Time for part 2 of my First Annual Half Arsed And Proud Of It MLS Season Predictions, and this time it's the Eastern Conference. Click here for my Western Conference preview, where Seattle took less than half a game to make a mockery of my optimism for Blaise Nkufo and O'Brian White. Like how I did it with the West, it's another no research, no googling, gut instinct kind of thing, here we go.
1 New York Red Bulls. Juan Pablo Angel could be a big loss, but having a full season of Thierry Henry should work out nicely for them. Not really much competition in the East, so they should sew up first fairly easily, before shockingly and amusingly losing to the wild card Colorado Rapids.
2 Sporting Kansas City. A new name, almost a new stadium, and Omar Bravo as their new DP. Things are looking up in KC. A long road trip could kill their season, but I think they'll do just about well enough to hang on, and then really make up ground in the 2nd half of the season, before making it to the Conference final and losing.
3 D.C United. Charlie Davies is a great signing and if Andy Najar can repeat or improve upon his showing of last year, they should help restore DC, if not to their former championship winning glories, at least back to respectability and a playoff position.
4 Philadelphia Union. Faryd Mondragon's a great name, and a decent signing as well. Carlos Ruiz seems like a bit of a desperate gamble, but things will come together and the Union will get the last wild card spot, where they'll lose to Colorado
5 Chicago Fire. Lost a few big name players in Cuahtemoc Blanco Brian McBride and Nery Castillo, so will wallow in mediocrity, flirt with the playoffs all season, but not make it.
6 Houston Dynamo. Houston benefit with the move to the weaker Eastern Conference, but won't really be able to take advantage. With no big names coming in over the off-season, they'll once again be relying on Brian Ching, and he won't be able to do it on his own.
7 Columbus Crew. Lost a lot of their best and most experienced players, like Schelotto and Hejduk, and their days of being a contender are over. They'll actually lose a game to Toronto, but will still finish above them.
8 Toronto FC. Ah, Toronto. New management, new hope, no good new players yet though. If some academy kids/draftees or as yet unknown new signings don't come along and impress, we'll be in trouble. We're finally on the right track but we're a long way back, 2012 should be better but this year will be long and frustrating, it'll be interesting at least.
9 New England Revolution. If only because I couldn't bring myself to put Toronto dead last. If Shalrie Joseph can keep himself out of trouble and out of rehab, they'll maybe do ok, but I think they'll struggle and it may be the end of the Nicol era.
So overall, in one magnificent single table format, your standings will be;
1 Real Salt Lake
2 Seattle Sounders
3 New York Red Bulls
4 LA Galaxy
5 Colorado Rapids
6 FC Dallas
7 Sporting Kansas City
8 DC United
9 Portland Timbers
10 Philadelphia Union
11Chicago Fire
12 San Jose Earthquakes
13 Houston Dynamo
14 Columbus Crew
15 Chivas Usa
16 Toronto FC
17 Vancouver Whitecaps
18 New England Revolution.
Wild cards, Colorado beats Philadelphia, Portland beats Dallas.
Conference semi finals, RSL beats Portland, Seattle beats LA, Colorado beats New York and Kansas City beats DC.
Conference finals, Seattle beats RSL and Colorado beats Kansas City
MLS Cup, Seattle beats Colorado.
Showing posts with label DC United. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DC United. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Gordon Heavyelbow and Cann the Comedian.
A busy weekend for Toronto FC saw them play the last game of their pre-season, against DC United in the Carolina Challenge Cup, as well as continue with the all of a sudden rapid progress in adding to their squad. After signing Gianluca Zavarise, and welcoming Adrian Cann back to the team, a trade was announced on Friday afternoon, Nick Labrocca going to Chivas USA with striker Alan Gordon coming back to Toronto. Aged 29, Gordon's been an intermittent starter over 7 years in MLS, mainly with LA Galaxy, where he scored 16 goals in 99 games, before being traded to Chivas, with whom he scored 1 goal in 9 games.
