With the talking finally finished and a season of soccer guaranteed, Major League Soccer's 2010 season finally kicked off and did so explosively. Not for 2010, that old ragbag of draws. Certainly not. Ties are so 2009.
Only the Texas derby didn't provide a winner and nobody at MLS will be sad to see some 3s and 4s on the score board as the opportunity to sell this sport to a wider American public is larger in 2010 than ever before.
The most obvious winners and the top of the MLS Examiner Power rankings this week are the Kansas City Wizards, whose 4-0 thumping of DC United in front of a five figure crowd will get the Wizards some headlines a little lacking in 2009. It may also get United some headlines of the unwanted type.
Real Salt Lake dispelled some doubts about their ability to carry the mantle of Champions, and Los Angeles Galaxy look good already as long as Landon Donovan stays fit. This is not supposed to be a league table and there will be some difference between a club's numerical result and their place here. The MLS Examiner Power rankings take into account factors like home advantage, quality of opposition, injuries and other external factors.
That said, you're still entitled to have a right good go if you disagree!
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| 1. |  |
Peter Vermes must be the happiest man in US soccer this weekend. A 4-0 drubbing of a club managed by his City's former manager, four different goalscorers, and a good attendance all make for Kansas City being top of our rankings this week. They played pretty well too. He is probably already counting the hours till Colorado arrive on April 11th. Curt Onalfo's thoughts are probably not printable.
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| 2. |  |
Kheli Dube's misses may have enabled them to scrape through with all three points but LA should have put this game away comfortably. If they start to create the number of clear chances their play merits, LA will be the team to beat. Donovan looks already to be the man to dominate games. |
| 3. |  |
Not the toughest fixture perhaps but they answered their doubters in style. Javier Morales and Fabian Espindola are perhaps the two players they needed to improve on 2009. Both had great games at the Buckshaw. Houston away on Thursday will be a more realistic test of their championship repeat credentials. |
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An away win at a Western Conference rival, and one who finished higher than you last season, is just the tonic this club needed. In a close Western Conference, a few more wins against the sides geographically around them will keep the Rapids very competitive. The Fire arrive on Saturday. If Colorado can extinguish their challenge, they might well find themselves 'top of the league,' at least for 24 hours. |
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The Big Apple has a sweet core as the rejuvenated Red Bulls got off to a winning start. In a conference where some of the sides haven't had the most salubrious pre-season, Bulls may find that they are challengers almost by default. Given how many new coaches made poor starts, Hans Backe can have cause for a big Swedish smile this weekend. We'll see which Swede is smiling wider after they visit Seattle on Saturday. A win for the Bulls there and suddenly writers will again have cause to enjoy the fact that zero and hero rhyme. |
| 6. | .JPG) |
A home win against an out of sorts team will not fool any Crew fans. However, there was even less evidence on show that they will not dominate the east again. Grant Wahl is right. Stephen Lenhart may be the break-out player of 2010. |
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Sounders made an acceptable if unspectacular start to the season. The home fixture with the expansion side should not have been hard work especially with one half against ten men. They will have a tougher test against New York next Saturday. |
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The only tie of the opening round of fixtures probably won't bother Dominic Kinnear that much given it was an away game. The dire predictions about how irreplaceable Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark are will have to wait. Their home campaign starts on Friday against Champs RSL. Look out for a firecracker of a contest between two sides of midfield sluggers. |
| 9. |  |
A tough start for the Revs who looked solid in soaking up pressure when not in possession, and always likely to create chances with the rare possession they had. Were it not for Kheli Dube's two unforgiveable misses, they might well have nicked something here. Steve Nicol has some reasons to be optimistic, especially once Shalrie Joseph returns. |
| 10. |  |
Forget the post match hullabaloo about Nowak's intemperate remarks, there were some positives for his young side. They played decent football until they went one behind, and then were far from outclassed until Stahl's red card. At 2-0 and one man down, they still kept working hard and kept a clean sheet for the entire second half. Some promising signs. |
| 11. |  |
Dallas will probably be more disappointed with the draw than Houston. They had some momentum from the way they finished 2009, and that stalls a little with a home draw. Their next game is also at home, to the Crew, who may see an April trip to Texas as a distinctly winnable game, as opposed to their July 11th date in Houston. |
| 12. |  |
The momentum in this fixture was always going to be with New York. Tough to assume too much woe on this result. Brian McBride hit the woodwork and Patrick Nyarko missed an open goal. On a better day, Carlos de los Cobos may have made a winning start. |
| 13. |  |
A poor result for Martin Vasquez against a team that historically survives on home form. It may take some time for Vasquez to mold this team in his own shape. There's a long way to go though and a win in the LA derby on Friday will erase memories of this one. |
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With the managerial roundabout being busier than usual, a new CBA and a new club, it is reassuring to see something hasn't changed. The Quakes are still getting beaten. That said, RSL did look very good and the Quakes played the last 37 minutes without Chris Leitch. But the Western Conference is going to be tough and there is little reason to think the Quakes will make much progress on 2010 on this evidence. |
| 15. |  |
This side has all the hallmarks of being in trouble. It is not that they lost away to the Supporters Shield champs, it is the way they lost and Preki's subsequent lack of reality about it. He has lost the local press already and that, while not crucial, can be a precursor to losing the fans. No game till April 11th, where they again travel within their own Conference, this time to the Revs. They won't start favourites. |
| 16. |  |
Where to begin with this dire performance? United were hoping to have the formula for success with the players they had in 2009 and didn't have much bargaining power left for the draft when it came. Many thought they were one of the sides to actually go backwards between seasons and the 4-0 hammering at Kansas won't dissuade those folks. Nonetheless, there is always the chance this is new manager syndrome and things will improve. At least they are unlikely to get worse. Scant consolation for Curt Onalfo after his first visit to the club he just left. |
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Comments
KC doesn't deserve to be number one just yet. They were a bottom third team last year and although they looked impressive one win at home, in a downpour, on opening night doesn't change that. IMO Columbus, Salt Lake, Seattle and LA were the top four coming into the year and they did nothing to change my mind in week 1.
