We need a forward to compete with and sometimes play alongside Yeboah. Dike is a proven MLS forward that is a free agent and, as an American, wouldn't require an international slot. He's from Oklahoma and so the Midwest shouldn't scare him off.
No Fitz in the 18 but Duncan is back in and Bongi is available.
Big congrats to Tony Sanneh on his induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Of course, in addition to winning multiple MLS Cups with DC United, and earning over 40 caps for the USMNT which included starting the 2002 World Cup, Tony has shown that he's a champion off the field by creating the The Sanneh Foundation to provide youth enrichment in the Twin Cities.
Obviously there's a lot of missed minutes due to injury, but we've got 5 TAM players on roster and 4 of them have been essentially non-factors. Chancalay is the only one justifying his salary. Hopefully Boxall gets back into form but we've also been just fine on defense without him and so this injury stretch has been affirmation that we will be fine assuming he retires at the end of this season after playing in the World Cup.
Having said that, I see that Fitz started, scored, and was Man of the Match for the reserves Sunday against Dallas's reserves. So hopefully he's fully healthy and fit and able to provide some minutes next Saturday against Columbus (I assume he won't feature Tuesday against San Jose, but we'll have some tired attackers that could use relief this weekend on the road in Ohio).
The impact of our TAM players stands in contrast to how well, overall, our U22 players (Gene, Triantis, Romero, Gonzalez) and our DPs (Pereyra, Yeboah) have been doing and is a clear weak spot in our roster. Chancalay hasn't been a league leader by any means but he's been increasingly effective for us...and even having 3 of our 5 TAM guys performing at that level (instead of just one) would be profound for our team.