What do you think the final tables will be this season in MLS? I'll give it a shot: East........................West 1. NE Revolution..............LA Galaxy 2. DC United..................Dallas Burn 3. Metrostars.................KC Wizards 4. Columbus Crew..............Colorado Rapids 5. Chicago Fire...............San Jose Earthquakes Playoff table: 1. LA Galaxy 2. Dallas Burn 3. NE Revolution 4. DC United 5. Metrostars 6. KC Wizards 7. Columbus Crew 8. Colorado Rapids 9. San Jose Earthquakes 10.Chicago Fire
East Revs: Will have a strong attack if Twellman can score half of what he did last season and get some from Joe-Max, no problem. I think they may remain a bit inconsistent because of their weak bunker defence but if they can be disciplined well enough by Nicol they will win the East again DC: Definately grew stronger this offseason. Even with the loss of Pope their defence will remain one of the best in the league. Have huge amounts of midfield depth and versatility but still not the pure finisher or ariel target that they will need to finish on top. Metros: Also vastly improved this offseason. They have two great strikers in Mathis and Jaime and they will be a huge attacking threat. The addition of Pope and Williams will strengthen their defence as Petke was said to be a cancer in the locker room. Their only weakness is their lack of depth and midfield wingers and an a-mid. If they can avoid injuries and Nats call ups they will make the playoffs. Crew: The Crew still have not improved their defence and will likely give up as many goals as their ample amounts of forwards can produce. They will need to tighten their defence and play more conservatively to sneak into the playoffs. Fire: The Fire only got worse this season. With Damarcus Beasley having to play as an a-mid they have lost a great left wing with much better defence than he is credited for. They lost an allstar mid and forward. Neither the offence or defence will scare the rest of MLS West Galaxy: Without a restrictive cap the Galaxy were able to add Bo and keep their core of MLS Cup players. Their offence of Jones and Ruiz should continue to be one of the best combos in the league but if Ruiz is injured the team will have trouble continuing to score. Their improved defence will hopefully allow for less goals from Ruiz. Burn: Always a threat in the regular season. If this year Kreis can play the whole season like he normally does in the spring they will be a force to be reckonned with. KC: The addition of Wolff if he stays healthy will improve a KC offense that for too long has relied on Preki. Their defence also grew stronger because of Conrad. If the midfield and backline is consistent then they will just need a few good runs by Meola to do well. Rapids: Mark Chung is getting older but they will need him to play like he did last season. They lost Valderamma who was an important part of the offense with his incredible vision. They will need Grimandi to step up so that they can sneak into the post season. Earthquakes: Lost Cannon, Graziani, Conrad and Barret plus a few others without adding much to their roster. They will need Donovan to have his best season yet in order to have a chance. Agoos will be running the show on defence without Barret and Conrad and will need to play like he is a few years younger. In midfield Mulrooney better step up.
you can't have Dallas at the second seed, cuz those are for Conference leaders. I think the Revs will continue from last year and not get off to the shaky start they are so known for. Supporter's Shield for the revs.
I love how people are underestimating Chicago. My thoughts are this. Wolff wasn't there all of last year. He played in very few games to warrant his salary. Faria more then makes up for him in terms of production and games played (i'm not a big fan of his). You get back Armas. Armas was out for the full season, a healthy Armas is huge in MLS. Nowak's loss isn't the biggest one though. In my opinion that would have to be Bradley. He's some coach, and it's up in the air whether or not Sarachan can live up to those expectations. Also, don't forget about the defense. Whitfield, Curtin, Boca, CJ, Grey, etc. are one of the deepest and solid groups.
I think Colorado is being hugely underestimated, while NY is being hugely overestimated. Remember Colorado finished 4th overall last season (tied for 3rd on points actually), and all they did in the off season was add Gilles Grimandi and Zizi Roberts, two probable league heavyweights. I think they will contend for the Cup. NY on the other hand is already totally dependent on the league looking the other way with regard to the salary cap this season, or they will be dead last. So what if they have Mathis, Moreno, Pope, Howard? Outside of their top 5 or 6 guys, they have no one even on the roster and maybe 300K of salary cap space to work with. I don't care if you have Beckham, Zidane, Rivaldo, and Owen, etc. on your team, if your other 4-6 starters are Harut Karapetyn, Miles Joseph, Krakowiak and their ilk, you are going to SUCK! The Metros are in big trouble.
no way san jose makes it anywhere this year. thats a real longshot. LA and DC/NY win their groups. C-bus and NE perform well but not enough to take top honors. Chicago performs better than expected but sure as hell ain't gonna sweep the rest of the league aside. and (as usu. happens in MLS) in a total reversal of fortunes.. the EAST dominates the WEST this year.
