Well here we are again, the new season kicking off, anticipation rising with supporters dreaming of success, however that may be defined, whether it's trophies, playoffs, respectably competing, or just seeing the odd glimpse here and there of some potential future success. It's a clean slate, everyone's excited, hell even David Beckham's deigned to be here for the start of the season this time.
Obviously that means it's preview time in the media, so here I go. I haven't done much research for this, to be honest I've done no research, I'm just going by my impressions from last season, and whatever news was big enough for me to notice and remember over the last few months, I'm not going to look anything up while writing this, I'm just going with a gut feeling, Tom Anselmi style, that always works right? So here we go, my First Annual Half-Arsed And Proud Of It MLS Season Predictions. The FAHAAPOIMLSSPs. Catchy. Due to First Kick involving two western teams, I'll start with the West.
1 Real Salt Lake. A really good team who should keep going. Due to Champions league play, they'll be more ready than most teams to start the season, so should get good results early, and from there on in, they can coast on the home advantage they get at Rio Tinto stadium. Fatigue from extra cup games will cost them towards the end of the season, they'll win the West, and the Supporters Shield, but will lose in the conference final.
2 Seattle Sounders. A very successful start as an expansion club, with two US Opens and good regular season success maintaining that momentum, and this year they'll make it really count. Blaise Nkufo should do really well, and they'll somehow even manage to make O'Brian White look like a decent player again. MLS Cup champs.
3 LA Galaxy. Another successful regular season, with Donovan and Beckham playing well and Juan Pablo Angel adequately replacing Edson Buddle, the real interest lies in seeing if the notoriously sweaty Chad barrett manages to avoid completely evaporating over the course of a long hot LA season. It will hilariously end with a first round playoff defeat, Seattle gaining their revenge for last year.
4 Colorado Rapids. The 2010 MLS cup champs should be strong again, with new signing Nyassi from Seattle combining with Kandji if and when he's fit to take some of the scoring pressure off Casey and Cummings. Basically though it's all going to come down to those two, and they'll do alright, securing the top wild card seed and once again representing the East in the final, where they'll lose.
5 FC Dallas. Bloody hell, there's a lot of good teams in the West. Last year's losing finallists will do ok, mainly on the back of another good season from David Ferreira. Due to being in the West, they'll only secure a wild card spot, and will lose at that stage.
6 Portland Timbers. As an expansion side, they'll be closer to Seattle than Toronto, and Kenny Cooper will pick up where he left off with Dallas and score plenty of goals. They'll beat Dallas in the wild card game, then lose to RSL.
7. San Jose Earthquakes. Wondolowski won't score half as many goals as he did last year, and they'll muddle along at the edge of the wild card spots all season before falling short.
8 Chivas USA. A new coach, some new players, Nick Labrocca. They'll be better than last year, but still not good enough.
9 Vancouver Whitecaps. More out of spite than anything. In a way, they're the anti TFC, what seems to be blandly professional behind the scenes, with continutiy in the coaching ranks, and slowly putting together what might eventually be a decent team, and no sign that they'll make a lot of panic moves if it doesn't start out right. The team generally reflects that, they'll be ok, tough to beat, but unexciting, hopefully their DP Hassli can score them some goals.
So there you have it, by far the stronger conference, 3 of the 4 wild card spots will go to Western teams, as will the Supporter's shield, both MLS Cup final spots and the MLS Cup winners.
Coming sometime in the next couple of days, the mediocrity that will be the Eastern Conference.
Showing posts with label LA Galaxy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LA Galaxy. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Friday, January 14, 2011
Oh my god! You traded Chad! You Bastards!
Well, I guess those of us who thought that Earl Cochrane had done all the necessary chopping of dead wood from last year's squad and that Aron Winter, Paul Mariner et al would move swiftly on to the rebuilding stage were wrong. At Wednesday's Superdraft! TFC did a lot more than just draft players. They first of all traded away Chad Barrett to LA Galaxy for the ubiquitous future considerations, in what was essentially a salary dump. Reports vary on whether TFC is still paying a portion of his salary or not, though the club has said that they won't be. Jon Conway was also traded to Chicago Fire for a 3rd round pick, and 4 players were drafted. Demetrius Omphroy, Matt Gold, Junior Burgos and Jaoa Plata will now have a chance to make it in Toronto.
I won't pretend to know much about any of those players yet, you can find more details here, or more colourfully, here. Suffice it to say that lower round picks don't have a history of working out great, so if 1 out of those 4 ends up sticking with the club long term, that will probably be considered a success.
