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)

Who is going to stop Darren Huckerby and the Earthquakes

posted by kidpurple September 9, 2008

The expansion San Jose Earthquakes have gone on a 9 game unbeaten streak. This streak has the currently sitting in 9th place overall in the league. For most of the season the expansion club has been on the bottom of the league, a position now shared by 4 teams. The Earthquakes are only 2 points ahead of these bottom 4, but that still has them withing striking distance of the playoffs.

A lot of the recent success of the San Jose Earthquakes must be attributed to newcomer Darren Huckerby. Huckerby joined the team and played his first game on July 19th. Since then the Earthquakes have gone 4-0-3 in league play. In Huckerby’s 7 games he’s tallied 4 goal and 4 assists which has him as the leading scorer on the team.

So I ask: Who is going to stop Huckerby and the Earthquakes. It isn’t 1998 anymore and the expansion team is not supposed to win anything. I know they are a long way from winning anything, or even being in position to win anything, but they are hot right now.

The next 2 games will see the Earthquakes taking on tops in the West – the Houston Dynamo. The Dynamo have also been pretty hot recently so these should be a good couple of game that I’m looking forward to.

Posted in Darren Huckerby, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes | Comments (1)

An odd turn of events

posted by kidpurple May 23, 2008

Like much of the current MLS season, last night was a little bit odd.

Expansion teams are supposed to suck – unless you are the Chicago Fire.

So last night the new San Jose Earthquakes, the expansion team, beat the old Earthquakes and 2 time defending MLS champion Houston Dynamo 2-1. This win for the Earthquakes puts last years Supporters’ Shield winner (DC United) into last place.

Meanwhile the Columbus Crew are still on top of the league. The Crew have been miserable since 2004.

It sure is going to be an exciting season!

Posted in Columbus Crew, DC United, Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes | Comments (0)

Real Salt Lake one step closer to US Open Cup

posted by kidpurple May 1, 2008

Real Salt Lake had another impressive victory at home last night in their US Open Cup play-in game vs expansion San Jose EarthQuakes. Kyle Beckerman notched the first two goals of the game. After that Yura Movsisyan and Andy Williams each got a goal of their own to complete a 4-0 demolition of the EarthQuakes.

This sends Real Salt Lake to Columbus for their next Open Cup qualifying game. The winner of that game then plays at Chicago Fire in a winner qualifies, loser out game.

Posted in Andy Williams, Kyle Beckerman, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, US Open Cup, Yura Movsisyan | Comments (0)

Seattle Sounders FC

posted by kidpurple April 11, 2008

The newest team playing in MLS right now is the San Jose Earthquakes. They’ve got 2 games under their belt – in their current incarnation. The Earthquakes were around years ago, but the club moved to Houston and became the Dynamo.

Next year Seattle will have a new team, kinda like an old team. The Seattle Sounders have been playing in the USL for 15 years now. Next year there will be no more Seattle Sounders, but instead they will have Seattle Sounders FC – and they will be playing in Major League Soccer. So they are a new team and kinda an old team.

The owners of the new Seattle soccer team wanted to have a “democracy in sports” philosophy, so they let the Seattle soccer fans vote on a name. The choices were Alliance, Republic or Seattle FC. The winner was the write in option of Seattle Sounders. The owners (mostly) stuck with their democracy in sports philosophy by naming the team “Seattle Sounders FC”.

The new team already has 14,000 deposits for season tickets, long before they have their first coach. Hopefully Seattle shows MLS love like Toronto has. Imagine the day that Toronto FC starts winning some games! As one of the worst teams in the league they have some of the best support in the league.

I would have voted for Seattle Sounders FC if I was choosing a name for a team that I was going to be a supporter of. What do you think of the (kind of) new name?

Posted in Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto FC | Tagged | Comments (0)

Good things in store for San Jose Earthquakes in 2008

posted by kidpurple March 24, 2008

The newly created San Jose Earthquakes team just finished up the Carolina Challenge Cup, an annual pre-season tournament featuring 4 teams.  This year along with the Earthquakes the New York Red Bulls, Toronto FC, and home team Charleston Battery.  San Jose went a perfect 3-0 to win the tournament while the USL team went 1-1-1 which was good enough to finish in 2nd place above the other 2 MLS teams.