So, a tall striker who doesn't really score that many goals, but gets quite a few assists, acts as a target man, holding the ball up for other players, and as Adrian Cann's nose can attest after meeting his elbow in the game at Chivas last year, is a, erm, physical presence. The obvious comparison is Danny Dichio, and while I doubt he'll have as big an impact, he'll bring some welcome physicality to a team that throughout pre-season seemed to be lacking it. Unless there's more additions to the forward line in the next week, he should be starting as the middle of the three forwards, with Maicon Santos and one of Jacob Peterson or Javier Martina playing wide.
One feature of pre-season seemed to be that TFC didn't seem quite good enough to be able to take their possession play into the final third and penetrate the defence. This meant the final ball into the box was more often than not a cross from out wide, and more often than not, nothing came of that, so a big man in the box should definitely help that default option become a more successful one. Before we have to fall back on that default option though, Gordon should be able to use his size to hold the ball up in the final third and bring the other forwards, or Dwayne De Rosario coming from midfield, into the play in more dangerous areas. If this works and he fits in well, he would be a very important part of any success TFC might have this season.
As for Labrocca, he's a competent if unspectacular midfielder, but won't really be missed. With Julian De Guzman and Elbekay Bouchiba coming back soon from injuries and academy player Oscar Cordon also getting a lot of time in midfield, Labrocca fell victim to the numbers game as more options were needed up front.
After Friday's trade action, there was a game to be played on Saturday, the final game in Charleston and it ended 2-2, Dwayne De Rosario and Maicon Santos with the goals, and TFC holding on for the draw despite being down to ten men after Mikael Yourrasowsky was sent off for two yellow cards in two minutes in the first half. I didn't see the game, but actually scoring a goal from open play has got to be a good sign, and most importantly De Ro proved his fitness after missing the last couple of games.
As part of Adrian Cann's return to training Camp, Aron Winter made it known an apology to his teammates was needed, and it turns out that that was going to be a public apology, as he was wheeled out to take part in Winter's post game media interviews. Cann, as meek as a chastised schoolboy with Winter the stern Principal looking on, apologised to the fans and everyone in the organisation, acknowledged he made a mistake by leaving, calling it a mental lapse, and said he now wants to concentrate on the season and getting off to a good start against Vancouver. He then added a much needed moment of levity to the interview by adding "and win a championship".
More painful than the public show of contrition would be the financial hit Cann took for his actions, as the details of the reason for Cann's walkout was revealed in this article from the Star's Daniel Girard, and it turns out it was another unwelcome leftover from Mo Johnston's reign of error. Cann's salary last year was a very low $65,342, apparently as much as TFC could afford under the salary cap, and there was an unwritten promise that this season's salary would be topped up to make up for that. So after Winter's appointment, Cann went looking for that top up, asking for a $175,000 deal for this year. TFC countered with an offer of $160,000, not to Cann's satisfaction, and thus he eventually left camp to force negotiations along. TFC called his bluff, and now Cann is back on his original $124,000 deal, so in effect his principled stand has ended up costing him $36,000.
Turning down that $160,000 compromise probably wasn't the smartest move by Cann, but hopefully, he and the team can put everything behind them and move forward. Cann should have motivation to play as well as possible so as to help him with future negotiations when this season is done, whether with TFC or another club. This situation, along with the broken promises made to Dwayne De Rosario are big indictments of how TFC used to be run, hopefully from here on in things will get a lot more professional, and hopefully there's no more ticking time bombs that the new management regime will have to deal with.
So, a tall striker who doesn't really score that many goals, but gets quite a few assists, acts as a target man, holding the ball up for other players, and as Adrian Cann's nose can attest after meeting his elbow in the game at Chivas last year, is a, erm, physical presence. The obvious comparison is Danny Dichio, and while I doubt he'll have as big an impact, he'll bring some welcome physicality to a team that throughout pre-season seemed to be lacking it. Unless there's more additions to the forward line in the next week, he should be starting as the middle of the three forwards, with Maicon Santos and one of Jacob Peterson or Javier Martina playing wide.
