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D.C. United Notes: Korb undergoes surgery, Seaton scores for Jamaica, and more

Chris Korb

By MITCHELL NORTHAM

The first bit of significant injury news of the season was confirmed by D.C. United yesterday when the club announced that defender Chris Korb had an arthroscopic procedure performed on his left knee to repair cartilage.

Korb, who was pegged to be the team’s top reserve at both fullback positions, is expected to miss three to four weeks recovering from the surgery. To make matters worse, recently signed homegrown defender Jalen Robinson will be sidelined for around the same amount of time with a hamstring injury.

Should either of D.C. United’s newly-acquired fullbacks (Sean Franklin and Christian Fernandez) be forced to sit out play due to injury or suspension, head coach Ben Olsen may have to turn to a young and unproven player like Taylor Kemp for minutes early in the season on the back line.

Here are some other D.C. United notes to catch you up before the start of the season.

SEATON SCORES FIRST GOAL FOR JAMAICA

After coming on in the second half as a substitute in the Jamaican National Team’s 2-0 win against Barbados on Sunday, 17-year-old D.C. United forward Michael Seaton earned a start for Jamaica in their friendly against St. Lucia on Wednesday.

The opportunity is a rare one for a player his age, and he did not disappoint. Seaton scored the first international goal of his career just 12 minutes into to the game, giving Jamaica a 2-0 lead.

The ‘Reggae Boyz’ would go on to win 5-0 over St. Lucia and scoring the fifth goal for Jamaica was Colorado Rapids forward Deshorn Brown.

Jamaica will play their next friendly against Serbia on May 26.

INTER MILAN ASSISTANT ADDED TO COACHING STAFF

D.C. United made a coaching hire on Wednesday as the club announced the addition of Enzo Concina to the staff as an assistant coach.

Concina joins United’s technical staff from Inter Milan of Serie A in Italy. D.C. United announced that although Concina is joining United’s staff as a scout he will still remain on Inter’s staff as well.

Prior to joining Inter’s staff, Concina was an assistant with Napoli in Serie A from 2010 to 2013. He played in Italy for 12 seasons before playing his last season of soccer in Canada with the American Professional Soccer League.

“Enzo will add a wealth of experience and knowledge to our staff,” D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen said. “We are extremely pleased that he has joined our coaching staff.”

CASKEY ACQUIRED FOR DRAFT PICK

The Black-and-Red made a roster move earlier this week, trading a third round pick in the 2016 SuperDraft to the Seattle Sounders for midfielder Alex Caskey.

The 25-year old has made 17 starts in 30 appearances in the past two seasons as a Sounder after being selected in the third round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft.

“Alex has had two solid seasons in Seattle, and he will provide us with great cover across the midfield,” D.C. United General Manager Dave Kasper said. “We look forward to having him on board.”

Caskey trained with the club on Wednesday.

Comments

  1. Not only is DCU looking at having to rely on Kemp to come on if one of the starters at FB can’t play, the question would be who else could the team look to for more depth. They’d have to move someone from the midfield, probably either Neal or Kitchen ot possibly DeLeon.

    Reply
    • Another option would be to move Birnbaum outside, or Kitchen, neither of which anyone really wants to see. The Kitchen as FB/CB experiment is over and Birnbaum is more of a CB than an outside defender.

      Reply
      • I thought having Boswell/White/Birnbaum would’ve been the perfect combo of leadership and youth. White was definitely making strides but I suppose Benny and the FO weren’t satisfied with the pace at which he was progressing

      • I was a big fan of White. He played really well down the stretch last season. I think DCU lost some athleticism with swapping him for Parke, but they gained experience. Should be interesting to see how it plays out.

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