DC United officially added three MLS honors and awards this week as Coach Ben Olsen, Goalkeeper of the Year Bill Hamid and Defender Bobby Boswell were named Coach of the Year and to the MLS Best XI squad, respectively. There is no doubt that the team would have traded in those league awards and honors for an opportunity to hoist the MLS Cup this coming Sunday. No matter the timing of the honors, it is a testament to the type of season DC pulled together and vindication to an organization that decided to stick behind a coach who oversaw the worst MLS season by any team in the league’s previous 18 years.
Ben Olsen has been with the DC United organization since late December 1997. He played three years at the University of Virginia and was named the 1997 Soccer America Player of the year his junior year. He was allocated to DC in late December of his junior year and his career with the organization began. Olsen went on to be named 1998 Rookie of the Year, won two MLS cups, two Supporters Shields, and named to the 2007 MLS Best XI. Olsen represented the U.S. in a Gold Cup and a World Cup before calling it quits as a player after the 2009 season. He was an assistant head coach on the DC staff in 2010 before being named interim head coach after the firing of Curt Onalfo mid-way through a miserable season. The interim label came off as he became the permanent head coach for the squad in 2011 and thus began his career as the head coach for DC United. He’s managed to lead DC to a 6th, 2nd, 10th and now this year, 1st place finishes in his four full years as head coach. This year’s turnaround season was quite remarkable as he led DC on the greatest turnaround in MLS history, from worst to first in the East. It would have been easy to fire Olsen after last year’s debacle of a season, but management and fans all thought 2013 was not Olsen’s fault and boy did he reward them this year. Olsen’s spectacular turnaround even led to an extension by the club through the 2019 season, giving him the ability to possibly lead a new era of the black and red into a potential new stadium home.
Bill Hamid’s selection feels like a long time coming but when you take into consideration that he is only 24, one realizes that this may be the beginning of a flourishing career in the Tim Howard/Nick Rimando mold. Hamid is the team’s first home grown player and was the only keeper in the league “to finish in the top three in save percentage, shutouts and goals against average” (dcunited.com). Hamid’s improved play this season was confirmed when he received a call up to the national team in October after over a year without receiving one. No surprise that he struggled in 2013 when the team only won three games, however, this season has vindicated him and provides him with the opportunity to be in the conversation of future goalkeeper stars. He is the third-youngest Goalkeeper of the Year honoree, following Tim Howard and Brad Guzan, which amplifies his notoriety heading into a new World Cup cycle.
Bobby Boswell, DC United’s captain, returned this year after spending six seasons away with the Houston Dynamo to lead the club’s stingy defense and provide some much needed back line leadership. Boswell led the defense on a stellar campaign that provided a tie for first in goals against average (1.09) and fewest goals allowed at home. This is Boswell’s second time being named to the Best XI squad, the first being in 2006 when he was also named MLS Defender of the year, an award many thought he would earn this year but lost to Seattle’s Chad Marshall. The 31 year old defender has been regarded a top notch defender since his arrival in the league in 2005 and has been at the heart of defense on some good defensive teams. Unfortunately, the lone trophy that has eluded him, the MLS Cup, will have to wait at least one more year. After a spectacular 2014, there is no reason why Boswell and his back line mates can’t and won’t continue their stellar play in 2005.
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