It's a fair point you make Randall. One of the factors I also took in was exceeding or failing to meet expectations. In that regard, it was precisely because they were so bad last year, that put them to the top.
If you are asking me what order I think the sides will finish, based on Week 1, there's no way I advocate for KC. These rankings are more a snapshot of the week's performance. After a while league tables will start to tell us who are the most likely winners.
Power rankings shouldn't be based on what you expected the team to do. It should be based on who the best teams are only. KC on top is rubbish. DC will finish lower than Philly this year so there was no real test. KC was supposed to win. Same with RSL, no real test there either as SJ will be bottom with United. And though NYRB looked good vs Santos they did NOT last night. They are a mid to bottom table club and they played like it. That McBride bicycle doesn't hit the post and it's a draw...
Agree with Randall... LA, Seattle, Columbus, RSL top 4.
Thanks Lance,
If you read what I wrote at the top, you will see that expectations was just one of the criteria.
But having first said expectations shouldn't be a consideration, you went on to outline your expectations for the season. There's a reason why I'm not basing them on how I expect the final table to look, and this is it:
We had wonderful parity last year with sides moving above and below each other on a weekly basis. What if we don't get that in 2010, and there's little table movement? Then to do Power Rankings on the basis of likely final position will be useless as they will look the same every week.
This way, we can make it more fluid by basing them on a side's last result.
I'll buy that. I guess it's like going into the season completely blind (hence no pre-season power rankings). I will say that the Wizards should at the very least be a little more exciting to watch this year.
Thanks Steve, and sorry about that. Didn't mean to sound like an ass. And after reading my post I see that I did. I know it's gotta be hard to do rankings after one weekend. I didn't mean to suggest that you do the rankings based on what the table will look like at the end of the year (or at any other point). Just that, in my opinion, the level of the competition should be THE major part of the equation. I know it's a bit hard to gauge right now but I don't think that it's a stretch to say that DC and SJ ARE (as opposed to will be) bottom of the table clubs right now. And I actually do think New York should be ranked higher than KC just because of the fact that beating Chicago is a bigger deal than KC beating DC. But hey, it is only week 1. Things will shake out. And keep up the good work.
No need to apologise Lance. Soccer is about healthy debate and telling the other guy he is an idiot for not agreeing with you!
Actually, I have listened to you and Randall and taken soundings from other MLS club examiners, and the way we do it is under review. Your input will help decide, so keep the ideas coming.
The level of the competition will always be a major factor. I just wasn't yet ready to condemn United to the role of last year's Red Bulls. They have to prove their 2010 uselessness. That's why big props to KC. Also I took into account they were up against a coach who knew them, which makes it an even better result.
Thanks Steve, and sorry about that. Didn't mean to sound like an ass. And after reading my post I see that I did. I know it's gotta be hard to do rankings after one weekend. I didn't mean to suggest that you do the rankings based on what the table will look like at the end of the year (or at any other point). Just that, in my opinion, the level of the competition should be THE major part of the equation. I know it's a bit hard to gauge right now but I don't think that it's a stretch to say that DC and SJ ARE (as opposed to will be) bottom of the table clubs right now. And I actually do think New York should be ranked higher than KC just because of the fact that beating Chicago is a bigger deal than KC beating DC. But hey, it is only week 1. Things will shake out. And keep up the good work.
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