Here is some joker Rapids fan's predictions. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=656260 In my mind, their team was a mess the last half of the year. Gomez is a big step forward, but they also have taken a step back in other areas. In addition, FC has done nothing to inspire confidence in anyone. I say they are battling with SJ for the bottom of the table. Here are my thoughts: Chivas: keeping Guzan will save their season. And they got Alecko and Atiba! LA: This team was a tale of two cities last year. At times they looked awful (most of the time), at times they looked like they could win La Liga. Can this team survive with just one soccer ball to go around? Houston: Which DeRo will show up? The losses of Jacqua and Ngwenya should hurt, but how much? Dallas: I'm not sure the loss of El Pescadito will hurt them much. Have no clue how Davino will impact them. Others around them seemed to improve, but did they? RSL: will play as a team this year, and will compete. Talent appears to be upgraded, but how much? Col: Gomez fills a big hole for them, too bad they still won't be able to score. SJ: Pretty obvious. This team is still trying to fill out a roster. Without a miracle they will be lucky to be competitive.
LA, the team has too many weapons. Houston is still a machine. RSL, because finally the parts and desire are aligned. Dallas, they have lost as much as they gained. Chivas was a flash in the pan in 07. Colorado, because San Jose will make everyone forget how bad RSL was in 05, 06 and 07.
Houston Chivas Dallas La Colorado RSL SJ Just returning the favor of one of you guys wandering over to our forum
My prediction; Colorado keeps their color scheme for one more year, before changing it completely in 2009 in an attempt to "Reinvent their team."
If I may interject... 1) Los Angeles. Too much offense. 2) Houston 3) Chivas 4) Colorado. They may do something stupid, though, in which case, they fall. 5) RSL 6) Dallas. No offense at all. 7) San Jose I give RSL a decent chance to go to post season.
Well at least you have that much hope Rocket Science. Here's a better bet, who gets fired first, Jason Kreis or Claudio Clavijo? I'll give you 8-1 odds it's Kreis, Clavijo must have some really incriminating pics of Kronke to be able to keep his job this long.
I think the cRapids response would be "Get the %^$#! out you troll!", but we are much more tolerant here (or desperate for conversation).
The "tolerance" here extends only as far as the militant happy talk. In my (admittedly) very limted experience w/ the Rapids board, I would say there's far more frank & honest analysis over there than here.
8-1 seems high, as the rumors out of our FO are that he's got a ultimatum of being on top by the ASG or being out. Of course its just a rumor and our FO can't do anything right, so I'd still put the odds on Kreis going first at about half of that.
My prediction: LA: With 3 DP's on their roster (thanks MLS), I think they'll finally live up to the hype. Houston: They were successful before Ngewenya and Jaqua - they'll be successful after them too. Chivas: Will still be one of the funnest teams to watch. RSL: The toughest to predict IMO. There's talent for sure, and better depth. If they gel, they could finish as high as 2nd. If they don't or there's big injuries, they could finish 6th. Dallas: Average defense and no offense means a below average season. Colorado: Their only weapon (Gomez) will be marked out of most games. He won't help them that much unless they get a few other players. San Jose: Welcome back to the league guys - this won't be your father's Quakes for a few years.
Do we need to add "to Clavijo" to our list of verbs? What would the definition be? Clavijo (v.) 1) The act of making extremely bad trades with your biggest rival. 2) To consistently under-perform and not meet expectations. 3) Acting without any semblance of logic or reason.
I think I'll be ready to make Western Conference predictions somewhere around March 22. Pretty early to make such calls, and when things change as radicaly as Christian Gomez ending up in Denver - well, I'd like to see how all of that shakes out, who gets injured, etc. before making an only slightly less blind prediction. And I am militantly happy with my decision to wait to make the picks!
LAG-could be like last year again if Lalas is still GM RSL-they were solid at the end of last year, and with all the new additions. Rsl will be this years Chivas Chivas-solid team, just no improvements over last year. Houston-loss of two of their better strikers will hurt them Dallas-loss of ruiz will hurt Crapids-name explains it all SJ
Dallas - Ruiz loss will hurt, but they are easily one of the most stable teams in MLS. Abe Thompson is the league's leading scorer, and Brek Shea wins Rookie of the Year. Chivas - Guzan wins Goalkeeper of the Year, and Galindo kills everyone. Alecko retires after three weeks. Atiba gets red-carded and finally 'sent back to hospital'. RSL - Has strengthened their defense and midfield immensely, but their young striking force won't bring as many goals as needed to dominate the league. Ian Joy wins Newcomer of the Year, while Matias Mantilla wins defender of the year. Houston - The loss of Jacqua and Ngwenya plagues Houston. Stewart Holden wins MLS MVP. DeRosario fails to show any signs of life. Ching attempts to win Goal of the Year again, but tears his ACL in the process. Galaxy - The team with three DP's...and a group of guys who failed to make their High School JV teams. The fish and Donovan mkae the best striking pair in the league. Beckham gets stuck playing right back. Colorado - Gomez will be plagued by the Clavijo virus. The Crapids will score a total of four goals this season, all against Columbus (best goalkeeping team ever). Terry Cooke realizes that he should be at a much better team and requests a trade to DC. San Jose - Struggling to fill their roster, and right now all they have is a reserve team. Frank Yallop is fired by mid-season, and SJ hires Joe Vide.
Mainly a discussion about personnel, but here is an article that takes a look at each team in the league. http://www.nbc5.com/sports/15283696/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=sports
1) Houston 2) LA 3) Chivas 4) Colorado. 5) Dallas 6) SJ 7) Seattle (even without having a team yet, better than you losers) 8) RSL Just kidding, I expect more of the same, we could just copy and paste the final 2007 standings. I notice you guys seem hopeful, more so than rapidsville. Maybe 4th, for you guys, make the playoffs in the new digs, that would be sweet.
Houston LA* Chivas Dallas RSL Colorado SJ *I think Ruiz will have a very disappointing year and keep them out of first
Chivas Dallas Houston RSL Colorado LA SJ I think Houston will lose some ground this year. Seems like they're losing talent while the other teams in the West are adding it. Chivas looks strong and Guzan will be even better than last year. I'm predicting LA will be a train wreck. A suspect keeper and soft defense will slow them down. They're just an injury or two away from terrible. I just don't buy the product that they're selling yet.