Jeff Bradley said at the start of the campaign that MLS, top to bottom, might only be 15 pts. apart. I say: HA! This season, we have some teams that are TRUE stinkers. Colorado-Dallas-DC United. Amazing that one of these teams will actually make the playoffs. Crew and Quakes will be miles ahead. I actually can't believe how incompetent Jeffries is--he's got an SI slot, no partner for Kreis (and no offense), and he'll wait till halfway through the season then sign Dante Washington or something...or better yet, another midfielder. Complete idiot. I don't know what's wrong with Colorado, but it's nothing Dave Dir couldn't fix (former Colorado Foxes). They have the players, even without the FrenchieTraitor. Dir could at least have them at .500, where he always had the Burn. Hankie is GONE. As for DC--no goals in nearly 300 minutes? And Stewart is having trouble with the soccer basics of trapping and passing, to mention nothing of his lack of scoring and assists. 2003 is NOT a season of parity, but rather one where the fact that 8 out of 10 teams make the playoffs becomes ridiculously high. Make 3-6 fight it out for the right to go against 1-2, for the love of God! I repeat--one of DC/Col/Dal is now a playoff team and that just isn't right.
I basically agree with everything you said. If the Galaxy hadn't had ALL of their games on the road so far, I'd almost be tempted to toss them in with the Dal/DC/Col troika. But they'll get their chance at the Home Depot. Still, one word of warning: it's early. 25 or 26 games to go. All it takes is a 2-0-1 streak to get back to respectability pretty quick. If Counce was smart, he'd give Hanki one more game to get it together, and then page Mr. Dir. The mess that is Colorado is totally unacceptable.
Yeah, I keep hoping DC will live up to its promise, but I think you're probably closer to the truth. But as for Dante Washington, apparently he left the Crew because he wanted to be closer to his wife and kids in Virginia, so the only MLS team he wanted to play at was DC. So maybe that, at least, isn't Jeffries' fault.
I totally agree, Dir can do this job, as could sever collegiate guys, better than Hanki. It's still way to early to pull the trigger though as Grimandi shouldn't be blamed on the coach...now, the whole missing midfield creator presense has been a situation for years. Everyone knew El Pibe would go sometime. Why was no solution found before now? Fire the GM. I think the only reason he's still employed are the high gate numbers. Col v KC will have another 50k+ crowd this July 4th also. As a KC fan, I hope it stays the same. BTW, Chung and Henderson have completely screwed my mfls team, grrr.
I love your optimism, Flash, and I think all the pissed off Galaxy fans are praying home-stadium advantage will turn their stinker of a season around. But don't forget -- this Galaxy team is relatively unchanged from the team that won last year's Cup. You could even say they've been enhanced by the addition of the Korean guy. Plus this is a team that last year had the best road record. I think the rest of MLS has figured out what's been obvious to us fans: find a way to contain Ruiz and the Galaxy is a mid-table team, at best. I don't see this fact necessarily changing just because they have a new stadium. Time will tell.
What is wrong with Colorado? I keep waiting for Johnny Spencer to be the player he was in 2001, and I thought Kyle Beckerman was supposed to be an up and coming midfielder (right now the two are lavishing away on my fantasy team in hope of them recovering). LA Galaxy? I don't think they have much of a midfield without Cienfuegos in there. Did he retire or is he injured? I don't know what DC's problem is; they've got a good core group. Dallas had a decent team too until they lost some players (Pareja & O'Brien) to injury.
I still think that Colorado will bounce back to at least have a respectable season. Losing Grimandi obviously put most of their preseason plans to waste, it'll take some time for them to sort out their midfield again. It's still early enough for them to right themselves. DCU, can't say I feel bad to see them doing so poorly, they appear to definitely be the east cellar dwellers. In Dallas, sorry, it looks like it will be a long season. My sympathies. One thing to remember with LA. Yes, they will have a large number of home dates once the HD Center opens. But the new stadium will be just as foreign to them as it will be to the visitors for at least the first few home matches. I've seen this in the NHL again and again. It takes time to rebuild that home field advantage. The HDC won't really be that much of a home field advantage for awhile.
Yet ever year he gets lauded here on BS for his wonderful drafting abilities. Dallas's drafts have been highly rated over the past few years. Conversely, FY is taken to the woodshed by fans every January (and I'll plead quilty on that one) for his poor talent picking abilities. Repeat after me...'I will never second guess Frank Yallop again....I will never second guess Frank Yallop again.' Oh hell, the guy needs to give Arturo Alvarez more minutes!
Everyone seems to be missing an important point. Grimandi played in ONE preseason game. Our team didn't rely on him during the preseason, so why, now that he's gone, should his departure be blamed for the mess on the field? It shouldn't. The blame is all on Hankinson.
You're not alone. The Revs are still trying to replace Nowak, who probably never even suited up for us in a scrimmage before retiring. (This isn't a joke. There have been a ton of posts on the Rev boards about our search for a Nowak-like attacking mid...)
Reach for the stars - make sure you get yourself a coach with a solid, proven track record for reaching .500. Does anyone here know if Dir is itching to get back into coaching, but the right team just hasn't come calling yet? Or is he happier with his announcer gigs?
Actually, if you are right, and if these three teams continue poor form (which is a big if), then only 2 of those teams have a shot at playoffs (Colorado or Dallas). If I am not mistaken, MLS changed playoff rules this year so that top four teams from each division qualify rather than top eight teams overall. Thus, if DC finished last they would be eliminated from playoff contention even if they had more points than Dallas and Colorado. Still, DC has to play better than they have so far.