This is purely ranking the on field product of the teams. 1. Blast - No question the top team so far. Beating Syracuse twice is very impressive. 2. Comets - 5-0 record while beating some good teams and some bad teams. 3. Monterrey - 7-0 record speaks for itself. Winning at Vegas and Ontario proves they are legit. 4. Syracuse - This is based off of talent, not necessarily record. They might only lose to the Blast and the Wave this year. 5. San Diego - Strong record so far, but haven't played anybody other than Vegas and Ontario. 6. Wave - I would have put them above Syracuse before the loss to Chicago last weekend. 7. Mustangs - Beating the Wave last weekend moved them way up the charts in my mind. 8. Lancers - I see them squarely finishing in 3rd in the Eastern division. Separation in place now with 2 wins over WAZA. 9. Fury - Like this team alot. Some good players. Basso, Nunez, Piffer, Tigiuhno, Sesay. Just get Bernie off the field. 10. Ambush - Good win over Chicago, but 2 early losses to the Wave and I think they are going to lose again on Saturday in Milwaukee. 11. Sidekicks - The easiest division in the league will allow Dallas to have an inflated record. I just don't see any high-end talent on this team. They look slow. 12. Las Vegas - Very inconsistent team. Have some good players. The keeper is one of the best in the entire league. 13. Wichita - Maybe ranking them a little high here. I think Roentved will change things in that locker room and they will compete for the 3rd spot in the playoffs. 14. Waza - I'm not a fan of their roster. They have a home team roster then a road team roster. Guys are added just to play for a weekend. Makes the league look bush league. 15. Texas - The addition of Chili and Garcia makes this team significantly stronger. Again easy division I see them making the playoffs. 16. Hildalgo - Is this team really the team that finished as the PASL runner-up? Because they are not very good. 17. Turlock - Not very exciting and couple talented players, but all very old. 18. Impact - Improving on the field. That's all I will say. 19. Harrisburg - I actually think this team looked good against the Comets last weekend. Showing some improvement under Coach Black. 20. Tulsa - They need an influx in talent big time. Central division is no joke and then they play Sidekicks a bunch. Not an easy road for the Revs. 21. Brownsville - I don't even know 1 player on there team. 22. Saltillo - Same as above. 23. Sacramento - This team has 1 good player. The kid with the blonde mohawk. The rest of the team is terrible. Its a shame cause Sacramento is huge soccer market for USL pro. These guys should be better. Fire Away!!
Great job. We needed something like this as a reference point if nothing else. If you're way off on any of these rankings, someone should let us know.
I would say the Lancers, Ambush, Fury and Heat are ranked too high. But it's not easy to rank that many teams or to make head-to-head comparisons.
Love the rankings but I refuse to believe Rochester is the 8th best team in this league. The saddest part is you may be correct in that ranking, just a shame if true. I'd still put Ontario, St Louis, and maybe even Vegas above them though. They really are not that good.
I don't think the Lancers are in 8th considering they lost at home to the Fury. So the Fury should be above them. Laraza might be team #1. And I'm a Comets fan. What I have seen of the Sidkicks Id put them even lower. Rocket could have the Wing-I-lings moving up in a hurry. Heading to IEC tonight for the Comets/Mustangs match. This should be a good game. Moyo is a stud for the Stangs.
The Blast arguably play in the hardest division with two former MISL teams and Detroit, who have proven themselves as one of the better teams in the PASL. There really is only one "white elephant" in the Eastern Division (*cough*Harrisburg *cough*). That said, the rankings don't really matter as all the teams are at the top of their own divisions, and there is not enough inter-division play to even have a league wide ranking.
So what are the rankings now? Waza's beat the Knights, Wichita beat the Stangs, as we as the Comets beating Chicago Friday night.
#1 - Baltimore, Missouri, and Monterrey It is really hard to justify ranking teams that are all undefeated differently. The real test is when they take on each other. And I guess we will have to wait for the postseason for that.
That's kind of what makes it fun to talk about. Especially in a league with an imbalanced schedule where some of the better teams won't play each other much if at all. Kind of like college football.
Actually, that's why I don't follow college football. Sponsors dictate who plays whom, and the schools with the boosters with the deepest pockets get the best players (the tie-breaker being which school's boosters can schmooze mom with the best spin about silly stuff like an education).
All right I thought the rankings would be good to revisit now as we head to the playoffs. I think the only team not in the playoffs that would be if they were in any other division is Wichita. 1. Comets 2. Flash 3. Sockers 4. Blast 5. Silver Knights 6. Wave 7. Legends 8. Fury 9. Sidekicks 10. Mustangs 11. B-52's - DNQ 12. Lancers 13. Oxford 14. Ambush 15. Waza 16. Heat 17. Saltillo 18. Stars 19. Surge 20. Revolution 21. Express 22. Brownsville Teams 17-22 essentially you could flip flop positioning.