Trading Jon Conway also isn't really that big of a deal, Milos Kocic should be an able backup to Stefan Frei, so the $70,000 Conway is due to make this year can be put to better use in areas of greater need, which is pretty much every other position. By all accounts, Conway was a great teammate and all round good guy, so I wish him nothing but the best, and his last act as a TFC player, saluting the crowd while walking off after his red card for upending Columbus' Steven Lenhart is certainly a fine and memorable way to go out.
The trade of Barrett though, well that's a big one. Chad Fucking Barrett! For most people that would be said with an exasperated tone after another wasted opportunity, for me it was always with a defiant glee when he'd done something right, scored a goal or had a particularly good game. I always liked Barrett, even back in 2009 when he was, how to put this nicely, not so prolific, and when Barrett vs Vitti arguments regularly raged on the supporters forums, I was always on his side as his contribution was always so much bigger than mere goals scored or not scored. In 2010, when he added more composed finishing to his undeniable workrate, well, can you say MVP? I did, It was no co-incidence that everything fell apart last year after he and Maicon Santos were injured.
In 2009 it was always a bit of a pleasant surprise when Barrett scored, and that attitude carried over for me into 2010. The game against Chicago in May when he scored twice, I was positively giddy, it was as if the special kid in school had got an A, one that he'd actually earned. Probably the best thing I could say about his improvement in 2010 would be that that sense of surprise disappeared, later in the year, before and after his injury, a Barrett goal was a lot more routine, I expected him to finish a good chance, and he usually did.
But this is what happens in sports, so I'll move on, and for now, I'll trust that our new management have impressive plans on how to spend all the salary cap space now at their disposal, and I'll also admit that Barrett was overpaid, so hopefully there's better value for money out there.
For now, though, I'll say goodbye with highlights of some of his finest work. If I had any sort of technical skills, I'd put the highlights together into a single youtube video with a suitably admiring soundtrack. One quick glance at my blog however, will tell you I don't have those technical skills, so instead here's a bunch of different clips of his best moments. Just imagine you're listening to "Nobody does it better" in the background.
First off, his goal against Montreal in the 2009 Voyageurs Cup, at 7:50 of this video.
Then there's his 1 goal 2 assist second half performance in the Montreal Miracle, starting at 3:30.
This is the game mentioned above where he scores twice against Chicago, starting at 0:40. My season tickets are in section 227, so the fact that he always ran to that corner after scoring in the north end was great, he had some really good celebrations there.
Next up is his goal against San Jose in 2010, not the greatest goal, but another great celebration 1:30 in.
And I'll finish up with his contribution to our triumph over Motagua, here's his goal in the first leg starting at 0.33
And his 2nd leg goal, at 1"36, where he really shows off just how much he sweats in a game. Good luck with that LA heat.
Thanks for everything Chad, I'll miss you.
I won't pretend to know much about any of those players yet, you can find more details here, or more colourfully, here. Suffice it to say that lower round picks don't have a history of working out great, so if 1 out of those 4 ends up sticking with the club long term, that will probably be considered a success.
Trading Jon Conway also isn't really that big of a deal, Milos Kocic should be an able backup to Stefan Frei, so the $70,000 Conway is due to make this year can be put to better use in areas of greater need, which is pretty much every other position. By all accounts, Conway was a great teammate and all round good guy, so I wish him nothing but the best, and his last act as a TFC player, saluting the crowd while walking off after his red card for upending Columbus' Steven Lenhart is certainly a fine and memorable way to go out.
The trade of Barrett though, well that's a big one. Chad Fucking Barrett! For most people that would be said with an exasperated tone after another wasted opportunity, for me it was always with a defiant glee when he'd done something right, scored a goal or had a particularly good game. I always liked Barrett, even back in 2009 when he was, how to put this nicely, not so prolific, and when Barrett vs Vitti arguments regularly raged on the supporters forums, I was always on his side as his contribution was always so much bigger than mere goals scored or not scored. In 2010, when he added more composed finishing to his undeniable workrate, well, can you say MVP? I did, It was no co-incidence that everything fell apart last year after he and Maicon Santos were injured.
In 2009 it was always a bit of a pleasant surprise when Barrett scored, and that attitude carried over for me into 2010. The game against Chicago in May when he scored twice, I was positively giddy, it was as if the special kid in school had got an A, one that he'd actually earned. Probably the best thing I could say about his improvement in 2010 would be that that sense of surprise disappeared, later in the year, before and after his injury, a Barrett goal was a lot more routine, I expected him to finish a good chance, and he usually did.