Usually pre-season results don’t mean much – but that hasn’t been the case of the Carolina Challenge Cup.  Each of the past 4 years the winner of the Challenge Cup has gone on to see great results in the MLS regular season.  The winner has either won the MLS Cup or the MLS Supporters’ Shield in each of the past 4 years.

Which will it be for the Earthquakes?

Posted in Carolina Challenge Cup, Charleston Battery, New York Red Bulls, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto FC | Comments (0)

San Jose takes O’Brien from TFC

posted by kidpurple February 29, 2008

Three time MLS All-Star Ronnie O’Brien is no longer a member of Toronto FC.  O’Brien played one year with Toronto FC but due to a bad knee injury only was able to make 13 appearances during the whole year.  TFC decided to trade O’Brien to the expansion San Jose Earthquakes for some cash and a first round draft pick in the 2009 Superdraft.

The Earthquakes are putting together a decent looking roster for their first year of MLS play.  As of today this is what the roster looks like according to the Earthquakes official site.

GK
Preston Burpo
Joe Cannon

D
Ryan Cochrane
Nick Garcia
Jason Hernandez
James Riley

M
Ramiro Corrales
Ivan Guerrero
Ned Grabavoy
Chris Pozniak
Joe Vide
Ronnie O’Brien (not on the official roster yet)

F
Gavin Glinton
Kei Kamara

Several of these guys are listed at 2 positions, both Ramiro Corrales and Ivan Guerrero are listed at M-D so I put all those guys in the category that was listed first.

Posted in Ronnie O'Brien, San Jose Earthquakes, Toronto FC | Comments (0)

Ramiro Corrales comes back to MLS

posted by kidpurple February 14, 2008

Ramiro Corrales is just coming off a successful US national team camp, and is on his way back to the MLS.  Corrales has spent the last 3 years playing in Norway.  He will be coming back and immediately traded from the defending champions Houston Dynamo to the team that he last played for before they moved to Houston – San Jose Earthquakes.

Houston will be receiving allocation money that they will need to spend on getting themselves a forward.  Since the loss of several forwards this past off season – they are very thin up top.

So Dynamo fans – who would you like to see working with Brian Ching this year?

Posted in Houston Dynamo, Ramiro Corrales, San Jose Earthquakes | Comments (0)

Ruiz and Garcia on the move

posted by kidpurple January 16, 2008

Patrick NyarkoCarlos Ruiz on on his way out of FC Dallas and going back to his first MLS team the LA Galaxy. The Galaxy paid an undisclosed amount of allocation money as well as a 2nd round draft pick to bring Ruiz back to LA.

The Kansas City Wizards have sent a quality defender, Nick Garcia, to the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for the first overall pick in the expansion draft that will take place this Friday. It is rumored that the Wizards will Patrick Nyarko to replace Eddie Johnson who is rumored to be on his way to Fulham. Nyarko is a native of Ghana playing for Virginia Tech. He is one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy, which is awarded to the nation’s best player. Nyarko has college eligibility left but will be coming to the MLS rather than finishing his collegiate career.

Posted in Carlos Ruiz, FC Dallas, Kansas City Wizards, Los Angeles Galaxy, Nick Garcia, Patrick Nyarko, San Jose Earthquakes | Comments (0)

Expansion draft results – Happy Thanksgiving

posted by kidpurple November 24, 2007

I’ve been out of town and away from the computer for the holiday weekend so I missed the expansion draft.  San Jose was able to draft 10 players while I was gone.  I don’t have much else to say (or the energy) so I’ll leave you with the list:

  • Ryan Cochrane (Houston Dynamo)
  • Clarence Goodson (FC Dallas)
  • Ned Gravaboy (Columbus Crew)
  • James Riley (New England Revolution)
  • Joe Vide (New York Red Bulls)
  • Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire)
  • Brain Carroll (DC United)
  • Jason Hernandez (Chivas USA)
  • Gavin Glinton (LA Galaxy)
  • Chris Pozniak (Toronto FC)

No one picked up from Kansas City Wizards, Real Salt Lake or Colorado Rapids.

Posted in Brain Carroll, Chris Pozniak, Clarence Goodson, Ivan Guerrero, James Riley, Jason Hernandez, Joe Vide, Ned Gravaboy, Ryan Cochrane, San Jose Earthquakes | Comments (0)