One feature of pre-season seemed to be that TFC didn't seem quite good enough to be able to take their possession play into the final third and penetrate the defence. This meant the final ball into the box was more often than not a cross from out wide, and more often than not, nothing came of that, so a big man in the box should definitely help that default option become a more successful one. Before we have to fall back on that default option though, Gordon should be able to use his size to hold the ball up in the final third and bring the other forwards, or Dwayne De Rosario coming from midfield, into the play in more dangerous areas. If this works and he fits in well, he would be a very important part of any success TFC might have this season.
As for Labrocca, he's a competent if unspectacular midfielder, but won't really be missed. With Julian De Guzman and Elbekay Bouchiba coming back soon from injuries and academy player Oscar Cordon also getting a lot of time in midfield, Labrocca fell victim to the numbers game as more options were needed up front.
After Friday's trade action, there was a game to be played on Saturday, the final game in Charleston and it ended 2-2, Dwayne De Rosario and Maicon Santos with the goals, and TFC holding on for the draw despite being down to ten men after Mikael Yourrasowsky was sent off for two yellow cards in two minutes in the first half. I didn't see the game, but actually scoring a goal from open play has got to be a good sign, and most importantly De Ro proved his fitness after missing the last couple of games.
As part of Adrian Cann's return to training Camp, Aron Winter made it known an apology to his teammates was needed, and it turns out that that was going to be a public apology, as he was wheeled out to take part in Winter's post game media interviews. Cann, as meek as a chastised schoolboy with Winter the stern Principal looking on, apologised to the fans and everyone in the organisation, acknowledged he made a mistake by leaving, calling it a mental lapse, and said he now wants to concentrate on the season and getting off to a good start against Vancouver. He then added a much needed moment of levity to the interview by adding "and win a championship".
More painful than the public show of contrition would be the financial hit Cann took for his actions, as the details of the reason for Cann's walkout was revealed in this article from the Star's Daniel Girard, and it turns out it was another unwelcome leftover from Mo Johnston's reign of error. Cann's salary last year was a very low $65,342, apparently as much as TFC could afford under the salary cap, and there was an unwritten promise that this season's salary would be topped up to make up for that. So after Winter's appointment, Cann went looking for that top up, asking for a $175,000 deal for this year. TFC countered with an offer of $160,000, not to Cann's satisfaction, and thus he eventually left camp to force negotiations along. TFC called his bluff, and now Cann is back on his original $124,000 deal, so in effect his principled stand has ended up costing him $36,000.
Turning down that $160,000 compromise probably wasn't the smartest move by Cann, but hopefully, he and the team can put everything behind them and move forward. Cann should have motivation to play as well as possible so as to help him with future negotiations when this season is done, whether with TFC or another club. This situation, along with the broken promises made to Dwayne De Rosario are big indictments of how TFC used to be run, hopefully from here on in things will get a lot more professional, and hopefully there's no more ticking time bombs that the new management regime will have to deal with.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Boooooooooooo!
The general tone and theme of this blog, and my life as a sports fan, if there is one, while not exactly a celebration of sporting failure and bumbling incompetence, is certainly an indulgence and acceptance of it as the natural lot of the local team follower.
Maybe years from now I'll chuckle at the shitshow that was TFC's game against DC, and hold it up as some kind of badge of honour to show how I deserve whatever hypothetical success may arrive in the future. Right now though, I'm not really feeling all that indulgent, after watching one of the worst performances I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen a lot of bad games.
Where to start? I guess with the result. That must win and most winnable game against the worst team in the league I was talking about? We lost 1-0, and we got lucky, 4-0 wouldn't have been a flattering result for DC. It pretty much guarantees we'll miss the playoffs, but I'll leave some kind of season review for later and focus on just this game.
The line-up. Maicon Santos starting up front? Excellent, but with Mista? He hasn't looked like a good forward all year, and he certainly didn't correct the impression today. When he wasn't wasting half chances by dribbling into defenders rather than trying a quick shot, he was dropping deep, thus leaving Santos on his own, as well as getting in De Ro's way at the top of the midfield diamond, who'd have thought signing a DP striker would create our very own Gerrard/Lampard conundrum in midfield. And who was on the sides of this midfield diamond, why noted dangerous wingers Martin Saric and Dan Gargan of course. No offence to either of them, they're both good MLS level players in their own way, but they certainly don't suggest creativity, or a threat that DC had to take seriously thus opening up space for the central players. In defence, I can only presume Ty Harden is injured, even though he was on the subs bench, as all of a sudden, there's Raivas Hscanovics at left back.
