U11 travel team since it was formed in 2010.  Despite being the youngest player by nearly 2 years on the team he is one of the team's top goal scorers each of the past few seasons playing the mid-field position. 

Photo Credit: Great Falls Soccer

This past season he helped the club reach a likely Division 3 spot for the upcoming spring NCSL season-they missed out on Division 1 in the final game of the season with a tough away loss. Additionally the team won the elite bracket last fall in a very competitive Richmond Kicker's Tournament attended by over 100 teams. The team is comprised of players from the local Great Falls/Reston area and most have been an integral part of the club since attending GFSC Little Kickers programs.

Conlon, who trains six days a week with three different teams and his own personal speed trainer, spent most of last summer training in England. During his stay in England he was evaluated and trained with coaches and players from Championship side Birmingham City FC and Premiere League side Reading FC. Additionally while in the UK he attended residential training programs with Manchester United Soccer Schools impressing coaches with his play. 

Led by Pontius Hat Trick, United make statement in 4-1 win over Red Bulls

Chris Pontius has made it crystal clear - he is completely 100% recovered from his season ending leg injury that cut short his 2011 MLS season.

Pontius lead United to a huge win over Eastern Conference rivals, New York, Sunday evening at RFK Stadium. With the hat trick Pontius showed that he was the most dangerous forward on the field, despite Thierry Henry and Kenny Cooper both coming into the match with seven goals a piece. Henry did pick up another goal (MLS leading 8th goal) late in the game but by then Pontius and the Black-and-Red had already put the game away for good.

“We talked about what they did to us last year here,” Chris Pontius told the media after the match. “We didn’t forget about losing 4-0. [This year] we are a more mature team. We close games out better, and we see plays out better. We make a lot less stupid mistakes.”

Since coming on as a substitute against New England in the second half for the struggling Hamdi Salihi, D.C. United's major off season Designated Player signing, Pontius scored the game winner against the Revolution and had the hat trick in a dominating victory over the Henry led Red Bulls. Meanwhile Salihi has seen only 15 minutes of playing time over the past two games.

The four goals in a three game stretch now see Pontius tied with Maicon Santos (4 goals) as United's leading scorers.

Up next for D.C. is a home game against the Houston Dynamo who feature two players with Virginia soccer backgrounds. Brad Ownby played college soccer at the University of Virginia and club soccer for the Richmond Strikers. Corey Ashe played for the then Virginia Beach Submariners (now Piranhas) of the USL.

United is now enjoying a six game undefeated streak and find themselves in second place in the Eastern Conference with 12 points.

Former Mason Men's Soccer Player Borrajo Signs With NY Red Bulls

George Mason University and the New York Red Bulls announced this week that former Mason soccer player Jonathan Borraja has signed with the MLS club:


  
gomason.com: Former Mason Men's Soccer Player Borrajo Signs With NY Red Bulls

newyorkredbulls.com: Jonathan Borrajo's New York Homecoming a Dream Come True

United fall hard at home to Thierry Henry and Red Bull squad

What was advertised as a huge match-up for the Atlantic Cup between East Coast MLS rivals D.C. United and New York Red Bulls quickly turned into a one sided drubbing at RFK.

Biggest game of the Year Thursday for Charlie Davies and D.C. United vs. New York Red Bulls and Thierry Henry

Where are they now? Big Names in Virginia Soccer History - Claudio Reyna

Many U.S. and University of Virginia soccer fans remember former US National team, New York Red Bull, and UVA player Claudio Reyna.

Back before Landon Donovan was the biggest name in US soccer, Claudio Reyna was widely considered one of the greatest players from the United States. Reyna played on three U.S. world cup squads in 1998, 2002, and 2006 as well as two Olympic teams in 1992 and 1996.

While on the men’s soccer team at the University of Virginia from 1991-1994 Reyna played for head coach Bruce Arena, who of course went on to coach the men’s national team. They combined to win three national championships at UVA.

After his amazing college career Reyna went to Europe and played for Bayer Leverkusen, Rangers, Sunderland, and Manchester City before returning in 2007 to join MLS side New York Red Bulls.
Currently Claudio Reyna is busy running the Claudio Reyna Foundation whose mission statement is “to Invest, Instill, and Inspire underprivileged youth in urban communities by providing positive experiences through Education, Community Involvement, and Soccer that grow healthy bodies, minds, and spirits. He was also named US Youth Soccer Technical Director by USSF in April 2010. Reyna is married, has three sons and one daughter, and now lives in Bedford, N.Y.

Top 10 Wish List for MLS Designated Players:

This is going to be simple. Now that Thierry Henry is all but suited up for the New York Red Bulls (possibly the worst kept MLS secret), I’ve compiled a short list of non-U.S. players that I think should be on every MLS franchises wish list as possible Designated Players. Remember under the new Designated Player Rule each team is now allotted 2 (possibly 3) DP slots.

The factors included in producing this list were not amazingly complicated: Name recognition, ability to make plays and/or score (Americans love goals), willingness to play in MLS either right now or within a couple years, and finally their ability to draw the crowds, media attention, and possibly some level of respect to the MLS.

As MLS fans have seen from past DP’s name recognition alone like Beckham will not be enough. Even though Beckham sold out stadiums and outsold all other teams jersey sales, he has been considered a bust on the field and has done very little to bring respect to the quality of MLS as a top level sports league in the U.S.

With that in mind, here is the list. Feel free to disagree, argue, laugh, dismiss, or if at all possible AGREE with this list in the “comments” section:

1. Patrick Vieira (Manchester City)
2. Andrei Shevchenko (Dynamo Kyiv)
3. Clarence Seedorf (AC Milan)
4. Mikael Silvestre (Free Agent)
5. Michael Owen (Liverpool)
6. Ronaldinho (AC Milan)
7. Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)
8. Roberto Carlos (Cornthians)
9. Guillermo Franco (Free Agent)
10. David Gray (Manchester Utd.)*

O.K. so #10 on the list is a bit of a joke but Gray is already a beloved man in America so why not?