But this is what happens in sports, so I'll move on, and for now, I'll trust that our new management have impressive plans on how to spend all the salary cap space now at their disposal, and I'll also admit that Barrett was overpaid, so hopefully there's better value for money out there.
For now, though, I'll say goodbye with highlights of some of his finest work. If I had any sort of technical skills, I'd put the highlights together into a single youtube video with a suitably admiring soundtrack. One quick glance at my blog however, will tell you I don't have those technical skills, so instead here's a bunch of different clips of his best moments. Just imagine you're listening to "Nobody does it better" in the background.
First off, his goal against Montreal in the 2009 Voyageurs Cup, at 7:50 of this video.
Then there's his 1 goal 2 assist second half performance in the Montreal Miracle, starting at 3:30.
This is the game mentioned above where he scores twice against Chicago, starting at 0:40. My season tickets are in section 227, so the fact that he always ran to that corner after scoring in the north end was great, he had some really good celebrations there.
Next up is his goal against San Jose in 2010, not the greatest goal, but another great celebration 1:30 in.
And I'll finish up with his contribution to our triumph over Motagua, here's his goal in the first leg starting at 0.33
And his 2nd leg goal, at 1"36, where he really shows off just how much he sweats in a game. Good luck with that LA heat.
Thanks for everything Chad, I'll miss you.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Successful Canadian footballers?
Tonight, having already qualified for the 2011 World Cup in Germany after their semi-final win over Costa Rica, Canada's Women's National Team has the chance to clinch the Concacaf championship tonight. They're favourites as well, as rather than taking on the heavily favoured US team, they'll actually be playing Mexico who lost 3-0 to Canada in the group stages, before stunning the US in the semi-final. You can watch the game on CBC Bold, or if you're not one of their approximately 12 subscribers, online here. Congratulations to Carolina Morace and her team for a successful qualification, and hopefully they can finish the job tonight and cap what's been a busy and enjoyable weekend of football.
In the MLS playoffs, San Jose destroyed the "dream final" by knocking out Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls, and you've got to say that the first half-season of the Henry experiment was a bit of a failure really. Not a Mista level failure by any means, but he's going to have to improve next year to justify the big bucks. Columbus also lost, in a shootout to Colorado, and San Jose-Colorado really is an appropriate final for what was a very bad year for Eastern Conference clubs. In the Western Conference, Dallas beat Real Salt Lake, before a higher seed finally won, with LA knocking out Seattle. So either David Beckham or Jeff Cunningham will be playing and potentially lifting the the cup at BMO field, it's safe to say I'll be supporting whoever comes out of the "East".
Back in England, it was a mixed weekend for the small clubs in the FA cup. Tipton Town and Hythe Town both got hammered, though Hythe did at least score. Dover upset Gillingham, getting revenge against all the management and coaches who went from Dover to Gillingham this summer and FC United of Manchester got a 94th minute winner against Rochdale. Darlington beat League one side Bristol Rovers 2-1, though even when they win, they can't win, as computer problems in the ticket office led to very long waits to get in and quite a few people apparently giving up, so that's a good chance to win some new converts, or win back some old fans wasted, but still, an excellent result.
Throw in Chelsea and Arsenal both losing to EPL minnows, and it's been a really good weekend, Canada being champions would be a great way to finish it.
Edit: And they did finish it off, a 1-0 win giving them the title, 5 games, 5 wins, 0 goals against, a really good tournament all round. Well done Ladies. Campeonas! Campeonas! olé, olé, olé!
In the MLS playoffs, San Jose destroyed the "dream final" by knocking out Thierry Henry and the Red Bulls, and you've got to say that the first half-season of the Henry experiment was a bit of a failure really. Not a Mista level failure by any means, but he's going to have to improve next year to justify the big bucks. Columbus also lost, in a shootout to Colorado, and San Jose-Colorado really is an appropriate final for what was a very bad year for Eastern Conference clubs. In the Western Conference, Dallas beat Real Salt Lake, before a higher seed finally won, with LA knocking out Seattle. So either David Beckham or Jeff Cunningham will be playing and potentially lifting the the cup at BMO field, it's safe to say I'll be supporting whoever comes out of the "East".