First of all, you all can ignore the crew for now if you want, but don't say I didn't warn you... with the addition of hejduk, they have a hell of a lot of versatility. First off, they are probably the DEEPEST team at forward. Cunny, Buddle, and McBride all on the same team? Find me a better 3 forward combo in the league. Plus Luchi gonzales is far from a SJ reject... He was highly regarded in the draft last year for a reason, if there are injuries or if players get called up to the national team, don't worry luchi can step in. Second, two words: Kyle Martino. He is the future and the midfield will be built around him. With Garcia, an emerging star, and west, a speedster with potential out the wazoo, running up and down the wings for him, look out. Not to mention Maiz, a world cup veteran, and Duncan, an underrated workhorse doing the dirtywork for him and oyu have one solid midfield. The metros are the team to beat in the east though. They have so much talent, but the real worry is bradley as coach now. The years of the metros performing below their talent level is over. The galaxy will be in the final. Call it a league fix or call it good management, the bottom line is that somehow Galaxy are under the cap and have a brand new stadium that just happens to be the host for the Cup. Its going to be tought to beat them this year and that includes that final game at Victoria st.
you do know that playoffs this year are conferences like in 1996 - 1999, right? East #1 - East #4 winner plays East #2 - E3 W1 - W4 winner plays W2 - W3 MLS Cup is East - West. and there is no damn way DC finishes second.
All I know is that Columbus can go one of two ways....Frankie can either help them out and fix our defense and well go deep intot he playoffs or well end up like everyone else predicitng 6 or seven out in the first... -PB20
All I know is that it will be an exciting year because the level of play is better and each and every team has improved somehow... -PB20
West LA Galaxy Colorado Rapids Dallas Burn San Jose KC Wizards East Metros DC United Revolution Crew Fire I believe the Galaxy will take the Supporters Shield and the Fire and Kansas City will be sitting out the playoffs this season. Once again the race for the playoffs will be tight to the very end.
Sorry brainfart. Still it shows how they do across all mls. About DC/Columbus/Mets I think they could be put in any combonation.
Ruiz, Chacon, Jones??? the playoffs will be east vs. west in the final... i guess most people missed that having a straight 1-8 table. it will be a 1-4 table for east and west. its still suprises me how many people don't think the galaxy are gonna kick ass this year. we kept our core of players and added chacon, bo, and "memo"... what more convincing does anyone else need? I also don't know why people think the revs are any good??? they sucked ass... the only thing that held them on was their bunker D towards the end of the season. oh and they made the MLS Cup...big wow, they beat the fire and columbus...very impressive (oozing with sarchasm). for damn sakes...they weren't even a .500 team! West 1.Los Angeles 2.Colorado 3.Dallas 4.Kansas City 5.San Jose East 1.Columbus 2.Washington 3.New York/New Jersy 4.New England 5.Chicago
revs finished the last six games of the season better then anyone else. They were #1 in the league with gf, with Chacon contributing a lousy two. And this team that sucked so much shut ur team out for 123 minutes. Ruiz, Chacon, Jones???, doesnt sound impressive. We have the equivalent, its called Twellman, [insert crap player here], Ralston. Plus, Jones isnt a forward, read what CrazyF.C. said. Ruiz wont score anywhere close to what he did last year, mainly cuz none of the defenders with deal with his bullsh!t that he brings. Chacon will be no suprise, and if Hartman gets injured, you are screwed.
Well, most of us didn't get the special attention from the league that the gals recieved. the league tends to build up teams where they need the skill to attract fans. next it might be Utd. depending on how we do this year.
