What makes this hard is that no one knows where JOB is going, if at all. And whether KC pickup Van Der Bergh. So, . . . Dallas-LA for the West DC-Chicago for the East LA-DC Final
Might as well: 1. FC Dallas- All their players are back, plus they won't lose anybody during the World Cup. 2. Houston Dynamos- Ditto to above, but they lost Califf and Chung. Also, it wil take some time to get used to the new field. 3. LA Galaxy- World Cup months will hurt the team, as will their lack of depth up top. 4. Chivas USA- Enough firepower to pick up wins, but an aging defense will keep games tight. 5. Real Salt Lake- Lots of firepower up top, but way too many question marks in other positions. World Cup call-ups will leave them hurting (Pope, Klein, Sequira). 6. Colorado Rapids- They've got Cannon to win some games, but the tandem of Mathis and Kirovski is not intimidating anyone. East 1. DC United- Same core group as last year, plus the return of Eski and further integration of the Argentines. Won't miss players for World Cup and will get plenty of opportunties to beat up on the teams that do. 2. New England Revolution- Always dangerous, but will be stagnant in May & June. Doesn't matter, as Nicol will have them roaring by the playoffs. 3. Chicago Fire- The young guns will have to carry the load, but the defense is still good and the wingplay is excellent. 4. NY Red Bulls- Buddle will be a key addition to the team making the playoffs, but their defense still needs a lot of work. 5. KC Wizards- They may have firepower and defense, but those things won't lass all season. Too many call-ups and too many possibilities for summer transfers. 6. Columbus Crew- A rebuilding year. Their offense is too young, and their midfield is a mess. Playoffs Dallas over Chivas Houston over LA DC over NY NE over Chicago Dallas over Houston DC over NE Final Dallas vs DC in November
Hell, that doesn't even include the fact that players will be leaving early for camp. That's almost a fourth of the season right there.
EAST 1.) DC United 2.) New England 3.) Chicago 4.) Red Bull New York 5.) Columbus 6.) Kansas City WEST 1.) FC Dallas 2.) LA Galaxy 3.) Houston Dynamo 4.) Chivas USA 5.) Real Salt Lake 6.) Colorado PLAYOFFS DC United over RBNY New England over Chicago FC Dallas over Chivas USA Dynamo over Galaxy CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS DC United over New England Dynamo over FCD MLS CUP DC United over Dynamo Last year I picked Galaxy over DC United, so we'll see where this one goes.
My thoughts on the Eastern Conference. 6. Red Bull New York 5. Chicago Fire 4. Columbus Crew 3. Kansas City Wizards 2. New England Revolution 1. D.C. United
Rumour has it the Galaxy are looking to pick up another striker, but he won't be here for another month or two. This will probably be a key to how well they do. I don't think Herculez will be nearly as prolific as teams figure him out, and with LD gone, they could be in for a rough stretch. However, the same could be said for last year, and we know how that turned out. If the new mystery striker is half decent, and josh gardner can do as well as he did during pre season on the left side, the Galaxy will finish no worse then 3rd in the conference.
Eastern Conference 1. Chicago 2. United 3. Revolution 4. Kansas City 5. Red Bull 6. Columbus Western Conference 1. Houston 2. Dallas 3. Galaxy 4. Salt Lake 5. Chivas 6. Colorado The playoffs are a crap shoot of form, injuries, and the impact of late season additions. Therefore I won't bother to predict that. However, Colorado is looking to be a pretty atrocious team. They will be rooted to the bottom of the West. Dallas will be a beast in the attack this year, and without the crazy schedule, they will be able to get a better rhythm that lasts the season. Plus, they won't be missing anyone. The big question in the West will be whether RSL or Chivas can get that last playoff spot. Really, it could go either way, especially since RSL will be losing a couple of their better players to the World Cup. Chivas just seems to have such a ............. ahem, "mature" roster. On the Eastern Conference side, Chicago and DC are pretty untouched by the WC, so I think that they will finish 1-2. To me, Chicago has more skilled talented youth, so I'm picking them to finish on top. The losses to the WC squad will hurt the Revs, but they will still probably finish 3rd. The 4-6 spots are totally up in the air though. KC will be missing a number of guys for the WC, and if they struggle badly while those players are gone, they could be in major trouble. However, Red Bull has looked TERRIBLE, and Columbus seems to be short of anyone who can actually put the ball in the net, so I have KC squeaking in.
EAST: 1-New York (SS) 2-New England 3-Columbus 4-DC United 5-Kansas City 6-Chicago WEST: 1-Houston 2-FC Dallas 3-Los Angeles 4-RSL 5-Chivas USA 6-Colorado EAST: DC United over New York New England over Columbus New England over DC United WEST: Houston over RSL Los Angeles over FC Dallas Los Angeles over Houston MLS CUP: New England over Los Angeles
east 1. Revolution 2. Kansas city 3. New York 4. DC United 5. Columbus 6. Chicago Mls Cup Final- Revs 2-1 over Dallas West 1. Houston 2. Los Angelas 3. Dallas 4. Rsl 5. Chivas 6. Colorado
i think that its gonna be an interesting season with Chivas and RSL not just victims this time around. I also think that 2007 will be far more exciting
EAST 1 Wizards 2 DC 3 Revs 4 Chicago 5 New York 6 Columbus WEST 1 Dallas 2 Houston 3 LA 4 Chivas 5 RSL 6 Crapids Playoffs: East Wizards over Chicago Revs over United semi final Wizards over Revs West Dallas over Chivas Houston over LA semi final Dallas over Houston MLS Cup Dallas beats KC Wizards
Lots of off-season changes, with more in store for 2007! My best guess on what will happen by fall. EAST New England DC United Chicago Kansas City New York Columbus WEST Los Angeles FC Dallas Chivas USA Houston Colorado Real Salt Lake PLAYOFFS New England over Kansas City Chicago over DC United Los Angeles over Houston FC Dallas over Chivas USA New England over Chicago FC Dallas over Los Angeles New England over FC Dallas in MLS Cup 2006.
Big props to me for correctly predicting the MLS Cup teams before the season starts for the second year in a row. Since I picked the Revs to win it last year, if I was a betting man I'd be putting my hard earned rubles down on Houston right now.