MLS season analysis Part II: Electric Boogaloo

I realize this post is a day later but it's definitely not a dollar short. So without further ado:

The (6)Chicago Fire are a difficult team to dissect right now just because they have the unenviable task of starting the season off with 9 straight roads games while their digs in Bridgeview, Il. are having the finishing touches put on them. So far, though, they've done about as well as one could hope, picking up a win here and there and sneaking out of town with a few points they had no business taking (the 5/6 KC game for sure). Chris Rolfe is showing some steady improvement, putting away a couple of goals, and Chad Barrett has been showing well in his time to shine, replacing the recovering Nate Jaqua.
Even more than the having to play consistently in front of hostile crowds at their opponets stadiums, though, is the not being able to stay in one place for more than a week and always being gone. That can wear a team down mentally. But when they finally get to flip the coin and play 9 straight home games they'd best clean up.

The (5) New England Revolution and (4) the Kansas City Wizards are both going to have to figure out how to win without their star players and quick. The Revs are lucky in that only Clint Dempsey is gone for nats duty but he was a big cog in their machine. A disappointed but remaining Taylor Twellman should be able to over compensate for Clint's absence and I anticipate them working their way up the rankings before Deuce returns.
The Wizards on the other hand are three starters lighter for the next month and a half and the strain is already starting to show. The started off the season scoring in multiples but have since settled down into their Wizard normal, posting 5 straight one-goal games. Their lost last weekend at DCU is only the beginning of a stretch of a couple of draws but mostly losses in the days to come. Having your scoring tandem of Josh Wolff and Eddie Johnson gone is going to make scoring really tough and then you have the anchor of the defense in Jimmy Conrad missing too which is going to making keeping goals out tougher as well. The Wizards are only going to go as far as Davy Arnaud can take them before they can finally experience some relief at the end of June or early July.

Apparently the heat and humidity isn't effecting the (3) Houston Dynamo, transplanted from the cooler surroundings of the Bay Area, for their 1st season in the Bayou City. Losing Brian Ching and his goal-scoring noggin is going to hurt, but the Dynamo are one of the most fluid teams in MLS. They still have arguably the best keeper in MLS in Pat Onstad, the have the deft Dwayne DeRosario in the middle, Brian Mullan and his spot-on crosses on the wing, and rock-solid newcomer Adrain Serioux and his By-the-Power-of-Grayskull throw-ins back in the defense. They're the 2nd best team in MLS with maintaining possession and working the ball around. They're only knock is that they just haven't been able to get the wins that their play would suggest they should have gotten. Unfortunately, people tend to remember wins more than losing in style.

(2)FC Dallas might actually contend for the Supporter's Shield and go deep into the playoffs this year. The effort the front office put into keep Carlos Ruiz is paying off and their quick with the catch, slow as molasses with the release GK Dario Sala has shown well between the pipes. They've finally got Richard Mulrooney back from an ACL tear which should really improve the middlefield play and raise the team to a higher level than they already were. Alex Yi and Drew Moor in the backfield are giving the oppostion's attack fits.
Getting beat down in Houston then following it up the next weekend with a heartbreaking draw to the same Houston team is tough but they'll be able to take advantage of most team's USMNT losses.

And finally we arrive at (1)DC United. They're once again showing (for the most part) the same discipline and poise on the ball and with the possession that they've become known for under 3rd year head coach Peter Nowak. Alecko Eskandarian has been producing some firecracker goals, tallying 4 on the young season after coming back from a year off due to residual migranes that stemmed from a concussion he had suffered. The 5/6 Colorado game aside, this team is either finding ways to win or simply dominating from the outset. Troy Perkins is making his claim on the starting GK spot with several outstanding performances in net. Nowak's substitution patterns are still a little suspect but he, like the team, seem to be improving over last year. Seeing them in the MLS Cup championship game again at season's end is a very distinct possibility.

Just call me Lazarus, man.

Yes, it may very well seem like I have risen from the dead. After quickly failing on the one most important vow of mine to post with frequent regularity, I have returned to post once more (and hopefully to continue doing so).

We now have 7 weeks of the MLS season in the history books, accounting for approximately a third of the season. My how time does fly. We also have the World Cup right around the corner in June. If you're asking yourself right now, "I wonder if he'll talk any about the US Men's National Team and the World Cup also or is he just going to talk about MLS?" Well, have no fear, this blog is about soccer and all things relating to the beautiful game (read the header, duh) so of course I'm going to talk World Cup. I've been anxiously awaiting Germany '06 for 4 years since Japan/Korea '02. I'll have plenty to say.

But first I'll do a little first third of the MLS season analysis in two parts with the bottom 6 (in my humble and always correct opinion) primero, and then the top 6 the following day (hopefully). So here we go!

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I can't say I'm all that surprised with Steve Sampson systematically screwing up the (12) LA Galaxy, but how quickly and to so severe a degree their downfall has been accomplished is very unexpected. We all knew some big time hurt was heading their way when Landon Donovan went auf deutsch with the rest of the USMNT for World Cup '06 in Germany, but they were certified for hospice before his departure. And after their 0-3 humiliation to Real Salt Lake this past weekend, the only thing left to do is make them as comfortable as possible while death over-takes them.

Speaking of (11)Real Salt Lake, the fine folks of the Wasatch Front deserve a better team then the 2nd year franchise is limping out there for them. Yes they did smack around the Gals last weekend but for better or worse, that just doesn't carry the same weight that it once did. You can't get too excited where at the end of the game all the players got a medal for participation and a ticket for a free soda.
John Ellinger to date is still the coach only because the incompetence of the RSL front office has managed to trump his own. He's a great guy but has only succeeded at drafting poorly, making questionable-at-best personnel moves (Clint Mathis anyone?), and dragging down his team into the bowels of MLS along side Sloth and that Vincent guy from the Beauty and the Beast TV series.

The (10)Colorado Rapids and (9)Columbus Crew are providing me with a great excuse for a Saturday afternoon or evening nap. And to make it worse, both teams have managed to get on HDNet somehow and scar my child-like sense of wonder and awe at soccer in high definition. Much like Terri Hatcher, not everything looks better in HD.
I do expect Sigi Schmid to get the Crew moving in an upward direction, though. He swindled Steve Sampson out of Ned Grabavoy and Joseph Ngwenya and he's too good of a coach not to find success soon. The Rapids on the other hand, as long as Fernado Clavijo is at the helm, is an aimless, drifting ship that occasionally crashes into land out of blind luck.

The (8) Red Bulls of Gotham should be better than they are right night, but per the course, they're not. They have so much talent, financial backing out the whazoo now, and a good coach that will eventually be a really good if not great one. But the just can't get the pieces to fit right and in Amado Guevarra's case, have a piece that's more than a little messed up and just won't fit anywhere. It's good to see that the organization is finally taking some steps to deal with that situation but it could all blow up in their faces just a soon and work out the way it's supposed to.

And as if to prove some more that Red Bull New York is a bizarro team, coach Bob Bradley, hero in Chicago but a zero in the Big Apple, is working his magic again and bringing (7)Chivas USA from the MLS basement to respectability. It's good that Chivas figured out that latinos like winning more than just have a team full of other latinos, and Bob has brought it some hefty talent including Ante Razov, John O'Brien, Tim Regan, and Jesse Marsch to compliment Chivas USA mainstays Brad Guzan and Paco Palencia. They're definitely going to make the playoffs this year and may even slip into the second round.