OK, it's time to fess up and pick the MLS teams for the upcoming 2003 season..... I'll go first and then see how many "are you foikin crazy" responses I get.... EAST: 1) Crew- seems to be there year unless injury or chemistry falls 2) New England-I think they'll be better than last year's regular season, but remain sloppy in stretches 3) D.C.- Only 'cuz the others are worse. If they play the youngsters, I think they will do OK. If they go with the geriatric's, they'll flounder. 4) Fire- see above 5) New Joisey-see above WEST: 1) Colorado- OK this is all homer, but with Schmidt a winner, Roberts in the wing, and depth thru the forward/mid/defense, I think that the Rapids are ripe. 2) L.A.- They believe they are the class of the league and they are from LA. They'll struggle at first, then play well later (classical Champion behavior) only this year they will not be able to catch up as easily. 3) Dallas- Solid, but less depth and after Jason, who will score? 4) San Jose- They are fading and I do not see that they have re-energized. Perhaps Donovan can drag them on, but with the USA friendly schedule, it won't work. 5) K.C.-What's the over/under for Wolff? 12 games?? MLS Cup: Crew U.S. Open Cup- I don't fouking care MVP- McBride (finally has a big statistical MLS year and is rewarded as a 'lifetime achievement' award) New Franchises-Philly and Seattle (TV market size beats comon sense of Portland and Toronto) Richard
East: 1) Columbus Crew - Offensive power like I've never seen. Who do you start up top? Cunnigham, Buddle, McBride? They have a solid midfield as well; their success comes down to their defense, which may rest on the shoulders of Goalkeeper Busch. 2) New England Revolution - I expect the Revs to come out swinging this year, finally with someone up top to pair with Twellman (Joe Max.) They also have the benefit of a largely returning line-up and what should be a solid defense (only time will tell, but they have Llamosa, Kante, etc.) 3) Chicago Fire - Out of the gate, Chicago is the most underrated team in the league. They have two capable forwards in Faria and Razov, a solid midfield (Beasley, Armas, Gray, etc.) and a solid back-line (Brown, Curtin, and Bocanegra.) It's just going to be a matter of chemistry and coaching. All of this nonsense about complete turnover is silly. The team looks solid and capable. 4) New Jersey Metrostars - All I can say about this team is that they have a strengthened defense and are solid up top. I'm looking for a healthy Mathis to have a big year. If not the Metrostars will likely finish last. However, they have Bradley coaching. If I've learned anything about Bradley is that he can take just about any team to the playoffs, no matter what the circumstances. 5) D.C. United - Most people have flip-flopped D.C. and Chicago in their forecasts for the season but I disagree. Despite all the newcomers, there's nothing there to show me that this team will do great things. I could be totally wrong, only the season can tell. My ranking is based only on the lack of playing time I've seen for this team. Maybe I'll change my mind after a couple of games. West: 1) L.A. Galaxy - A returning line-up with alot of proven new faces. Chacon, under the right circumstances, could provide the offensive spark that Sigi has been looking for for two years. Add Hong Myong-Bo and a certain forward named Carlos Ruiz and you have a team poised to dominate the league again, especially in their new stadium at Victoria Street. 2) Dallas Burn - Dallas is the deepest team in MLS. No team strikes me as a stronger threat than Dallas. Their only weakness lay up top. I expect another hot start for Kreis, but I'm also hoping for a big year from Eddie Johnson, it's time this butterfly spreads his wings and flies. They have Vaca, Pareja, B. Johnson, O'Brien, and Deering in midfield. They have Bonseu, Morrow, Broome, Gbandi, Thomas, and Suarez in defense. This team will be tough to beat. 3) Colorado Rapids - The Rapids look promising. They have perhaps the best starting midfield in the league with Grimandi, Mastroeni, Henderson, and Chung. If Colorado get another big year out of Chung and consistent play up top (Schmidt, Carrieri, Spencer, and Roberts) they should be a tough team to beat, regardless of their defensive strengths. 