D.C. United's new holding midfielder Joe Vide wasn't supposed to be there. Not at D.C., who signed him up during an injury crisis after he was waived by San Jose, and not on the edge of the penalty area in a scoring position against the Colorado Rapids last weekend. But his left foot shot handed United the initiative and the go-ahead goal in a drab game, and gave him his first goal in three years of MLS play.
"I never would have thought I would score," Vide told Steven Goff two days later. "I know I'm not really a threat." After the game his father teased him that he'd actually mishit the ball. Vide is just relieved that the team signed him after a short, unhappy time at the Quakes where he admits he didn't play well. Coming to D.C., he said, "I knew there were no guarantees. I was just happy to be picked up and happy to be playing again."
So happy that he was prepared to stomach a $17,700 league minimum developmental salary when goalkeeper Louis Crayton joined United and knocked him off the senior roster. This in spite of the fact that Vide is 24 and has already spent a decade developing his game at German second division side 1860 Munich as a teenager, as a college player at the University of Virginia, and then at RB New York, who picked him up in the 2006 supplemental draft. D.C. coach Tom Soehn is also pleased at the bargain and the way he's working in tandem with the team's other holding midfielder, Clyde Simms. "They know when to cover for each other," said Soehn, "and they have the ability to read each other."
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