Secret to DC United's Success (+ Jeff Bradley's Surprises)

Grant Wahl scribbled an ode to DC United's Barra Brava fan club in his exploration of that team's almost dynastic success. He attributes their place in the league's elite both to the fan support and to a talent pipeline that runs from places like Bolivia and Argentina to our nation's capitol. That could very well be the case: after all, between Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno, and Christian Gomez, DC has done pretty durn well in the market for foreign players (Long Live King Jaime I?).

A more concrete take appeared in most recent of Jeff Bradley's First XI columns (he's putting these out regularly lately; did the league threaten his kids or something?). By way of explaining why he counts DC's fine 2006 as one of the eleven biggest surprises of the season, Bradley writes:

"What head coach Peter Nowak has done masterfully -- and this is the formula for success in MLS -- is he's surrounded the two most technically gifted players on his team (Jaime Moreno and Christian Gomez) with guys who will do whatever it takes to win. D.C. brings it just about every game."

So, there's that. Frankly, I don't know what DC does - I only wish they'd either stop doing it, or let New England in on what "it" is.

By the way, the other ten surprises aren't too shabby for debate fodder either.

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