The game . Aside from De Ro's early effort, a fantastic dribble through three defenders and shot from outside the box that hit the post, we were absolutely terrible, saved only by DC's ineptness in front of goal. There's just too much that went wrong to even try and analyse it.
The post game excuses. Preki blamed tiredness and the schedule and the rigours of having to play at 4pm after an evening game on Wednesday. There's probably an element of truth in that, but it's a feeble excuse. The squad just isn't good enough, and if there's a silver lining right now it's that surely it's time for Mo Johnston's to go back to Scotland. As for Preki, I've been on his side generally, thinking he was doing a good job until injuries and lack of depth killed our momentum, but there's been a few games where I thought he's got his line up and strategy all wrong, and this is another one to add to the list. Should he go as well as Mo? I still don't think I'm prepared to call for that, if only because I really don't want to blow things up completely, but I'm closer than I've ever been.
So what now? Concentrate on the champions league? I suppose, but we're already in trouble there, having blown a glorious opportunity to be in control of the group by taking Arabe Unido too lightly. There's a very good chance that by the time we play Real Salt Lake at home, we'll still be stuck on 3 points while Cruz Azul and RSL have 9. Not to worry though, Mo Johnston made clear in his pre-game interview that TFC feels merely qualifying for the group stage is mission accomplished as far as the CCL is concerned.
To sum up: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Maybe years from now I'll chuckle at the shitshow that was TFC's game against DC, and hold it up as some kind of badge of honour to show how I deserve whatever hypothetical success may arrive in the future. Right now though, I'm not really feeling all that indulgent, after watching one of the worst performances I've ever seen, and believe me, I've seen a lot of bad games.
Where to start? I guess with the result. That must win and most winnable game against the worst team in the league I was talking about? We lost 1-0, and we got lucky, 4-0 wouldn't have been a flattering result for DC. It pretty much guarantees we'll miss the playoffs, but I'll leave some kind of season review for later and focus on just this game.
The line-up. Maicon Santos starting up front? Excellent, but with Mista? He hasn't looked like a good forward all year, and he certainly didn't correct the impression today. When he wasn't wasting half chances by dribbling into defenders rather than trying a quick shot, he was dropping deep, thus leaving Santos on his own, as well as getting in De Ro's way at the top of the midfield diamond, who'd have thought signing a DP striker would create our very own Gerrard/Lampard conundrum in midfield. And who was on the sides of this midfield diamond, why noted dangerous wingers Martin Saric and Dan Gargan of course. No offence to either of them, they're both good MLS level players in their own way, but they certainly don't suggest creativity, or a threat that DC had to take seriously thus opening up space for the central players. In defence, I can only presume Ty Harden is injured, even though he was on the subs bench, as all of a sudden, there's Raivas Hscanovics at left back.
The game . Aside from De Ro's early effort, a fantastic dribble through three defenders and shot from outside the box that hit the post, we were absolutely terrible, saved only by DC's ineptness in front of goal. There's just too much that went wrong to even try and analyse it.
The post game excuses. Preki blamed tiredness and the schedule and the rigours of having to play at 4pm after an evening game on Wednesday. There's probably an element of truth in that, but it's a feeble excuse. The squad just isn't good enough, and if there's a silver lining right now it's that surely it's time for Mo Johnston's to go back to Scotland. As for Preki, I've been on his side generally, thinking he was doing a good job until injuries and lack of depth killed our momentum, but there's been a few games where I thought he's got his line up and strategy all wrong, and this is another one to add to the list. Should he go as well as Mo? I still don't think I'm prepared to call for that, if only because I really don't want to blow things up completely, but I'm closer than I've ever been.
