MLS flavors of the week: 2011 Edition [MLS R's]

Last weekend vs Seattle Opara played the last 20 minutes of the game and looked good, both on offense and defense. SJ was struggling on set pieces, then he came in and won two headers in a row on corners, almost scoring on one. It's amazing how good he is in the air.

 

If Opara would not have gotten hurt, I think he would be ahead of Ream/Gonzo on the young CB hype train. He was the 2nd leading scorer for San Jose last year despite missing half the season.

 

with so many tier 1 guys, why bother with the tier thing.

 

2nd on that.

 

A pairing of Ream and Opara seems to give the U.S. the best of both worlds....a destitute mans version of Vidic and Ferdinand

 

It would be nice if we could pare down to a nice top 10. I would do it, but I don't see as many MLS games as some people here. I would be going on ears rather than eyes, so to speak.

 

That's an impossible task. What are the criteria for a "Top 10" anyway? Current ability? Perceived potential? Some subjective combination of those subjective measures? I think it's best to simply talk about whoever people want to talk about; ranking players will just lead to endless meta-discussion.

 

Tally Hall, Gonzalez, Eddie Gaven, Geoff Cameron, Danny Califf, Eric Brunner made Goaldotcom's Week 3 Best XI.

 

Hall, Marshall, Gonzalez, Cameron, Bunbury made MLS Soccer's Week 3 Best XI

 

Perhaps we could compile press scores as is done in the YA forums. These are the sources I have found so far for weekly best XIs.

MLS Soccer
Goaldotcom
Ives
American Soccer News

I'll throw up the Americans who made the Best XIs and the benches. Imo it could be a useful way of following which younger players are catching the eyes of the league and media.

 

I think this is a good idea, rep.

 

I like Bunbury. He seems "cold" in front of goal. He reminds me of Samuel Eto'o

 

Yep, must be all that swag.

 

I agree. He rarely gets excited and blasts the ball off-target. He is very calm and collected on the ball.

 

A quick and dirty list of the Best XIs of the Week so far from Goaldotcom(G), MLSsoccer(MLS), American Soccer News(ASN), and Ives(Iv).

I didn't see a week 2 from Ives.


Goalkeepers

Busch-wk2(MLS,ASN,G)
Hartman-Wk1(MLS,Iv,G)
Tally Hall-wk2(MLS,ASN,G)||wk3(MLS,Iv,ASN,G)
Alex Horwath-Wk2(ASN)
Rimando-Wk1(MLS,Iv,ASN,G)
Saunders-Wk1(MLS)

 

Defenders


Eric Brunner-Wk3(G)
Danny Califf-Wk1(MLS,Iv,ASN,G)||Wk2(ASN)||Wk3(G)
Jay DeMerit-Wk1(ASN)
Gonzalez-wk3(MLS,ASN,G)
Jason Hernandez-Wk2(MLS,ASN)
Chris Leitch-Wk1(G)
Zach Loyd-Wk1(MLS,G)
Marshall-Wk2(MLS,G)||wk3(MLS,Iv,ASN)
Brandon McDonald-Wk2(G)
Drew Moor-Wk1(MLS,Iv)||Wk2(MLS,ASN,G)
Parke-Wk1(MLS,G)
Tim Ream-Wk1(G)
Chris Schuler-Wk1(MLS,Iv)
Soares-Wk3(MLS)
Anthony Wallace-Wk3(MLS)
Marvell Wynne-Wk1(Iv)
Jed Zayner-Wk1(G)

 

Midfielders

Beckerman-Wk1(MLS,Iv,G)
Cameron-Wk3(MLS,ASN,G)
Brian Carroll-Wk2(MLS,ASN)
Bobby Convey-Wk3(G)
Eddie Gaven-Wk3(MLS,Iv,ASN,G)
Jack Jewsbury-Wk3(Iv)
Larentowicz-Wk1(MLS,Iv)||Wk2(ASN)
Dax McCarty-Wk1(ASN)

Forwards

Juan Agudelo-Wk1(MLS,Iv,ASN)
Bunbury-Wk3(MLS,Iv,ASN,G)
Charlie Davies-Wk1(MLS,Iv,ASN,G)
Alan Gordon-Wk3(MLS)
Chris Wondolowski-Wk2(MLS,ASN,G)
Cam Weaver-Wk3(ASN)

 

Notable absence: Landon Donovan. No goals, no assists, and no shots on goal in 270 min of action.

Huge variation in opinion on defenders.

Danny Califf getting kudos for all 3 sessions.

 

For clarification these are from the weekly Best XIs and honorable mentions of the respective publications.

I'll include age and experience and caps of each player later.

 

hmmm, just eyeballing the number of characters after each players name, it looks like Califf, Marshall, and Moore are off to the best starts in the Yanks Not Abroad pool. But, then, it raises the intermittently relevant issue that there seems to be less foreign competition for the defensive positions.

 

Yeah, perusing through the lists one notices the prominent foreign representation in the attacking positions.

 

For what it's worth, Bunbury was the most accurate shooter in the MSL last year. He rarely shoots off target.

 

It amazes me how little attention is paid to Anthony Wallace given the perpetual crisis-mode at left back.

 

I am becoming a serious fan of his. His composure and skill puts him on a different level from most of the USA prospects at the forward slot. That chop back and left footed finish last week was impressive-for its skill and idea.

 

He's only reason I make sure to watch the Rapids every week. The kids got a cultured left foot and had a good assist on Sunday. He's improving his defensive awareness by just getting games consistently. I'm hoping he'll be the answer sooner rather than later.