Marked for Rossi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Silvan Hefti in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Ramírez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Riqui Puig gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Squad
Rossi still has not settled
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Riqui Puig in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Ramírez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Rossi
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Keisuke Kurokawa will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2027
Benji Kikanović: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” DC United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Aug 2027
Riqui Puig wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Bryan Ramírez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lewis Morgan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match21 Aug 2027
DC United leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lewis Morgan, and the manager let it.
Match21 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
The spotlight tightens on Rossi
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Aug 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at DC United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Rossi, 34, rolls back the years — 8.34
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Aug 2027
Riqui Puig among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Riqui Puig on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of DC United and Atlanta United FC.
Match14 Aug 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Riqui Puig. 4‑2 against Atlanta United FC, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Morgan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
The chase for Peter Stroud ended with $2.3M changing hands and Minnesota United FC out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market9 Aug 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at DC United heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lewis Morgan commits to DC United for another 4 years.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Ramírez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Riqui Puig runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jonás Miszczuk was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Riqui Puig, and the manager let it.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Tijuana to sit and watch. I want to come back to DC United and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Louis Munteanu sold
Philadelphia Union arrived with $12.2M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Match24 Jul 2027
No end in sight to DC United's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at DC United has to find a result from somewhere.
Market26 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Riqui Puig joins from LA Galaxy in a deal worth $5.9M. Now comes the harder part.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Supporters turn on the $12.2M sale of Louis Munteanu
He is going to Philadelphia Union, the club has $12.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” DC United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Bryan Ramírez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
DC United spend $5.9M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $5.9M for Riqui Puig, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Silvan Hefti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Jul 2027
No hiding place for Rossi
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rossi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and DC United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match17 Jul 2027
No end in sight to DC United's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at DC United has to find a result from somewhere.
Market19 Jul 2027
Garrison Tubbs has left for New York City in a $1.7M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market19 Jul 2027
Business is business: Niko Markovic goes
Nashville SC paid $1.7M and DC United took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bryan Ramírez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Louis Munteanu
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Jul 2027
DC United pick somebody else ahead of Rossi
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match17 Jul 2027
It needed Mohammed Sofo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FC Cincinnati, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Louis Munteanu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Ramírez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Rossi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match26 Jun 2027
0‑1 to New York City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Sean Johnson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at DC United will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jun 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Bryan Ramírez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match5 Jun 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
An afternoon Hosei Kijima will want back
Marked 5.50. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
In brief
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Player ratings
A day to forget for Rossi
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Player ratings
Sean Nealis could not find anything
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 May 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad31 May 2027
Louis Munteanu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kye Rowles is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match29 May 2027
Three points for DC United, 3‑1 the final word against Chicago Fire in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad31 May 2027
Silvan Hefti gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match29 May 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for DC United. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.63, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match29 May 2027
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Jared Stroud in the middle of it, and Chicago Fire unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad31 May 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 May 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.40, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 May 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bryan Ramírez wants continental football; whether DC United can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad17 May 2027
Louis Munteanu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Ramírez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match15 May 2027
Toronto FC made DC United work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad17 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match15 May 2027
DC United settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Toronto FC spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Squad17 May 2027
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The terraces17 May 2027
The spotlight tightens on Rossi
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 May 2027
DC United sink to position 13
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad10 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 May 2027
Kye Rowles falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match8 May 2027
Philadelphia Union left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 May 2027
No hiding place for Rossi
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rossi, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings10 May 2027
An afternoon Kye Rowles will want back
Marked 4.27. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The terraces10 May 2027
The spotlight tightens on Kye Rowles
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Apr 2027
$8.1M — a new record at DC United
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Bryan Ramírez from FC Cincinnati for $8.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silvan Hefti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Louis Munteanu, and the manager let it.
Match24 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at DC United
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Silvan Hefti
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
João Peglow could not find anything
5.57. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Silvan Hefti: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” DC United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Apr 2027
New England Revolution left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kye Rowles, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at DC United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matti Peltola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Brandon Servania was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
5.51 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 5.60, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
An afternoon Rossi will want back
Marked 5.65. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Benji Kikanović: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” DC United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Louis Munteanu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Silvan Hefti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market12 Apr 2027
No place for Silvan Hefti in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Silvan Hefti has his answer from DC United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silvan Hefti, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Louis Munteanu
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Mar 2027
Alex Bono puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at DC United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Louis Munteanu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Nehuén Kruger gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nehuén Kruger has just signed for DC United, and for once the answer mattered.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match27 Mar 2027
3 matches without a goal for DC United
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Rossi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match27 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Matti Peltola falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The spotlight tightens on Rossi
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
29 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what DC United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A one-man rearguard from Sean Johnson
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
DC United sell a favourite for $2.7M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jackson Hopkins was one of the reasons people came, and $2.7M does not replace that by itself.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Rossi signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rossi commits to DC United for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at DC United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A move Julián Freyfeld would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Julián Freyfeld is living that version at DC United, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
6 academy players handed senior numbers at DC United
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Louis Munteanu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Silvan Hefti falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market1 Mar 2027
Colorado Rapids are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. DC United will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.