D.C. United's goalkeeping crisis has forced 43-year-old Pat Onstad out of retirement. The Canadian was pressed into service following the injury suffered by Steve Cronin in preseason training.

D.C. hired Onstad as a goalkeeping coach after he became a free agent and retired following the 2010 season. He was MLS Goalkeeper of the Year with San Jose in 2003 and 2005 and then played five seasons for the Houston Dynamo. He was the oldest player in MLS when he retired last season.

Cronin was acquired in a trade with Portland for Troy Perkins. Bill Hamid, who started eight games last season as a 19-year-old, is coming back from shoulder surgery. After Cronin was injured, the D.C. coaching staff discussed at lunch its options, including Onstad's return.

"We were joking but we were serious, and we started to have a real conversation about it," General Manager Dave Kasper told the Insider's Steve Goff. "He had a chance to digest it and decided he could do it."