Back in England, it was a mixed weekend for the small clubs in the FA cup. Tipton Town and Hythe Town both got hammered, though Hythe did at least score. Dover upset Gillingham, getting revenge against all the management and coaches who went from Dover to Gillingham this summer and FC United of Manchester got a 94th minute winner against Rochdale. Darlington beat League one side Bristol Rovers 2-1, though even when they win, they can't win, as computer problems in the ticket office led to very long waits to get in and quite a few people apparently giving up, so that's a good chance to win some new converts, or win back some old fans wasted, but still, an excellent result.
Throw in Chelsea and Arsenal both losing to EPL minnows, and it's been a really good weekend, Canada being champions would be a great way to finish it.
Edit: And they did finish it off, a 1-0 win giving them the title, 5 games, 5 wins, 0 goals against, a really good tournament all round. Well done Ladies. Campeonas! Campeonas! olé, olé, olé!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Weeeee love you! But we hate you. You too. And especially you!
With the MLS playoffs about to start, and TFC's lockers already cleared out, it's time to decide who to be following, and who to be prepared to cheer for or against when the final is played before all TFC's eager season ticket holders (everyone's going right? there were no problems with that?).
If you're undecided and it's uninformed opinions, partisan sentimentality, bitterness and petty prejudices you want to make a decision on, then you've come to the right place. Here's my reasons to boo and cheer for the 8 teams still playing.
Colorado.
Reasons to cheer. Marvell Wynne, his flailing arms and lack of positional sense annoyed me, but I hold no grudge with Wynne and would have no problem seeing him with the trophy. No sponsor, I'm officially jealous of their jersey, simple, no sponsor or obnoxious North American style logo, classiest in MLS by far.
Reasons to boo. Conor Casey, the poor man's Danny Dichio. You don't like Toronto? We don't like you either, so there! Success would probably increase their commercial value and lead to a jersey sponsorship offer they can't refuse.
Verdict. Meh!
Columbus.
Reasons to cheer. Their consistency over the last few years is an example of...Nah, can't do it. Seriously, it's Columbus.
Reasons to boo. Schelotto, Lenhart, Padula's terrible hair, their taser happy cops, the fact that TFC still hasn't beaten them. Seriously, it's Columbus.
Verdict. Fuck those guys! booooooo!
Dallas.
Reasons to cheer. I seriously can't think of any, though I suppose in a "good for the growth of the game" kind of way, being champions might help them actually sell some tickets.
Reasons to boo. Jeff Cunningham. Milton Rodriguez's obnoxious fan-baiting celebration after scoring at BMO field this year. The bouncy castle. Did I mention Jeff Cunningham?
Verdict. Booooo!
Los Angeles.
Reasons to cheer. The Riot Squad supporters group standing up to Beckham last year was a great moment. That's about it.
Reasons to boo. Beckham. Landycakes. That's all the reasons I need.
Verdict. Fuck those guys! Boooo!
New York.
Reasons to cheer. Robbo, it`d be good to see him raising a trophy at BMO. Greg Sutton, ditto. They`ve built themselves a fantastic stadium, and it`d be good for the league for it to be filled on a regular basis, winning would help with that.
Reasons to boo. Thierry Henry. Changing the team name to Red Bulls? Awful. 5-0 last year. That Red Bull Energy Zone or whatever it's called that sprung up outside the North stand at BMO towards the end of the season is terrible on so many levels.
Verdict. Sorry Robbo, booooo!
Salt Lake.
Reasons to cheer. Will Johnson, good Canadian kid. Their turnaround from consistently terrible to very good gives some hope for TFC.
Reasons to boo. The dirty hippy. Real Salt lake is still a stupid name.
Verdict. Meh!
San Jose.
Reasons to cheer. Canadian Frank Yallop, showing the benefits of patience and sticking with a plan. Sam Cronin. A pacific coast team representing the Eastern conference would be amusing. Supporters had their original team ripped away from them, so karma wise, they've earned it.
Reasons to boo. None that I can think of, they're a pretty inoffensive club.
Verdict. Against New York and probably Columbus? Rock the Casbah! I hope they make it.
Seattle. Reasons to cheer. Before TFC's game in Seattle, I unknowingly ended up in the home pub of Seattle supporters group Gorilla FC. "Anti-racist, anti-Fascist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic, but pro-party!!" Now that's a slogan I can get behind. They were unfailingly friendly, many of them very sincerely thanking me for travelling. It was a great day for lucky drinking, I ran into some of Chad Barrett's family at a bar near the stadium pre game, and later that night Danny Dichio and Leo Percovich showed up at the same Irish pub I was in. The atmosphere at the game was great, and the ambition the owners have shown is something that I really hope TFC are going to try and emulate.
