Playoff race is on

posted by kidpurple September 24, 2008

With just about 5 weeks remaining in the regular season schedule the race to the playoffs is heating up. Here is a quick look at the current situation of each team

Columbus Crew

Columbus Crew 14-6-5 47pts

The Crew missed the playoffs last year and are on the top this year.  They have at least a spot in the playoffs clinched and are the only team to do so yet.

Last 5: W T W W W (13pts)

Remaining Schedule:

@ New England Revolution
LA GALAXY
@ Chicago Fire
@ New York Red Bulls
DC UNITED

New England Revolution 12-7-6 42pts

The Revolution are always near the top, usually going far into the playoffs and collecing some trophies (just not the MLS Cup).  This could be the year they get that MLS Cup.  They got SuperLiga and aren’t doing so bad at 2nd place in the league.

Last 5: T W L L T

Remaining Schedule:

COLUMBUS CREW
REAL SALT LAKE
@ Kansas City Wizards
@ DC United
Kansas City Wizards 

Houston Dynamo

Houston Dynamo 10-5-9 39pts

Defending MLS Cup champions have a habit of starting the season slow and peaking at the right time and they could do it again this year.

Last 5: T W W L W

Remaining Schedule:

@ Toronto FC
@ Colorado Rapids
DC UNITED
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
LA GALAXY

Chicago Fire

Chicago Fire 11-9-5 38pts

The Fire started out with a bang this season – for a while they held the top spot in the league.  Now they are in a slump but if they come out of it at the right time they can bean anyone and could add to their collection of silverware.

Last 5: L L W L L

Remaining Schedule:

LA GALAXY
@ Kansas City Wizards
COLUMBUS CREW
@ Toronto FC
NEW YORK RED BULLS

New York Red Bulls

New York Red Bulls 9-8-8 35pts

The Red Bulls have been all over the place, near the top and near the bottom.  You never know what the Red Bulls are gonna do.   They are currently 5th overall but currently 4th in the East with DC and KC within striking distance.  They could go either way in the playoff hunt but I’d expect to see them get in.

Last 5: L W L T W

Remaining Schedule:

COLORADO RAPIDS
TORONTO FC
@ Real Salt Lake
COLUMBUS CREW
@ Chicago Fire

DC United

DC United 10-12-3 33pts

One of the most successful clubs in MLS History, defenders of the Supporters’ Shield, DC United is going to make it close to the playoffs this year.  If they playoffs were to start today, they’d be the last team in.  There are a couple teams right on their heels.

Last 5: L T L T W

Remaining Schedule:

@ FC Dallas
CHIVAS USA
@ Houston Dynamo
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
@ Columbus Crew

Chivas USA

Chivas USA 9-10-6 33pts

Chivas USA were winners of the Western Conference last year and then took a first round exit from the playoffs.  Right now they have 2nd position in the West although they are 7th overall.

Last 5: W L W W T

Remaining Schedule:

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
@ DC United
@ San Jose Earthquakes
COLORADO RAPIDS
HOUSTON DYNAMO

Kansas City Wizards

Kansas City Wizards 8-9-8 32pts

The Wizards must like to cut it close.  They’ve gone down to the very last day of the regular season to determine their playoff fate a couple times in the past few years.  Right now they’ve got some ground to make up to get in this year.

Last 5: W W L L T

Remaining Schedule:

@ Chivas USA
CHICAGO FIRE
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
@ New England Revolution 

Colorado Rapids

Colorado Rapids 9-12-4 31pts

The Rapids have been up and down this year.  They missed the playoffs last year and hope to change that this year.  They are current tied on points with RSL for the 3rd position in the West – which will likely be the last position to get into the playoffs from the West.

Last 5: T W W L L

Remaining Schedule:

@ New York Red Bulls
HOUSTON DYNAMO
@ LA Galaxy
@ Chivas USA
REAL SALT LAKE

Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake 8-10-7 31pts

RSL have had a bit of a slide lately.  They had been on top of the West and looking forward to making the playoffs for the first time in their history.  Now they’ve got a battle to get there.  This could come down to the last game of the saeson when they play Colorado.

Last 5: L L T W L

Remaining Schedule:

@ San Jose Earthquakes
@ New England Revolution
NEW YORK RED BULLS
FC DALLAS
@ Colorado Rapids

FC Dallas

FC Dallas 7-9-9 30pts

FC Dallas could likely be one of the team that made the cut last year to drop out.  They have had their moments but not enough of them.  They are only 1 point away, but I think it is unlikely they move up.

