Who are they? Just curious. Friend of mine who isn't a big fan asked me during the DC game tonight. Last year I would have said Dempsey is up there, but he's gone this year.
Some players not mentioned yet: Pat Noonan is a great dribbler, but lacks the wheels to get past people on the dribble a lot of the time. Christian Gomez and Jaime Moreno have been great dribblers in the past, but certainly haven't shown it this year. Jeff Cunningham has shown some flashes during his career. Brian Mullan doesn't have the flashiest moves, but he's effective. Freddy Adu has a pretty good bag of tricks.
Well, Blanco and Schelotto, when they arrive. Reyna is awesome on the ball, though a lot of that is down to his ability to hold the ball in traffic, which Jaime Moreno is also very good at...not quite the same thing as dribbling.
If dribbling at speed is what you want, it's Mapp and Arturo Alvarez for the Yanks. Freddy Adu and Ned Grabavoy don't match their speed but are very good in the middle of the field, less so on the flanks. Dean Richards is very good in using his speed on the flank. Angel and Barros Schelotto haven't arrived yet but those two are smooooth. Noonan has lost it (hopefully, it's due to injury and he can recover but the league is improving and some players are being passed by). Kenny Cooper has surprisingly nimble feet for a big guy.
Khano Smith has loads of pace, but he certainly doesn't have the greatest dribbling in the MLS I'm surprised no one mentioned Bornstein. But Dane Richards on RBNY gets my vote, he beats guys on that right flank so creatively. Not a bad player at all, imo.
I'd gotta say Sigi Schmid. Well now that I say that, with his gut, I'm sure he gets every last bit of food in his mouth! Oh wait we were talking about dribbling with the ball.......................
I think Mapp is hands down the best dribbler in the league. Half due to his moves and half due to being really fricking fast.
he's had a great start to the season, no doubt. I didn't include him only because we haven't been able to see how defenders adjust to him yet.