4) San Jose Earthquakes - While I'm not writing off the Wizards, I expect a big year from Mr. Donovan. Then again, my fourth and fifth spots could be reversed, depending on the play of this young man. Their defense is looking spotty, but midfield is a lone bright spot with Corralles, Lagos, Ekelund, Mulrooney, Russell, Mullan, and Alvarez. Up top, I don't know how the team is going to do besides Donovan, particularly in his absence. DeRosario has never looked very capable as a starter but this could be a break-out year. I don't expect much from Ching; and there's also the goalkeeper issue. 5) Kansas City Wizards - I don't know what it is. I could be totally underestimating this team. Their defense is reportedly rather solid, with Jimmy Conrad having a career resurgence. At midfield they have three solid starters in Armstrong, Preki, and Klein, but how far can these three get them? What happens if Wolff gets injured at some point in the season? Can Simutenkov carry the burden up top? Too many questions for me to bump them up one spot. MLS Cup champion: L.A. Galaxy repeat at home Open Cup champion: I expect a Dallas Burn surprise
OK, here we go East- 1. Chicago- I agree that people are writing off the Fire way too soon. They still have great talent, and let's face it, the East has no clear favorite. Besides, Armas coming back will be huge, and once he shakes the rust off, this is not a team people will want to play. 2. Columbus- Lots of offensive firepower, arguably the best collection in MLS. Still, sometimes you gotta play defense, and that's where the Crew get into trouble. 3. D.C.- Lots of new faces. I like what they've done, Kovalenko and Stewart are great pickups. The young talent (Quaranta, Convey, Barclay) looks to be getting better, so this could be a team thats much better in August than it is in April. 4. New England- Seriously, last year was a fluke. Too many things went just right, and I honestly can't see Twellman scoring that many goals again this year, with all the attention sure to be paid to him defensively. 5. Metrostars- Their playoff hopes basically rest on Mathis and Howard. And Pope, but he'll probably be injured by mid-season anyway. Bradley's a good coach, but things will get worse before they get better. West- 1. Dallas- Lots of talent, young and experienced, and they should be hungry after last year's disappointing playoff burnout. Not sure who the GK will be, but we'll see if that makes a difference or not. 2. L.A.- They probably should be number 1, after all, the Galaxy are the cup-holders, and they only got better with . But 8 straight road games to open the season? That's rough. Might knock them down a bit early. 3. San Jose- I think this is the year Landon really breaks out, and takes the Quakes on his shoulders. after losing Cannon and Barrett, they'll need it. 4. Colorado- This isn't a insult to the Rapids, I like what they did in the offseason. They could well have the best midfield in the league now. But the West is so tough, I just can't see them jumping past anybody. 5. Kansas City- again, this is more due to the difficult conference, not team strength. If the wizards were in the East, they might compete for the top spot. But they are not an overly talented team, and Wolff can't turn them around by himself. MVP- Donovan I just think he's ready to break out, and after he carries the Quakes to the playoffs by himself, the vote will be no contest. MLS cup - Burn over the Fire 2-1 U.S. Open cup - Rapids take home first cup (hey, I gotta have one hometeam pick somewhere)
