from http://www.mlsnet.com/content/03/tcs0403.html 1) Los Angeles – No reason not to rank them on top, is there? 2) Columbus – An in-form McBride should help them start well. Tough early test, though… 3) San Jose – This should be Landon’s year, how will the D hold up? 4) New England – Can they build on last year’s run? 5) Kansas City – Honest workers are never a pushover 6) MetroStars – Bradley will right the ship, but give it some time 7) Colorado – El Pibe is gone, which will help overall. Still need a target, though. 8) Dallas – Is D.J. ready back there? 9) DC United – I’m as eager as anyone to see what happens with this side 10) Chicago – Fans in Naperville may need a program ------------------------------------- Why is it that "National" media completely underestimate this team. Essentially the Burn are returning the exact same team that finished 3rd Overall, plus some cap room to bring in a marquee player... and virtually everyone else in MLS lost players. I could understand 4 or 5th... if you really felt a couple teams got better. BUt to be behind Metro, Col, SJ, and KC? that is rediculous.
The Burn, assuming there is no big signing, are a fourth of fifth place team. Some teams did get better, other got much worse. The Burn is slightly behind where the were last year, and that is due to Flash leaving. There is a good deal of uncertainty on this team. That might not be a bad thing. For the team to be a real contender, though, that last SI spot must be used well.
I'm gonna track down all the pre-season Burn slammers and post them here, including Scipio (preponderously downbeat) Gothicus. Then assuming no BS crash, we can all sit back in October and laugh. Scip - i have heard of lowering expectations just so you don't get disappointed - but you take it to the max. This team will whip KC, Metros. We are one forward away from a frigging Cup.
To address the statement made, I am not comfortable with DJ back there. He is going to have to win a lot of people over. True, the defense in front of him should help. I know the lad is talented, but he is unproven of course. So to bring myself full circle, it is impossible to feel good about an unproven goalkeeper. This issue will be more desicive to the Burn's season than if EJ is on or not.
This is a concern, but Peter brings up a valid point. While we have eXtReMe danger on both sidelines and represent trouble for every team in this league; the fact is that we still have no 'fear-instilling' striker to keep the opposing defense on their heels. Ball possession will be critical for us this season (and thus, a healthy Oscar is a must), and if we can achieve that, it will take a tremendous amount of pressure off of DJ - allowing him to develop at a fair pace. This is that-much-more critical in the early stages of the season. The last thing we need is to damage DJ's confidence by underachieving in the holding midfield. Turnovers will either bring sighs of consternation, or sighs of relief if DJ lives up to his billing. But we still need that marquee finisher (still looks like EJ won't be healthy and ready for some time) to put defenders on their heels. Let's hope MJ can once again provide us with some magic.
I'll help. So far: Burn Doubters: Tino Palace-#8 overall !! Scipio Gothicus. Marc Connolly #4 in west Beau Dure (USAtoday) #4 in west Burn Believers stopper4 -i've got them at #1 overall Jeff Bradley (as usual), #3 overall
DJ was making some hot saves on setpieces last night for what it's worth. I'll concurr that we are mid-table side right now. 8th place is rubbish with our midfield and defensive talent. But to be considered for "elite" status this year, we need 20 goals from Rhine, Cerritos and/or EJ. And we need Kreis to score 10 after July 4th. Right now, based on current fitness, form, and past history, neither of those needs look anywhere close to being fulfilled. Ergo, mid-table side. We've never finished in 8th place in the league and yet the coastal media regularly predicts just that to occurr. Every year. I'm used to it by now. It's laughable really. Our defense will allow Countess to get grow in to his role without getting lit up. But we need a striker that will collapse opposing defenses. Right now, we don't have that. -3w
Why is Peter a doubter? Mid-table is realistic and hedges the bet that we won't land a premier striker. 8th place, now that's a doubter. Class Scipio how you will, but class me with him. -bs
You're right. We probably need to have a "mid table" category. I consider predicting a Burn 5th place finish as being a "doubter", though. That's saying we're just barely better than 3 of the potentially awful teams (DC, Metro, San Jose, Fire) and worse than 1 of them. Not saying that he's not a fan, or a bad fan, or anything like that. But he's got his doubts about Jeffries and this team not having another dangerous scorer to pair up top with Kreis (as many of us do).
