Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Lankershim Boulevard Rankings (July 29)

I get a kick out of people calling the MLS All-Star Game the All-Star Break. Where exactly was the break? Moving games from Saturday to Sunday?

Anyway, here are my latest rankings which came a day later than normal because of the RSL-Toronto match on Monday.


1. New England (10-4-3). Mighty Revs may be getting mighty tired of not playing any league games.
2. Columbus (9-5-4). Played with 10 men, yielded 17 corner kicks but still walked away with win.
3. Chicago (7-5-5). Good news: you've got McBride. Bad news: US has him first.
4. DC United (7-8-1). Looks like SuperLiga negatives carried over into league play.
5. Real Salt Lake (7-6-6). Another week, another first: never before had this team had more wins than losses this far into the season.
6. Houston (5-4-8). Nate Jaqua is massive upgrade over Franco Caraccio but will that lead to wins?
7. Chivas USA (6-6-4). Dan Kennedy Era begins on Saturday, but will Lance Parker Era follow shortly thereafter?
8. Toronto FC (6-6-5). Only an inept offense could consider an inept forward an upgrade.
9. Los Angeles (6-7-5). Another sign of downward spiral: goal differential is in the negative.
10. FC Dallas (5-6-7). If Cooper goes, so to will playoff hopes.
11. Kansas City (5-5-7). So much for that surge in offense.
12. Colorado (6-9-3). "It wasn't our night" excuse gets old pretty quickly.
13. New York (5-6-7). A little more than a week to prepare for demolition at hands of Barcelona.
14. San Jose (3-9-6). Slowly, and I mean very slowly, this team is starting to look better.

4 comments:

just another one of you said...

Hey Luis,

These rankings are spot on in my opinion but I wanted to get your opinion on which of the bottom two teams has made the best moves so far.

Picking up Alvarez, Huckerby, Lima, and Sealy (maybe) all seem like smart moves by SJ after a few questionable deals earlier in the year. The new NYRB's didn't look so hot this past weekend.

L.B. said...

I really like the team that San Jose is putting together. Their starting lineup is way better now than it was even just one month ago. It might be too late in terms of their playoff hopes - though the west is very weak - but they have a chance of finishing higher than seventh place which would be a great accomplishment.

Anonymous said...

Could you explain what you base your rankings on? Body of work throughout the season, or just the week before, or a combination of the two?

I thought San Jose thoroughly outplayed NYRB, and yet they stay in the cellar.

L.B. said...

A combination of results throughout the year (though the earlier the results the less emphasis they have now) and current form. San Jose needs more than a draw to get out of last place.