In 1999, when Metro season was spiraling out of control, the people in charge decided to bring in three players in midseason. Enter defender Mahmoud Khakpour, midfielder Sasa Curcic, and forward Henry Zambrano. Metro, stuck at two regulation wins at the time of the signings, ended up with... four.

Sounds familiar?

Ten years later, stuck at two wins in midseason. The playoffs at this point are unattainable, yet here they are, Jeff Agoos and Juan Carlos Osorio, trying to sign players... for what? Bounda Coundoul might be a good MLS goalkeeper, but is that really a problem area? Veljko Paunovic -- someone who just retired? The newest rumor per the New York Times, Israeli midfielder Shay Abutbul?

Why?

The rest of the season has to be used for evaluation -- evaluation of players who have a chance to be here next year, not semi-retired Serbs. (Did we not learn anything with Curcic in 1999? Apparently not.) Danny Cepero has acquitted himself well in goal, but he needs more gametime to improve on his weaknesses. What would playing Coundoul accomplish, other than deny Cepero the opportunity to improve? Same for Paunovic, Abutbul, or whoever else Osorio is planning to bring in. Would those moves push Luke Sassano, Jeremy Hall, Nick Zimmerman, Danleigh Borman to the bench? Why? To end up with four regular season wins?

Yes, there is still matter of the CONCACAF Champions League, and yes, we would like to see Metro do well, but augmenting it with scraps is unlikely to be the solution.

Well, what is the solution then?

Write the season off, here and now. Play the young players. See what they are made of. And, what's most important, SIGN TWO PLAYERS FROM THE ACADEMY. They are the future. Not semi-retired Serbs.