So far part 2. Burn Doubters: Tino Palace-#8 overall !! Scipio Gothicus.-#5 overall (??) Marc Connolly #4 in west Beau Dure (USAtoday) #4 in west Burn Maybes Brushes Sand (mid table) Burn Believers stopper4 -i've got them at #1 overall Jeff Bradley (as usual), #3 overall Alex Sanz #3 overall Dan Loney #2 in west,( behind LA, of course, but winning the Open Cup!) Steve Davis of DMN, #2 in west
Count me in as a believer too. Having said that, my only concern is up front. I have complete confidence in DJ, as someone already said with the back line he's got, they'll enable him to grow into his position. I'm just not feeling confident in the front. EJ hasn't impressed me. Granted I haven't seen him play much, but I've seen DJ play less time and been more impressed.
Honestly, I don't really give a rip about preseason predictions. First, in MLS, they're really crapshoots. Teams in this league are so incredibly close to one another in terms of talent that there's no really good way to say that yes, Team A is going to be better than Team B. So when somebody picks that Team A is #2 in the West while Team B is #5, it's really just a guess and the slightest thing that predictor might've overlooked may be the thing that causes Team B to finish #2 while Team A finishes #5. To bring it to an NCAA basketball analogy: In MLS, almost every game is a game between an 8 seed and a 9 seed. Second, it seems that the Burn usually do the exact opposite of what the media clarivoyants predict. Whenever doom and gloom have been predicted for this team, we've done really well. Whenever great things have been predicted, things usually go south in a big way. Third, 90% of these predictions aren't really based on how a team actually plays, they're based on names. A prognosticator will run down a team's roster and if they like a lot of the names on the roster, they'll pick that team highly. Witness all the high predictions for San Jose. Personally, I look at the fact that they lost a significant portion of their defense and a terrific goalscorer and I think that there's no way that they're going to be good as last year. But they've got Baby Jesus on the roster...
Burn Doubters: Tino Palace-#8 overall !! Marc Connolly #4 in west Beau Dure (USAtoday) #4 in west Burn Maybes Brushes Sand (mid table) Scipio Gothicus.-#5 overall (??) Burn Believers stopper4 -i've got them at #1 overall Jeff Bradley (as usual), #3 overall Alex Sanz #3 overall Dan Loney #2 in west,( behind LA, of course, but winning the Open Cup!) Steve Davis of DMN, #2 in west Burn20 Dave Denholm(ESPNRadio, bigsoccer handle-dawgpound), #2 in west
I really don't give a damm about predictions. The results are shown on the field and not on paper. Besides most of the writer's predictions usually go down the drain after 10 or 15 matches into the season. Soccer is a unpredictiable sport. Look at last year's World Cup. If someone mentioned Argentina and France to go out of the first round and the USA and Korea advancing ahead of Portugal and Poland, the critics would laughing at him/her. But guess who has the last laugh.
There are ten teams. I pcik the Burn to finish fifth. That is mid table. Exactly mid table. Actaully, I might have to move the Burn up a notch, since that French bastard left Colorado. In all things, I urge caution. If the Burn are to finish above mid table, they need to find a striker. I don't see him yet. Put me in mid table with 3W.
The consensus opinion of 6 Soccer America writers/editors is that the Galaxy will win the West. There's more disagreement on the Burn, with 1 writer picking them 2nd, 3 picking them 3rd, one 4th, and one 5th (Ridge Mahoney). http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/us/news/2003/04/04/mls_predictions_sa/
you should see the poll on espn soccernet. After picking the Dallas Burn which was 14% after about 867 total votes, DC, Metroscum were ranked higher as 3&4 as teams with chances to nwin the MLS Cup.
After seeing the game against KC on Saturday, I am inclined to agree with third place. Mid table team, unless they can find that player to press the ball forward for the last 20 yards. I wonder if Franco can do it.