Last 5: W T L L T

Remaining Schedule:

DC UNITED
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
TORONTO FC
@ Real Salt Lake
@ LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy

LA Galaxy 7-10-8 29pts

The Galaxy have had ups and downs as much as anyone in the leage.  For a while they got hot and led the west, they’ve also been on the bottom on the single table.  Chances of the Galaxy getting into the playoffs are not looking very good.

Last 5: W L T T L

Remaining Schedule:

@ Chicago Fire
@ Columbus Crew
COLORADO RAPIDS
@ Houston Dynamo
FC DALLAS

 San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose Earthquakes 7-9-8 29pts

The Earthquakes have been close to or at the very bottom for most of the year.  A first year team isn’t expected much more, but they have had a hot run in the 2nd half of the season.  They came up and threatened to take a playoff position, but now they’ve fallen back a little bit.

Last 5: T W W T W

Remaining Schedule:

REAL SALT LAKE
@ FC Dallas
CHIVAS USA
@ Houston Dynamo
@ Kansas City Wizards
TORONTO FC

Toronto FC

Toronto FC 7-12-6 27pts

TFC spent some impressive time in the playoff hunt, but now they sit at the bottom of the league.  It would take an amazing run to get them in now.

Last 5: L T L L T

Remaining Schedule:

HOUSTON DYNAMO
@ New York Red Bulls
@ FC Dallas
CHICAGO FIRE
@ San Jose Earthquakes

Posted in Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, DC United, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto FC, Uncategorized | Comments (1)

US Open Cup round of 16 results

posted by kidpurple July 2, 2008

A couple MLS teams dropped out of the US Open Cup last night to lower league opponents. Here are all the results:

Crystal Palace Baltimore 2 -0 New York Red Bulls

Richmond Kickers 0 – 3 New England Revolution

Cleveland City Stars 1 – 4 Chicago Fire

Rochester Rhinos 0 – 2 DC United

Miami FC Blues 1 – 2 FC Dallas

Charsleston Battery (4-3 on PKs) 1 – 1 Houston Dynamo

Carolina Railhawks 2 – 4 Kansas City Wizards

Seattle Sounders 2 – 0 Chivas USA

So we are left with 5 MLS teams, a single USL-2 team and a pair of USL-1 teams. This is what the quarterfinals look like for next week. Both the Revolution and DC United will not host these games at their normal home field. Dallas will be at Pizza Hut Park for their game.

Crystal Palace Baltimore at New England Revolution

Chicago Fire at DC United

Charleston Battery at FC Dallas

Kansas City Wizards at Seattle Sounders

Posted in Charleston Battery, Chicago Fire, Crystal Palace Baltimore, DC United, FC Dallas, Kansas City Wizards, New England Revolution, Seattle Sounders, US Open Cup | Comments (0)

Josh Wolff comes back to Kansas City

posted by kidpurple July 1, 2008

Josh Wolf left the Kansas City Wizards in December 2006 to join German club 1860 Munich. He was singed on a contract with them that lasted through the end of the 2007-08 season. Now that the 07-08 season is over his contract is up and was not renewed. Now Wolff is on his way back from Germany and will be joining his previous team the Kansas City Wizards.

Wolff appeared in 34 games for 1860 Munich and only scored 2 goals. During his previous time with the Wizards he scored 27 goals in 80 appearances. Before that his career began in a Chicago Fire jersey scoring 32 goals is 84 games.

The Wizards could really use some help on the offensive end of the field this year. After a strong start to the season the Wizards have since fallen into last place in the Eastern Conference.

Posted in Josh Wolff, Kansas City Wizards | Comments (0)

US Open Cup Update

posted by kidpurple June 30, 2008

The third round of the US Open Cup is upon us.  There are 8 MLS teams remaining in the tournament – each of which will face a non-MLS team.

Three teams from the USL Second Division have made it to the round of 16.  These teams all face MLS teams in this round.  Here are those matchups:

Crystal Palace Baltimore vs. New York Red Bulls

Richmond Kickers vs. New England Revolution

Cleveland City Stars vs. Chicago Fire

The remaining lower level teams all came from the USL First Division:

Rochester Rhinos vs. DC United

Miami FC Blues vs. FC Dallas

Charsleston Battery vs. Houston Dynamo

Carolina Railhawks vs. Kansas City Wizards

Seattle Sounders vs. Chivas USA

The previous round saw the exit of 8 more USL First and Second Division teams along with the only team from outside USL to make it that far – Hollywood United.  Hollywood United are a part of the United States Adult Soccer Association.

