1. Columbus Crew
No Sigi, no problem... yet. Too soon to tell whether any team can derail the Crew's chances of repeating.
2. Chicago Fire
My choice to win the East/Supporters Shield, but ranked #2 because... to be the man, you've got to beat the man.
3. Real Salt Lake
Only team standing out in the West for a good reason, besides Seattle. RSL should run away from the pack and hide this year.
4. New York Red Bulls
A series of solid acquisitions has this team far ahead of last year's, on paper. Oduro and Angel will be one of the best striking tandems in the league.
5. Kansas City Wizards
One of the best teams down the stretch in '08, very few changes to that formula should equate into a good start for the Wizards this season. The addition of Hirsig will make this team a more viable offensive threat.
6. Seattle Sounders FC
Rated extremely high by this writer, Seattle has put in place just about every piece they would need to be considered a serious playoff threat, even in their first MLS season. Fredy Montero will have people forgetting about that other Freddie very quickly.
7. Toronto FC
Dwayne DeRosario has vaulted this team into being postseason contenders, but can the offense do enough to negate their defensive woes? Look for many 4-3 and 5-4 scorelines involving TFC this year.
8. San Jose Earthquakes
Solid at the back and in midfield, this team's only weakness comes up front, where relative unknowns Cam Weaver and Ryan Johnson will try to make a name for themselves. Johnson has the makings of a star striker in MLS, but is he there now? We'll see.
9. New England Revolution
Bitten hard by the injury bug last year, 2009 isn't starting much better for Steve Nicol's squad as forward Taylor Twellman apparently continues to feel post-concussion pain. Trading Adam Cristman to KC looks pretty stupid right now.
10. Houston Dynamo
The Dynamo will finally fall from grace in '09 after a remarkable run. Brian Ching does not have a solid strike partner, nor a reliable midfielder to create offense around him this season. Stuart Holden will have moments of genius, but will struggle much of the year while getting compared to DeRosario on a weekly basis.
11. FC Dallas
Things remain sour in FCD. Despite adding solid players in Dave van Den Bergh and David Ferreira, don't expect this team to compete in '09. Coach Schellas Hyndman has kicked up a lot of dirt since taking over, and is struggling to find their identiy. Kenny Cooper will once again be begging for a ticket out during the summer transfer window.
12. Los Angeles Galaxy
Bruce Arena knows MLS. He's brought in a solid core of veterans to help the younger players develop and should lead this team to improvement this season, but his decision to go with 37-year-old Tony Sanneh in the center of defense means the Galaxy will be exposed at the back all season long. Can the rest of the young backline cover for Old Man River?
13. D.C. United
Another team that has made some good changes in the offseason, but still has BIG questions in the back. If things can get sorted out defensively, a return to form by Christian Gomez could propel this team to mid-pack for most of the year.
14. Chivas USA
For the first time since the 2005 season, Chivas will NOT be the best team playing in the Home Depot Center. That honor will go to the Sol of WPS, with the Galaxy a distant second, but still ahead of CDCUSA. Too many fragile players + a poor SuperDraft and odd trades = Preki's last season as Chivas head coach. Virtually a lock to miss the playoffs without making some desperate moves. Start at goalkeeper.
15. Colorado Rapids
Another club whose coach has made a series of poor decisions, and will have to do some backpeddling all season. The best thing Colorado has going for them is that they play in the West, so despite being near the foot of the table, they won't be out of playoff contention until the season's last day, again.
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4 comments:
RSL is ranked too high!!!!
and joel you have RSL ranked way to low at 8th
you've got Seattle wayyyy too high.
There's no way in hell they'll make the playoffs. I think people who rate Seattle highly are buying into the hype surrounding the team, and not the reality.
They have 5-6 starters and the rest were castoffs from other MLS teams.
They have no depth either. This team will finish near the bottom.
Ok, Colorado last, really, on paper they are one of the most improved clubs in the off season, they should be top 3/4 in the west, D.C. got a good defender in Jakovic so they should be fine, and I wouldn't say that San Jose are weak upfront, just unproven, Toronto does have questions at the back for sure, Seattle looked great in match 1, but can they keep it up, Kansas will probaly not make the playoffs this year, New York did not look good in their 1st match and have lost some good players from last season so maybe they are due for a slide, I feel like Columbus could slide too, they lost perhaps their most important member in Schmid and had the assistant take over, who knows how good he will be, they also lost maybe a couple good players like Brad Evans.
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