Reasons to boo. They`ve already had way too much success, I`m jealous.
Verdict. I hope they win it all.
So here it is in order who I'll be cheering for, or more likely, not cheering against.
1. Seattle
2. San Jose
3. Colorado
4. Salt Lake
5. New York
6. Dallas
7. LA
8. Columbus.
7 and 8 was a really tough call. I hope they don't both make it to the final.
If you're undecided and it's uninformed opinions, partisan sentimentality, bitterness and petty prejudices you want to make a decision on, then you've come to the right place. Here's my reasons to boo and cheer for the 8 teams still playing.
Colorado.
Reasons to cheer. Marvell Wynne, his flailing arms and lack of positional sense annoyed me, but I hold no grudge with Wynne and would have no problem seeing him with the trophy. No sponsor, I'm officially jealous of their jersey, simple, no sponsor or obnoxious North American style logo, classiest in MLS by far.
Reasons to boo. Conor Casey, the poor man's Danny Dichio. You don't like Toronto? We don't like you either, so there! Success would probably increase their commercial value and lead to a jersey sponsorship offer they can't refuse.
Verdict. Meh!
Columbus.
Reasons to cheer. Their consistency over the last few years is an example of...Nah, can't do it. Seriously, it's Columbus.
Reasons to boo. Schelotto, Lenhart, Padula's terrible hair, their taser happy cops, the fact that TFC still hasn't beaten them. Seriously, it's Columbus.
Verdict. Fuck those guys! booooooo!
Dallas.
Reasons to cheer. I seriously can't think of any, though I suppose in a "good for the growth of the game" kind of way, being champions might help them actually sell some tickets.
Reasons to boo. Jeff Cunningham. Milton Rodriguez's obnoxious fan-baiting celebration after scoring at BMO field this year. The bouncy castle. Did I mention Jeff Cunningham?
Verdict. Booooo!
Los Angeles.
Reasons to cheer. The Riot Squad supporters group standing up to Beckham last year was a great moment. That's about it.
Reasons to boo. Beckham. Landycakes. That's all the reasons I need.
Verdict. Fuck those guys! Boooo!
New York.
Reasons to cheer. Robbo, it`d be good to see him raising a trophy at BMO. Greg Sutton, ditto. They`ve built themselves a fantastic stadium, and it`d be good for the league for it to be filled on a regular basis, winning would help with that.
Reasons to boo. Thierry Henry. Changing the team name to Red Bulls? Awful. 5-0 last year. That Red Bull Energy Zone or whatever it's called that sprung up outside the North stand at BMO towards the end of the season is terrible on so many levels.
Verdict. Sorry Robbo, booooo!
Salt Lake.
Reasons to cheer. Will Johnson, good Canadian kid. Their turnaround from consistently terrible to very good gives some hope for TFC.
Reasons to boo. The dirty hippy. Real Salt lake is still a stupid name.
Verdict. Meh!
San Jose.
Reasons to cheer. Canadian Frank Yallop, showing the benefits of patience and sticking with a plan. Sam Cronin. A pacific coast team representing the Eastern conference would be amusing. Supporters had their original team ripped away from them, so karma wise, they've earned it.
Reasons to boo. None that I can think of, they're a pretty inoffensive club.
Verdict. Against New York and probably Columbus? Rock the Casbah! I hope they make it.
Seattle. Reasons to cheer. Before TFC's game in Seattle, I unknowingly ended up in the home pub of Seattle supporters group Gorilla FC. "Anti-racist, anti-Fascist, anti-sexist and anti-homophobic, but pro-party!!" Now that's a slogan I can get behind. They were unfailingly friendly, many of them very sincerely thanking me for travelling. It was a great day for lucky drinking, I ran into some of Chad Barrett's family at a bar near the stadium pre game, and later that night Danny Dichio and Leo Percovich showed up at the same Irish pub I was in. The atmosphere at the game was great, and the ambition the owners have shown is something that I really hope TFC are going to try and emulate.
Reasons to boo. They`ve already had way too much success, I`m jealous.
Verdict. I hope they win it all.
So here it is in order who I'll be cheering for, or more likely, not cheering against.
1. Seattle
2. San Jose
3. Colorado
4. Salt Lake
5. New York
6. Dallas
7. LA
8. Columbus.
7 and 8 was a really tough call. I hope they don't both make it to the final.
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