What MLS teams may fall to their lower league opponents?

Posted in Carolina Railhawks, Charleston Battery, Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Cleveland City Stars, Crystal Palace Baltimore, DC United, FC Dallas, Hollywood United, Houston Dynamo, Kansas City Wizards, Miami FC Blues, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Richmond Kickers, Rochester Rhinos, Seattle Sounders, US Open Cup | Comments (0)

Wizards top the single table

posted by kidpurple April 7, 2008

The Kansas City Wizards are on top of the MLS single table after their win over the Colorado Rapid this weekend. This leaves the Wizards and the Red Bulls the only teams with perfect records this early in the season. The Red Bulls only played their first game of the year Saturday with a 2-0 victory of the Columbus Crew.

Kansas City 2 0 0 6
Chicago 1 0 1 4
Chivas USA 1 0 1 4
Colorado 1 1 0 3
Los Angeles 1 1 0 3
New York 1 0 0 3
D.C. United 1 1 0 3
Columbus 1 1 0 3
New England 1 1 0 3
FC Dallas 0 0 2 2
Real Salt Lake 0 1 1 1
Houston 0 1 1 1
San Jose 0 1 0 0
Toronto FC 0 2 0 0
Posted in Columbus Crew, Kansas City Wizards | Comments (0)

Opening weekend

posted by kidpurple March 31, 2008

Well the opening weekend is over and we’ve seen each team other than New York and the expansion San Jose.  Thursday we get a double-header from ESPN2, and a second look at both the New England Revolution and LA Galaxy.

The Revolution got a re-match of the MLS Cup that they lost again to the Houston Dynamo at the end of last year.  That game ended 3-0 in favor of the 2 time runners-up Revolution.  The Revs sure didn’t look like there were missing out on any of their strike power from last year.  Taylor Twellman was not playing due to injury and Pat Noonan was traded in the offseason.    The young Gambians Sainey Nyassi and Kenny Mansally were very impressive.  If Steve Ralston didn’t take a serious injury the Revolution could be even stronger than they were last year.

They Dynamo looked tired and un-inspired.

Later we got to see Colorado Rapids and LA Galaxy.  At times the Rapids looked really good, and the other times the Galaxy looked like crap.  So the Galaxy picked right back up on their tradition of losing that they got going real good last season.  Could the Rapids be a greatly improved team?  They sure looked good at times, but we’ll see how they look when they play a team like the Revolution, Dynamo, or DC United.

The Kansas City Wizards opened their season with a win against annual powerhouse DC United – just like they did last year.  Probably not many expect that, but it was only one of 2 games I got correct in the MFLS prediction league.  I didn’t get to see that game – I know I should order the MLS package on Dish Network.

It is going to be an exciting year!

Posted in Colorado Rapids, DC United, Houston Dynamo, Kansas City Wizards, Kenny Mansally, Sainey Nyassi, Steve Ralston | Comments (2)

Do the DP’s have to be old timers?

posted by kidpurple March 11, 2008

In order for the LA Galaxy to bring David Beckham to Major League Soccer the rules had to change.  The salary cap was too small for Beckham to fit on any team by himself, so the league added DP’s which only count toward some of your salary cap.  After that the team can pay that player as much money as they want to.  The Galaxy were able to get their 32 year old man Beckham for a huge amount of money.

Later other teams got in on the action and New York Red Bulls even traded to get 2 DPs.  The have 32 year old Juan Pablo Angel and 34 year old American Claudio Reyna to fill their DP slots.  Chicago has 35 year old Blanco, DC United will have 32 year old Marcelo Gallardo, and Kansas City has now signed 33 year old Claudio Lopez to fill their DP slot.

The average age of the DPs that will be playing in the league at the start of this season will be 33.  In the past the average age of the whole league has been right around 27-28 years old.  So the average DP is about 5-6 years older than the league average.   These number may not be accurate today – they were based on some numbers I saw that were a few years old.  I would guess the league average might be a little bit younger today.

While the DP’s are great to have around, I can’t wait for the day they don’t have to be all these old timers.  There is no problem with them – some of them have been tremendously important for their teams (Juan Pablo Angel, Blanco) but some have made small impacts (Claudio Reyna, David Beckham).  Maybe that isn’t totally fair, both Reyna and Beckham were held back by injuries.

