RSL forwards
Well I have to admit I am surprised by the answer I was given by Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis when I asked if he thought that RSL needed a 10 goal scorer in order to improve on 2008. Jason said calmly and with confidence, “no”, he asked me how many 10 goal scorers did Columbus have and I had to say none. Jason believes that he simply needs more goals from more players in 2009, I agree.
RSL currently has just 4 strikers on their roster; Yura Movsisyan (7 goals, 1 assist), Robbie Findley (6 goals, 5 assists), Tino Nunez (1 goal), and new comer Luis Miguel Escalada who despite being just 23 has played with Boca Juniors, and other South American teams. Yes Clint, Andy, and Will all can play as forwards if needed but it will likely be combinations of the 4 that see most of the action in 2009, I do expect that we might just see a midseason move to bring in more attacking depth to the RSL roster.
Escalada looked good in practice and in limited time against Austin, until a hard foul lead to a sprained ankle which will keep him out of action this weekend
If Yura can play all season like he did the last 11 matches of the 2008 season, then RSL will have a real offensive powerhouse to boost the attack.
Robbie is as quick as ever and it looks like his off season work overseas is ready to pay off in 2009
Tino Nunez takes on Robin in practice, I think Tino could be a real surprise in 2009 as it looks like he could get more playing time.
The rest of the west
Chivas – In 2008 Chivas had 3 guys with 5 goals (Esky, Sacha, and Razov), 2 guys with 4 goals (Braun, and Marsch), 2 guys with 3 (Harris, and Flores) all of them are back and then you need to add in Galindo (who for Chivas sake hopefully be healthy) and Eduardo Lillingston. A lot of balance but when your top scoring threats are in the midfield, you have some issues that need to be addressed.
Colorado - Connor Casey had 11 goals in 2008, followed by Cummings with 6, Clark and McManus with 5 each. Casey and Cummings will be their top duo in 2009 and supported by Richardson (a hit with Joe Public), Peterson who only could get one goal in 2008 in 17 matches, and then add in rookie Ross Schunk. Casey looked good in 2009 but with only really two threats it will be easy for defense to shut him down.
FC Dallas - Kenny Cooper and Jeff Cuningham both have shown the ability to score in MLS action, but with only Peri Marosevic and David Ferreira to back them up they find themselves in the same boat as RSL. That is they have talent but if they suffer an injury or cold streak, will they be able to have an impact and carry a large load.
Houston – I have never really been a fan of Brian Ching, I know he is talented but I am simply not impressed since he is basically the only offensive weapon Houston has. Last season he scored 13 goals, their next leading scorer was DeRo, who is no longer there, with 7 and after it was Jaqua, also gone, with 4 goals. So of their top 3 goals scorers who produced 24 goals between them almost half of that production is gone. Can Kei Kamara fill those shoes? Only time will tell but after Brian and Kei, the pickings for forward get very thin with 18 year old Felix Garcia, and 4 year vet Chris Wondolowski who in 33 games played has scored twice. Without midfield general DeRo and having only really Ching up front, the Dynamo will have to rely on their defense to stay in matches but I think this will be a rough year for fans of the Creamsicles.
LA Galaxy – In 2008 the Galaxy were the league’s best offensive unit with Landycakes 20 goals and 9 assists, and the 15 goals of Edson Buddle and to be honest even without “Golden Balls” for most of the season I still expect LA to have one of the top offenses in the league. They have added Mike Magee and Jovan Kirovski to the mix and while neither Alan Gordon or Bryan Jordan impress much, they can at least eat up minutes. This is the offense to watch out for in the West.
San Jose - The wildcard of the west when it comes to forwards, their leading scorer last season was a midfield who only played half the season (Huckerby-6), so what do you do if your expansion team looking for scoring? You bring in some talent and that is what San Jose is trying to do; Cam Weaver comes back to the states from FK Haugesund in Norway, while Davide Somma was with SJ for a portion of 2008 he really never made and impact and if he doesn’t start to impress soon his time at SJ may be done soon.
Is there a bigger wildcard than Pablo Campos? Maybe not, he went from the Fresno Fuego of the USL developmental league to play in Sweden and now is back in the US with the Quakes, can this young man(24) from Brazil be this years Huckerby for San Jose? Throw in Ryan Johnson who tried to be a weapon last year but was a man on an island and suffered from no support, and rookie Quincy Amarikwa and you end up with what could be the weakest crop of forward in all of MLS.
Seattle – If you were to believe the hype of one game, then you probably believe that Seattle is the best team in MLS instead of just another expansion team. The people in Seattle sure seem to think so, and they will tell you at every grocery store, stop light and anywhere else you run into one of their fans. Everyone is talking about Fredy, and not the underwear guy after a week one 2 goal performance, the 21 year old from Columbia sure appears to be everything the hype has said but we will see how he fares against a more solid defense this week.
Backing up the wonderkid is another wonder, wonder why he simply has never been as good as he could be Nate Jaqua has played for the Fire, Galaxy, and Houston before be taken in the expansion draft by Seattle, with 32 goals over 6 seasons one wonders what will he do in 2009. Nate has always been a thorn in the side of RSL scoring 5 goals in 9 matches against RSL, this may be the only reason they picked him up. They also have Sebastian LeToux and Roger Levesque from the USL version of the Sounders, Kevin Forrest, and Jarrod smith both come with limited MLS experience, but perhaps the real future of SSFC up front is Steve Zakuani. Steve was the number one pick in the 2009 Super Draft and was the Soccer America player of the year for Akron in 2008, he scored 20 goals last year to lead the NCAA. Expansion teams often face issues that they never expected to but having some interesting depth and a couple potential superstars at forward isn’t usually one of them. Seattle could be a real surprise, but only time and real matches will tell.
Who is the best
That is no real question, with Landon on your side you will always have a great offense and if Buddle can equal his 2008 performance then the Galaxy will have no problem being the best offense in MLS, after them is FCD with Cooper and Cunny watch out they could be real trouble for teams in 2009. Seattle is a crap shoot that only time will tell where the dice will land, but they have a ton of potential. RSL simply needs Yura to play like he did the final third of 2008, and Robbie to play like he did in the first third of 2008, it would also be really helpful if we see Escalada do what Olave did last year, go from being obscure to awesome. It is going to be fun watching to see who will step up in 2009 in the West.
OFF MY SOAPBOX
This entry was posted on March 28, 2009 at 10:29 am and is filed under The soapbox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.