East 1. DC United Everyone but Eddie Pope returns for a very strong defensive team. Pope missed a lot of games with the World Cup and being injured from it so that he didn't play too many for DC last season anyway. They added the best defender in the draft--David Stokes, a former All-Star in Mike Petke, and an excellent new SI organizing central defender in Ivanov. Nelsen moves into midfield to replace Richie Williams. The offense gets a healthy Santino back, replaces injured/ineffective Moreno with Earnie Stewart, replaces Lazo Alavanja with Dema Kovalenko, adds Hristo Stoichkov, Devin Barclay, and top pick Alecko Eskandarian in place of Abdul Thompson Conteh, Henry Zambrano and Petter Villegas. If they cannot score considerably more than last season, the coach needs to be fired. 2. Columbus Crew Same team with another year of experience and Busch for the whole year. Scary. Add Hejduk and they get a lot better. But for them it still comes down to central defending and Dmid. If they play solid defensively they can win it all, but I doubt they can do it consistently. 3. Metros Bradley does great work with smoke and mirrors. Almost every A-Leaguer he called up with the Fire did wonderfully. They have a lot of strong players, but still lack 4 or 5 guys. If/when they get them, they may move up. 4. New England Revolution Moore is a great addition, but the team overperformed and benefitted from monster play by Adin Brown at the end of the season. Adin is injury prone and refuses conventional medicine, so misses a lot of games. I don't see them duplicating their late season run. 5. Chicago Fire Great defense and very good coach. But the hole left by Nowak & Dema in their midfield is too big to fill by Andy Williams. The reduced possession and midfield defending will stress their defense more and make it look average. They have a very good stable of forwards, but they need DaMarcus, Justin Mapp and Andy Williams to all step up and provide the service. West 1. LA Galaxy They truly were one of the top teams last season and they keep improving. Adding Hong to this team is just wrong! Sigi steals a few road wins and ties early and makes a huge late season run in the Home Depot Center. 2. Dallas Burn Jefferies has totally rebuilt this team and it looks quite good. Kreis wears down by the beginning of August every year. If Jefferies rests him more during the season, lets Eddie Johnson develop and gives Cerritos some playing time, Kreis may be ready to take the Burn strong into the playoffs. 3. San Jose Quakes Last year they were the best team in MLS until Mulrooney got injured. DeRosario and Donovan will be good up top. I think Landon is going to be dominant this season without the World Cup distractions. Agoos and Dayak are healthy and Robinson is maturing. If Mulrooney and Ekelund stay healthy they'll be very hard to beat at home, thus they take 3rd place in the West. 4. Colorado Rapids Hankinson is quietly building a good strike force in Spenny, Carrieri and hopefully Schmidt. I'm not sold on Roberts yet. Midfield is stacked but may need Chung to move into the middle more, and/or play a 5 man midfield. The problem is that a weak back line is still weak. Pablo returning and adding Grimandi can protect them some, but Fraser is getting older, MLS strikers are getting better, and the exciting Rapids will give up a lot of goals. 5. KC Wizards I'm a huge Josh Wolff fan, but he hasn't played a single season fully healthy, and I don't expect him to start now. Without Wolff, KC just doesn't have the finishers to compete. -Digital
Am I on the wrong team forum? East DC NY/NJ NE C-BUS CHI West COL LA DAL SJ KC 'Cuz that's just the way I see it.
The right site.... Naaaaa, Of the posts, Colorado 2, LA 2, and the Burn 1 so far for the west. Not an unfair representation of opinion. RLH p.s. I do like the Digital refernce! Where is Dr. Kamalo?
Eastern Division 1.CHICAGO 2.Columbus 3.New England 4.DC 5.Metrostars Western Division 1.Dallas 2.Colorado 3.Los Angeles 4.Kansas City 5.San Jose
Eastern Division 1.Columbus 2.New England 3.Chicago 4.DC 5.Metrostars Western Division 1.Los Angeles 2.Colorado (With Grimandi) 3.San Jose 4.Kansas City 5.Dallas 1. Los Angeles 2. San Jose 3. Kansas City 4. Colorado (without Grimandi) 5. Dallas
I don't know if the powers will vote for him but he is the glue for the midfield and I am a believer that a strong midfield makes all the differance. Just look at the 1 an 2 spots in the FIFA rankings Brazil and France. The Rapids have a lot of fire power up front, they tend to fall apart in the midfield. Valderama helped in that department but the guy couldn't run. He should have retired 4 years ago. Grimandi has the talent and the stamina to give this team a winner. I just don't see him staying. If he doesn't want to play for the Rapids then by all means leave. The last think we need is disunity.