Why SKC should win the Supporters Shield

Houston has beaten Chivas and San Jose 1-0....two weak west teams. They are only winning due to their defense right now. They only beat SJ because of a questionable PK, and one of their CB's scored to save the win against Chivas. Granted, they still have two road wins in two games. However, if I was a Houston fan, I would be worried about where their goals are going to come from. We don't have that problem....I think we are more balanced than they are, and probably deeper at most positions.

We'll see how good Houston is on Friday night when they play at Seattle. Probably low scoring due to Houston's defense, but I am thinking we should have sole possession of first place by 8:00 Sunday night. The true test for us will be the month of April...following Chivas, we have four tough games against the western upper crust. I like that we play LA and RSL at home though....our schedule is very favorable.

 

I'm glad MLS is aligning into more in-conference games since it will help build up rivalries and for the travel aspect, but it does really affect the race for the Supporters' Shield. Until there are an even number of teams again, that honor is really going to be goofy since we have differing formats between the divisions.

As for SKC, being the favorites in the East is pretty much the same as being a top prospect for the SS, along with LA (overly talented) and Houston (same advantage as us).

 

I believe that the MLS has had an unbalanced schedule more than a balanced schedule in their history.

I think the whole thing about the West being better than the East isnt as true as people think it is. If you look at the standings last year, LA and Seattle were better than the rest of the MLS but after that, everyone else was packed together really tight.

If we win the Supporter's Shield or someone else in the East does, I can already hear the whining from fans of Western teams because they have it in their head that their conference is somehow dominate.

 

Yes there's only been a 'balanced' schedule twice.


As for the original question, the only answer really needed is: because most of the East SUCKS

 

I'm not as worried. People keep talking about how Houston has us completely figured out, but Vermes has admitted he made tactical mistakes against them in that game. Honestly don't believe we're going to play against them with the same exact tactics. Don't forget that they may know what we tried, but we also know what they did and are now better prepared.

We're a more flexible team than Houston.

 

i loathe seeing this thread. if any team should be aware of early season indications not aligning with late season results, it's us. i agree that we're one of the better teams in the east, but this is mls and she's a fickle beast.

 

I completely agree. I think all the things listed above are accurate but anything can happen. We are deep but if Nielsen or one of our CBs go down for the season, I would be very concerned about or ability to stop goals.

I think that we are in the Top 4 teams in the league competing for the SS but in MLS there always tends to be a surprise team that comes out. Vancouver could be that team this year.

 

Ummm.... I'd get drunk and buy way too much SKC stuff?

 

Me too.

 

I have pondered how this city would respond that many times... would we get a ticker-tape parade? would it be treated fairly by the KC media, compared to say, the Royals just making the playoffs? I am sure the new stadium and the new fans have helped make this an idea more reasonable for city's attention now...

On a personal level, i may take a whole week off for that... lotsa beer consumption... lotsa arms raising, fist pumping, tears of joy... yeah... it's good to think about...

 

So when we tell you guys not to jinx it by talking up the Supporter's Shield, your response it to start talking about a SS/MLS Cup *double*?

Just to counteract all this rampant optimism, I'm going to have to predict something impossibly negative... like losing to a USL2 team in the Open Cup.

 

I don't think we'll win the SS. I don't believe we have enough depth in some fairly vital areas and I don't believe we'll have enough guile to unlock the stingiest defenses ... we have a really good team but I don't feel there is much special or great about it.

We've only played two games .... against teams that didn't make the playoffs last year, and one in the Revs who are a complete and utter disaster when they have eleven men on the field.

 

I think the main point should be: we only played to games. Period.

The fact that we played against two poor teams is mitigated by the fact that we looked pretty darn comfortable in those two games. But more importantly just that we won them and therefore did as much as you could ask us to.

Pretty much we have proven that we shouldn't be taken out of SS contention based off those two games.

2 down, 32 left to go and we will learn a lot about our SS chances in the coming games.

As far as depth/quality... I think it's also too early to make hard judgments at this point as well. We know that SKC isn't afraid to make mid-season pickups and some of them have worked out quite well (i.e. Collin, Sinovic with the caveat being Jeferson).

Things also change over the course of the season - we started 2011 with Sassano (filling in for Harrington) and Espinoza on the outside of the backline... Today we will probably not see Roger in a LB position without at least two injuries, but this time last year he was our first choice LB.

So the short of it is just this: We've only played two games - even in the NFL we would be premature to make anything more than guesses at this point.

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That being said, I don't disagree with the premise that our schedule is advantageous - LA, RSL & DAL at home and the East does look weaker than the West... if we do win it then you can be sure that people will complain that we don't deserve it as much. But again, something we can worry about when the trees start looking colorful again.

 

Last year LA did it with 67 points. To best that we have to get 2 points a game. 23 W's will take care of that. Keep the streak up and we will have it by mid July.

We are the only team that can still get 102 points.

Salt lake can only get 99.

Take 3 points LA while they are down and they will already be a third of their losses last year.

Now if we can beat that nasty Seattle bug, we have had the last couple of years.

 

This thread makes me giddy. We're talking about silverware and CCL 4 games into the season. We can't help it.

 

This thread makes me sick. (And isnt helping me sleep).

 

yeah, well, it's doing my head in.