That said, there's a new #1...
#1. New England. (Last week: #2, beat #1 FCD)
Winning 1-0 away is exactly the kind of result that Revs coach Steve Nichol built his career on. It's easy to forget that, before the Revs became an offensive powerhouse, they were a brutally ugly but efficient team.
#2. Dallas. (Last week: #1, lost to #2 Revs)
Last week, Dallas was in first by default. This week, they're in second because they couldn't extend their unbeaten run against New England. They had their chances against the Revs, but got punished by a cohesive, efficient team.
#3. DC United. (Last week: #5, beat #14 RSL)
The crushing win against league lapdogs Real Salt Lake was expected, so they barely deserve this ranking. Their first half against RSL was bad. Emilio still hasn't gotten back on track. And Fred, perhaps United's brightest player this season, went out with injury. But who would you pick over them in a cage match? And how about Gallardo's goal?
#4. Houston Dynamo (Last week: #2, lost to #8 Crew).
I might just cut and paste the following: "Houston looked good at times and will certainly get back on track at some point."
That said, Pat Onstad made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes in goal. Reports of his demise have been, not only exagerated, but premature by years, but this team is only a couple of backup Tony Caig horror shows from digging itself into a very deep hole.
#5. Chicago Fire. (Last week: #6, beat #10 Colorado).
Well, the Fire should beat the Rapids in Chicago, so this isn't a game that will answer many questions about them (plus, I couldn't watch the game on HDNet...) But isn't it nice to see John Thorrington score a brace?
#6. Columbus. (Last week: #8, beat #3 Houston).
Is Alejandro Moreno ready for a career year? I'm still not sold on the Crew, but I've always thought that all they needed was a little more seasoning. Maybe they're there.
#7 Toronto. (Last week: #9, beat #4 KC).
Last week I said, "At some point, you add enough good players, you become a good team, right? I think TFC has added enough good players." Amado Guevara puts on a great show and wins the game for the Reds.
The bad news? The fact that Guevara is on fire now can only mean one thing: he'll go nuts in a few weeks.
The other bad news? Just because Rohan Ricketts spent time in the premiership doesn't mean he got the better of KC's Harrington. I feel like each of Toronto's new signings and key players is like a character in a Greek tragedy, blessed with specific talents that will lead them to great success, but also each stricken with a fatal flaw. Robert can give incredible service, but seems to drift out of games. Ricketts is fast but might need a few tricks, as well as better distribution to be truly effective. Guevara is a star, but he's nuttier than squirrel doo.
#8. Kansas City. (Last week #4, lost to #9 TFC)
I think people need to get used to this: good teams will drop points in Toronto. So, despite the loss by KC, I feel like I got a better sense of who they are. Chance Myers and Michael Harrington did a lot of constructive things. Roger Espinoza needs some work. As commentator Bruce Arena pointed out, KC would play some good D before coughing up the ball needlessly. And the vaunted attack never quite got going.
#9. Chivas USA. (Last week #7, lost to #12 LAG)
The good: the Goats come back twice in 60 minutes. The bad: the Goats go down by three goals in the last 30 minutes, including two strikes from former leper Alan Gordon. Chivas looks like they're still trying to get into the season and injuries haven't helped. But I think they're a playoff team that can count themselves lucky that they don't have to play against an enraged Landon Donovan every week. That has a tendency to make things seem worse than they really are, which is how I'm going to view this past week's result.
#10. LA Galaxy. (Last week: #12, beat #7 CUSA)
Donovan leads the league in goals by a mile. Beckham leads the league in assists. And the Galaxy are a .500 team. Part of that is that the Galaxy are still great at making me smile: Xavier is good for at least one moment of comedy each game. I thought it was instructive that Gullit singled out young defender Sean Franklin for praise after the game. If the Gals are to be anything more than a .500 team, even with Donovan crushing the league, they need more contributions from players like Franklin.
Scary bad question for Gullit: Will the return of Carlos Ruiz help or hurt this team?
Scary good question for the league and its fans: How awesome would it be if the Gals and Chivas USA were fighting it out for the last playoff spot? It's early and midseason acquisitions can completely change teams, but both teams look to be on the fringe right now.
#11. New York. (Last week: #11, beat #13 SJ)
It's good that they managed to win without Angel, but they still look like a team that's missing something.
#12. Colorado. (Last week: #10, lost to #6 Chicago)
I didn't expect the kids to get it done away to Chicago-- that's asking for a lot.
#13. San Jose. (Last week: #13, lost to #11 NY)
They'll be in more games than they're out of. And if Peguero is able to recover the form he had in his first MLS stay, I woudln't be shocked to see the Quakes climb a little in the west.
#14. Real Salt Lake. (Last week: #14, lost to #5 DCU)
After crushing DCU at home, you kind of expected the Gulls to get crushed when they visited the District. And so it was.
Their next game against the Galaxy could be fascinating. If RSL cant' get anything positive out of that, is it too early to think about moves they need to make?
Next week (Last week: 3-4)
The next week looks awesome. We're going to learn alot. The two most enigmatic teams, KC and Cbus, face off. The Revs face a supposedly tough Chicago team.
Thursday
Toronto-NYRB- Toronto win
Revs-Chicago- Revs win
Crew-KC- Crew win
Dynamo-CUSA- Dynamo win
RSL-LAG- RSL win
SJ-FCD- FCD win
Rapids-DCU- DCU win
No comments:
Post a Comment