Last years Thread https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1685226&highlight=MLS+flavors+week We are one week away from the start of the MLS season, Vancover Vs Montreal will be the first match of the season next Saturday although some clubs have CCCL games starting on Wednesday. Any predictions for players that will step it up or flop this season? Here are mine 1.Kelyn Rowe will countine his good pre-season form into the regular season and subsequently win MLS rookie of the year 2. Chicago Fire's CB Jaili Anibaba will have a breakout season 3. Andrew Wenger will find the Transition from College Forward to MLS forward to difficult and will not live up to his expectations as the Overall #1 draft pick (Note I've never seen Wenger play so I base this prediction on absolutely nothing )
experienced guys who will shine: Zizzo, Evans, Clarke, Leinart. Oh, and the two returning Ed's: Buddle & Johnson. What's the status of Brad Davis & Chris Pontius?
Nothing about predictions but a couple things I'm looking at....... 1. I'm hoping for Landon Donovan to lead the Galaxy on a deep Champion's league run. 2. I'm hoping Opara can stay healthy and have a solid season for San Jose 3. I'm hoping to see Luis Gil, Amobi Okugo and Juan Agudelo play as much as possible. 4. Really interested to see Brek Shea's season, hoping for some answers to the questions left by his late season fade. Hoping for good answers. 5. Generally going to keeping my eye on all our U-23 hopefuls, Hamid, Johnson, Villafana, Kitchen, Valentin, Sarkodie, Williams, Okugo, Duka, Adu, Agudelo, Bunbury. I'll also be keeping my eye on if any of the upcoming U-20s can get some playing time.
A guy thats gone under the radar by many is Luis Silva. He's had a good preseason and has impressed at TFC. It'll be interesting to see how much of an impact this talented attacking mid will have his rookie year along with Rowe. You'll have a chance to see him when the Galaxy play tfc next wed. for CCL. I think this year draft was talented enough to see a couple more rookies have an impact imo.
Keep an eye out on Kenny Cooper. I think he's going to return in force this year. And Feilhaber as well.
I'm also interested to see how young CB's Schuler and Anibaba progress. I think they have the potential to get looks for usmnt one day. Im not so sure about Cooper. He didn't have that great of a year last season. I'd hope for Backe to give Agudelo more chances/minutes also
AJ Delagarza will be the main man on defense this year for LA since Omar Gonzalez is out nearly all season. This could be year when AJ really comes into his own as a defender.
I'm excited to see what Zac MacMath can do as an everyday starter. Other than him, there's nobody who I feel is poised to have a breakout year, although I'm sure couple guys will.
Galaxy---Buddle, Donovan. It's all about maintaining with these two. Can LD continue his standard? Buddle has put together a couple of excellent years in a row. Can he keep his mind right and continue to get even better? Houston - Cameron, Sarkodie. Hopefully Cam stays at centerback thus in the National Team picture. Not much room for error being centerback in MLS. He needs to be one the most dominant and the defense playing well to continue getting callups. Sarkodie wasn't strong in the U23 Mexico match. Time for Sheanon Williams? Philly - Farfans, Williams, Adu, Okugo, Mwanga--It's Freddy's team with Frenchy now gone. He's had a full preseason of work with his club for the first time in 4 years. Could be a great year if he can put it all together at U23 and club level with consistent performances. Can Mwanga be that goal eating center forward for Philly. How is the citizenship process coming along?
I havent analyzed other mls teams to properly compare, but San Jose has a dam good team this year, I could see them beating anyone when they play properly. Like preseason v chivas yest 5-0. Still...5-0?
Chivas have had a pretty bad Pre-season though they lost to club TJ's reserves 5-2 a couple weeks ago. Although this is still a good sign for the quakes
Tijuana? Premera Division teams usually play their reserves against mls teams, and as the results go, rightly so. But I know most MLS teams have improved, so our whole league has gotten better.
Yeah, Chivas is The worst team in the league. We'll see where SJ is at when they play the Revs week one. If they can dominate that game, they might be the team some SJ fans think they are.
Let's be honest - even if both teams have improved, San Jose v. New England is closer to a bum fight than it is to Arsenal - Tottenham. Both teams were awful last year. And to keep it on topic I'd love to see Wondolowski keep banging goals in and finally put a few away for the Nats.
I think Gil will have a breakout year, and become a senior USMNT player by the end of the season. I think that Agudelo will either end up having a disappointing season with NY warming the bench for less talented players, or he transfers to Europe before the season is over. I think Brek has a great season, and gets a transfer to a Champions League team at the end of the summer transfer window. I think Donovan wins MVP having his best season yet, and I think Wenger wins ROY. The guy that I think people should look out for is Ryan Meara of NY. He is going to be the starting goalie this year, and he is a very good player.
Gil as a senior international seems the least likely of those. Sadly I could see Agudelo having a tough season. Shea to a Champion's league team seems easily plausible, probably the most probable of them. Maybe Molde, Anderlecht will be interested.
Agree 100 percent. I really liked Silva at UCSB and felt he should have been a GA player last season. He was ready then. He had a great senior year for the Gauchos and has had a great preseason and I'll be surprised if he isn't knocking on the door for Camp Cupcake next year, if not sooner. Another player I'm really intrigued to watch is the Velasquez kid at Salt Lake. I've never actually seen him play but everything I've read about him has been very positive.
If Shea has a good year in MLS plus the Olympics...........clubs with deeper pockets than Molde will be enquiring about his services. This'll be Shea's last year in the league. I fully believe that. It'll also be interesting to see what the ending of the George John on-and-off-and-on-and-off-again transfer saga to Europe is. Nothing has changed with regards to his contract. It's still ending after the 2012 season, and he doesn't seem interested in re-signing. I actually don't expect him to finish the year with FCD, but go to Europe in the summer transfer window.
Who are the rookies primed to perform/AKA get serious minutes from the get-go? from what i've read so far Austin Berry-CB (Chicago), Ryan Meara-G (NYRB), Tommy Meyer-CB (Los Angeles Galaxy), Colin Rolfe-F (Houston), Andrew Wenger-should be CB but instead playing FW (Montreal), Tyler Polak-LB (Revs), Kelyn Rowe-AM (Revs), Luis Silva-AM (Toronto), Casey Townsend-F (Chivas), Charles Renken-AM (Portland), Sam Garza-F (San Jose Earthquakes)
It was more tongue in cheek than anything. But yes to get Shea out of MLS is going to take a minimum of $10 million or more. I think Rowe will have the best season of those listed there, but that's just my guess.