West: East: LA Galaxy DC United Kansas City NE Revolution San Jose Metrostars Dallas Burn Columbus Crew Colora Rapids Chicago I think that the Metros made some terrible eals in the summer but I smell a HUGE year for Clint. I think KC will do very well this season. last four LA vs. KC Metrostars vs. DC Metrostars vs. KC..... I don't know who will win this. I like K's team this year. I hthink Klein is awesome and ifWolf stays healthy KC will do awesome. The west is much better than the east again. It seems that's the case in almost every sport.
wow, even to the most optomistic wizards fan that is a surprise. I think KC can be good, but i'm not so sure that they will be good. West: LA KC Colorado Dallas SJ East: Columbus NE DC NYNJ Chicago LA vs. KC Cbus vs. NE LA vs. Cbus LA repeats at home. (As much as I hate to say that.)
League Table LA Dallas DC New England KC Columbus Metros SJ Colorado Chicago East Table DC New England Columbus Metros Chicago West Table LA Dallas KC SJ Colorado
ugh... i hate the "what if" scenario... anything is possible when you through that into the mix.... example: what if the galaxy finished the season undefeated, what if the revs finished undefeated, what if the gals finised last. you see where i'm comming from?...crap example but what do you expect, i gotta go to sleep soon. lets see, you finished the last six game good??? well you might was well say you finished your last game good. the galaxy ended the season with 4 wins in a row, revs with 3. gals where like what 8-2 or 7-2-1...something like that, i dont' know about the revs... but i don't think it was much better then that. maybe your end of season run was a fluke just like you guys think is gonna happen with Ruiz, he's not gonna score, last season was a fluke... again, i HATE the "what if" ************ people use. ok...you shut us out for 123 minutes, whats your point? your team knows how to play a 8-0-1 formation? the whole game was pretty crude... i expected better. i know i'm comming off as an ass in my recent 2 posts and for that i apologize. as far as the fowards go... jones plays fowards sometimes...and when he doesn't, he's a great feeder to ruiz (check playoffs stats in assists and goals). chacon will fit in a hell of a lot better with the galaxy cuz the style of play is more with his style. he didn't work with the revs cuz well... the chemistry wasn't right. not every player can play in any team. again... i apologize in advance for the people i may or may not be pissing off...
East 1. DC United 2. Metros 3. Columbus Crew 4. NE Revolution 5. Chicago Fire West 1. LA Galaxy 2. Dallas Burn 3. SJ Quakes 4. CO Rapids 5. KC Wizards If the Galaxy get finishing support for Ruiz they're just too good to stop. But I am not convinced that they will consistently. This season will be tougher for Ruiz and Twellman, both will do well, but neither as well as last season. Revs will be more balenced by adding both talent on the left side and an attacking midfielder to complement Hernandez. Columbus is possibly the most exciting team to watch, as their attack is truly stacked. San Jose, Metros and DC should also be fun to watch this year along with the always fun Dallas Burn. While those other teams all upgraded their weaknesses, Columbus' season will be determined by the triumvarate of their Dmid and two center backs. Oughton isn't a real Dmid, Mais attacks too much to play there, and Diego Walsh isn't a Dmid either. So that exposes their weak central defense. They might do fine during the regular season, but come playoff time I see the Columbus central defense melting down. Chicago is strong up top and in the back, but in-between Armas and Razov there's a huge hole in midfield. I think Nowak's presence will be sorely missed. Gone will be the classic Chicago possession game and in it's place will be the Faria counter and the cross to the head game. Colorado, like Columbus, is extremely weak in the back, but having Grimandi and Mastroeni to disrupt attacks will protect their back line. Dallas needs defensive discipline and more disruption from their Dmid. If they get those things their defense should be fine. But Kreis dies towards the end of the season, so resting him so he can pace himself while giving EJ some much needed PT is essential if they are to advance far in the playoffs. People calling for the implosion of Chicago and San Jose will be disappointed. Neither will be in contention for MLS Cup honors, but both should bounce up and down the table during their transitional seasons. -Tron
Misundrestood For everyone that are counting out the Quakes are in for a big suprise. Sure, they don't have the best keeper, that will change shortly. Our defense is solid, Corrales, Dayak, Agoos, Robinson. Also, the quakes have one of the strongest mids in the league with the pairing of Mulrooney and Ronney in the center. Also, the forwards are quick as hell with Donovan AND DeRo wearing defenses down. Other teams to watch out for are KC, Colorado,and Dallas. Don't forget that the Quakes had the best home record ever in the mls last year!