So what now? Concentrate on the champions league? I suppose, but we're already in trouble there, having blown a glorious opportunity to be in control of the group by taking Arabe Unido too lightly. There's a very good chance that by the time we play Real Salt Lake at home, we'll still be stuck on 3 points while Cruz Azul and RSL have 9. Not to worry though, Mo Johnston made clear in his pre-game interview that TFC feels merely qualifying for the group stage is mission accomplished as far as the CCL is concerned.
To sum up: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Mmmmmmm cliches.
So, it's squeaky bum time, 7 games left, at least 4 wins, probably 5 wins needed to make the playoffs, and we're at home to the worst team in the league. Games don't come more must winnish that this one. They also don't come much more winnable. If we don't win tomorrow, then we're not going to make the playoffs, if we can't win, then we really don't deserve to.
In his pre game interview Preki talks about the need for the midfield to step up and share the load offensively, saying they've only accounted for 2 goals all season. While this is arguably true, if you don't consider De Rosario to have been playing in midfield at all this year, it's also a bit rich considering it's his tactics that have led to that stat, as well as the welcome reduction in goals against. Hopefully this means he's ready to go with a more attacking formation to try and get some goals and put the game away early, then rest players for the midweek ccl game against Salt lake.
In fairness to Preki, he put out an attacking line-up against Chicago, unfortunately, it had Jacob Peterson up front, so was always unlikely to bear fruit. With that in mind, I'd love to see Maicon Santos start the game. If he's not fit enough for the whole game then take him off, but let's start with our strongest line-up rather than have to throw him on later if we're struggling. With Chad Barrett probably still not fit enough, I'd keep O'Brian White in the team with him up front, as I feel he's been looking much better in the last couple of games, following up a hard working game against Dallas with more of the same against Chicago, and actually looking like a threat to score a couple of times.
The status of Mista remains a mystery, Preki saying he's been having trouble with his leg, but if he's fit, I'd like to see him in the centre of an attacking midfield trio with De Ro and LaBrocca, with De guzman as the holding midfielder. If Mista isn't fit, then, for want of a better alternative, put Peterson on the wing with De Ro tucked in behind the strikers.
The defence is fairly straight forward, just replace the suspended Usanov with Gargan, and keep Harden at left back rather than Garcia.
4-1-3-2, it's risky but it's do or die time, balls to the wall, death or glory, win or bust, go big or go home, choose your cliche really. I predict a 3-0 TFC win, with White and De Ro scoring early and shockingly, Peterson getting a third in the second half.
In his pre game interview Preki talks about the need for the midfield to step up and share the load offensively, saying they've only accounted for 2 goals all season. While this is arguably true, if you don't consider De Rosario to have been playing in midfield at all this year, it's also a bit rich considering it's his tactics that have led to that stat, as well as the welcome reduction in goals against. Hopefully this means he's ready to go with a more attacking formation to try and get some goals and put the game away early, then rest players for the midweek ccl game against Salt lake.
In fairness to Preki, he put out an attacking line-up against Chicago, unfortunately, it had Jacob Peterson up front, so was always unlikely to bear fruit. With that in mind, I'd love to see Maicon Santos start the game. If he's not fit enough for the whole game then take him off, but let's start with our strongest line-up rather than have to throw him on later if we're struggling. With Chad Barrett probably still not fit enough, I'd keep O'Brian White in the team with him up front, as I feel he's been looking much better in the last couple of games, following up a hard working game against Dallas with more of the same against Chicago, and actually looking like a threat to score a couple of times.
The status of Mista remains a mystery, Preki saying he's been having trouble with his leg, but if he's fit, I'd like to see him in the centre of an attacking midfield trio with De Ro and LaBrocca, with De guzman as the holding midfielder. If Mista isn't fit, then, for want of a better alternative, put Peterson on the wing with De Ro tucked in behind the strikers.
The defence is fairly straight forward, just replace the suspended Usanov with Gargan, and keep Harden at left back rather than Garcia.
4-1-3-2, it's risky but it's do or die time, balls to the wall, death or glory, win or bust, go big or go home, choose your cliche really. I predict a 3-0 TFC win, with White and De Ro scoring early and shockingly, Peterson getting a third in the second half.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)