Ted’s on vacation. Jon called in Gregory Roche from Pitch Pass. DC United ground out a 0-0 draw against the Philadelphia Union. And DC United’s CSO posted AI-written content on LinkedIn that didn’t know how many championship stars are on the club’s badge.
It’s been a week.
Jon and Gregory spent 90 minutes working through the result, the roster, the transfer window, Louis Munteanu’s increasingly worrying situation, and whether this season is actually done and dusted. Gregory’s answer: absolutely not. The Eastern Conference is a disaster and DC United are still in a playoff spot.
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The LinkedIn Chronicles: Three Stars on the Badge
DC United’s CSO posted AI-written content after the Philadelphia draw. The Soccer Wise crew ran it through an AI checker and it came back 100% AI generated. The tell: the post referenced three stars on DC United’s badge. That is not the correct number of stars. The CSO of the club apparently does not know how many championships the team he runs has won.
Jon and Gregory have been tracking these posts since the beginning of the season — the “I eat food with my hands and that makes me a citizen of the world” post, the one clearly written by a real human about his mom, and now this. A weekly segment may be forthcoming.
The Game
DC United held Philadelphia to essentially nothing in a 0-0 draw — defensively organized, Nikola Markovic doing yeoman’s work in the six role, Matti Peltola and Kye Rowles both solid. Offensively, the story hasn’t changed. Zero shots in the net. Zero genuine clear-cut chances created. The team has not scored in four games.
Gregory made the pointed observation that this is all consistent with a roster that went two thirds of the way in the transfer window and then stopped. The defense works. The attack doesn’t exist. Renée Weiler knows it, says it publicly, and then puts the same lineup out every week anyway.
Was This Weiler’s Window?
One of the sharpest exchanges of the episode came when Gregory pushed back on the idea that Weiler was just handed a bad transfer window. Gregory’s argument: Weiler went to Romania personally to scout Louis Munteanu. Weiler brought in Caden Clark. These were his decisions, not decisions handed down from above. If a number 10 wasn’t brought in, that’s on Weiler too — not just the ownership. The grocery list was Weiler’s. If the shopper brought back the wrong brand of cheese, that’s still partly on who wrote the list.
Jon agreed. The frustration in the press conferences — where Weiler increasingly sounds like a podcast host ranting about his own team rather than a coach defending it — is starting to ring hollow when he was in the room for the decisions.
The Louis Munteanu Question
Gregory raised the uncomfortable possibility that Munteanu might not be here at the end of the season. The One Knoxville SC performance was genuinely alarming — not because he was asked to carry the team, but because a $7 million Romanian international looked like just another player on the field against a USL League One side. Gregory contrasted it with Branko Boskovic, who despite his injury troubles, immediately showed quality whenever he was healthy. With Munteanu, that quality has not been visible yet.
Jon’s updated theory: Weiler went to Romania, saw something he loved, signed him — and is now watching training and 15-minute cameos and wondering if he made a mistake. Giving Munteanu less time means the mistake is less obvious. Meanwhile Gavin Turner’s minutes are quietly increasing. The World Cup break in June becomes the reset button everyone is quietly hoping for.
The Pirani Situation
After Weiler publicly called out Pirani following the One Knoxville loss — calling out a lack of professionalism and suggesting players were laughing on the field — the question became: does he ever see the field again? Jon and Gregory both landed on yes, with conditions. Pirani has a well-documented annual cycle where he contributes in a limited cameo role later in the season, scores a few goals, and everyone briefly forgets how frustrated they were. That window may be coming. But he is not a starter and has not been for a long time.
A locker room source has apparently suggested that Pirani is not well-liked internally either, which if true, adds another layer.
The Eastern Conference Reality Check
Gregory’s closing argument was simple: Montreal opened the season minus eight on goal differential. Atlanta is underperforming massively despite a $43 million roster. Columbus is nowhere near last year’s form. Toronto, Orlando, New England — none of them are good. DC United, despite everything, are in a playoff spot. The season is not done and dusted. It is all to play for.
Two moves — a healthy and contributing Munteanu, and a chance-creating DP — and this team is in the top four conversation. Neither move happened. But the environment is bad enough that the playoff picture is still very much alive.
About Gregory Roche
Gregory Roche hosts Pitch Pass, a DC United focused podcast. Find it at pitchpass.com and follow Gregory on Bluesky.
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