While these old guys are coming into the league, young guys like Eddie Johnson and Clint Dempsey are leaving the league.  These are young guys that could potentially hold a DP slot someday.  Yet they are leaving the league to go play in Europe.  I can only imagine that money and better experience are the main reasons these players are so eager to head to Europe and leave MLS behind.  Both are very valid reasons but this needs to start changing in MLS.

Our national team does just fine when they have an MLS dominated lineup so we can’t say our young Americans need to play in Europe to build a better national team.  I’m sure the experience doesn’t hurt, but I don’t really see it as necessary.  So if the money was there for MLS would they be able to keep more young talent?  Preston North End, a team at the bottom of the 1st division in England, recently wanted to bring Taylor Twellman to England.  Either MLS or the Revolution would not let him go which angered the striker because this low level team was going to pay him three times his salary here in the MLS.  I wonder it Twellman would have been ready to go for the same pay he receives now?  What if it had been a top notch premiership team willing to pay his current salary?

I guess two things probably need to happen before these DP slots don’t have to be filled by these near retirement old timers.  First we have to get rid of the idea that Europe is so massively better for the payer’s development.  I’m not arguing that Europe isn’t better for our young talent – but I do believe that a young player can have a successful career in Major League Soccer and be competitive with the national team.  If people start to believe this it just comes down to money.  If it is just money I would think that more teams would fill their DP slots with young talent.  Claudio Lopez should be pretty awesome this year, but who would you rather have for the long run, Eddie Johnson or Claudio Lopez?

Posted in Blanco, Chicago Fire, Claudio Lopez, Claudio Reyna, Clint Dempsey, DC United, David Beckham, Eddie Johnson, Juan Pablo Angel, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, Marcelo Gallardo, New York Red Bulls, Taylor Twellman | Comments (1)

Claudio Lopez signs with Kansas City Wizards

posted by kidpurple March 10, 2008

This weekend the Kansas City Wizards improved their roster by leaps and bounds by signing their first ever DP player. They got Argentine Claudio Lopez who has participated in 2 world cups for South American powerhouse Argentina. Lopez signed a 1 year deal with the Wizards on terms that are not yet available. The Wizards were in need of a proven goal scorer after the departure of Eddie Johnson who went to Fulham just a few weeks ago.

Check out some Claudio Lopez goals below – it is an exciting time for a Wizards fan!

Posted in Claudio Lopez, Eddie Johnson, Kansas City Wizards | Comments (0)

The Juice is leaving MLS for Fulham

posted by kidpurple January 24, 2008

Eddie “The Juice” Johnson is on his way out of Kansas City – on his way to London – to Fulham.  It is a continuing transformation of Fulham into the US National team.  Johnson joins Kasey Keller, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, and Clint Dempsey on the Fulham roster.

Johnson has mixed success recently.  This past year with the Kansas City Wizards was a really good year for The Juice, but the previous year he didn’t produce much on the field.  Hopefully Eddie can be as successful in London as his past year for the Wizards was.

The terms of the deal are not yet known to the public.  One rumor was that Eddie himself bought out the remainder of his contract with the Wizards and that there was then no transfer payment.  This is supposedly just a false rumor.

So what is next for the Wizards.  They’ve lost a few veterans and have a lot of empty spots to fill.   After getting rid of two veteran defenders the Wizards drafted UCLA defender Chance Myers with the first overall pick of the draft.  They will probably need a little bit more than Chance Myers to fill the shoes of the 3 that were recently shipped out of KC.  With Johnson gone they should have plenty of money to bring in a big name – maybe even a DP.

Posted in Chance Myers, Eddie Johnson, Kansas City Wizards | Comments (0)

Wizards look to change formation and Fulham buys the US National Team

posted by kidpurple January 17, 2008

Along with the recent departure of Nick Garcia, the news that Jose Burciaga Jr is going to Colorado for more draft picks reveals signs that the Wizards will be looking to play a new formation.  The lineup will feature 1 defender (who needs more than Jimmy Conrad anyway?), 6 in the midfield, and 3 strikers.

Jose Burciaga Jr is headed to the Colorado Rapids.  In exchange for Burciaga Jr the Wizards will get a second round draft pick in 2009.

The Wizards may also be losing Eddie Johnson to Fulham.  It seems the US National team is just moving to London.  Now Fulham, who already has 4 Americans, is after Eddie Johnson and Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan.  Who will be the next American to head for Fulham?

Posted in Brad Guzan, Colorado Rapids, Eddie Johnson, Jimmy Conrad, Jose Burciaga Jr., Kansas City Wizards, Nick Garcia | Comments (0)