November 13, 2009 by f4denz.

So while my Real Salt Lake vs. Chicago Fire pre-match post is still in the works I thought I would give you all a little something to think about today while you are at work, or on your way to Chicago, the MLS Expansion Draft (2009 version).

One benefit of playing late into the season is that fans have less time to dread the expansion draft, this year Philly will pick off a RSL player to start building there team and while last year RSL lost Nathan Sturgis (the oft injured but tons of potential), he added only 440 minutes to the Sounders season. This expansion draft will be very different than last years; Seattle already had 4 players on their roster in Freddie Ljunberg, Kasey Keller, Sanna Nyassi, and Sebastien Le Toux. All but Nyassi played significant minutes for the Sounders, and they also had already started working on deals to get JK Hurtado and Fredy Montero on loan deals before the draft all before they had signed a coach.

Here is the list of players that they selected in the Expansion draft:
Nate Jaqua (Houston Dynamo)
Nathan Sturgis (Real Salt Lake)
Jeff Parke (New York Red Bulls)
Jarrod Smith (Toronto FC)
Khano Smith (New England Revolution)
Peter Vagenas (Los Angeles Galaxy)
Tyson Wahl (Kansas City Wizards)
James Riley (New England Revolution)
Stephen King (Chicago Fire)
Brad Evans (Columbus Crew)

Philly has taken a different route and signed their coach and most of their staff but still haven’t added a player to their roster, and without a USL side to pick a number of players from they will really be starting from scratch in less than two weeks. They won’t have much time as teams are only required to announce their “protected” list a couple days before the draft. Here is the complete list of who wasn’t protected last year. RSL left the following players exposed:
Besagno, Nik
Cutler, Kenny
Deuchar, Kenneth
Horst, David
Joy, Ian
Kirby, Dustin
Kovalenko, Dema
Mathis, Clint
Nunez, Tino
Reiman, Kevin
Reynish, Kyle
Sturgis, Nathan
Tennelle, Brennan
Williams, Andy

For RSL that task last year was a bit easier beccuse Tony Beltran, Chris Seitz, Alex Nimo were all part of the Generation Adidas program and didn’t need to be protected, so RSL protected the following:
Nick Rimando
Chris Wingert
Nat Borchers
Jamsion Olave
Robbie Russell
Kyle Beckerman
Will Johnson
Javier Morales
Fabian Espindola
Yura Movsisyan
Robbie Findley

So the question is what 11 players will RSL protect this season? Will Philly be trying to build a team with young talent or will they look for immediate rewards with more experienced players, how will the pending CBA negotiations impact their selections? Will the added exposure of RSL players in this year’s playoff run impact what players we chose to protect? The roster last year was 28, this year it is 24 so there are no reserve players to expose, and with Seitz and Beltran both rumored to be graduating from the GA program it will add even more pressure on RSL’s selections.

Garth said it is least favorite day because he knows he is going to lose a player he doesn’t want to lose, so I am asking all of you to put your GM hats on today and tell me what 11 players you protect. I am working on my list and will post it soon so, you might want to read what Ives (Soccer by Ives) said about the expansion draft last year before you finalize your lists.

Viewing Party Update

I love the RSL is doing viewing parties at the stadium, not my thing but it is a great chance for fans to get together. I have to say that Houston really knows how to throw a viewing party as well:

notice the stars above their logo? I want one of those above ours and this is our year.

OFF MY SOAPBPOX
win one and earn a trip to Seattle, win two and earn a trip to the history books

Posted in The soapbox | 4 Comments »

November 13, 2009 by f4denz.

Since the turn of the century, or 2000 for those who lack imagination two teams have dominated MLS the LA Galaxy who won the MLS Cup in 2002 and 2005 but lost it in 2001 and the Houston Dynamo (old San Jose Earthquakes) who won the title in 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2007. Those two teams will match up to see who can go for another title, and while the Dynamo have some big names Ching, Clark, and Holden who all are regular fixtures with the USMNT, they pale when compared to the all time leading scorer for team USA in Landon Donovan who is barely a blip on the world wide soccer radar that beeps every time David Beckham does anything.

LA is by far the glamour team and if you ask me the question is what will it take for the league to stop bending the rules to try to help them out? No matter what you say about the DP rules and the continued grandfathering of Landycakes around the DP rule, the fact is that the Galaxy will be less than $250,000 under a $10 million dollar payroll. I question what money was given up front to guys like Eddie Lewis, Gregg Berhalter to get them to play for under $200,000 a year in MLS and how so many players have just fallen into their lap over the last couple years. This year for the first time it has paid results for them and they ended at the top of the Western Conference and get to play host Friday night to Houston.

The two teams faced off in June at the HDC and it was a goal by Todd Dunivant in the 24^th minute that was the difference maker in this match as LA pulled off the 1-0 win in a match that saw 5 yellow cards and 26 fouls called, but didn’t see Beckham or Donovan play in the match and LA still got off 12 shots to Houston’s 5. It was less than a month ago that the return leg in Houston was played and it was just as physical with 31 fouls called and 5 yellow cards issued including two to Brian Ching, which left Houston down a man for the final 6 minutes of the match. Neither side could get a ball into the back of the net despite a combined 20 shots (11 for Houston, 9 for LA).

If LA represents the glamour side of MLS, Houston is probably the “meat and potato” team, while they have stars as I mentioned, there is a team that like last year’s MLS champion didn’t have a player with 10 goals or more this year, but had 15 guys who scored goals (13 are still with the team), they have 10 guys with 2 or more assists this year. Their keeper played every minute of every game and kept his GAA to 0.97 with 10 clean sheets, and they only allowed 29 goals. One third of their shots (137 of 301) were on goal and they scored 39 goals for a league best +10 (Columbus also had a +10 in the regular season). No team had more wins than Houston on the road, and they scored as many on the road as they allowed (16 for and against).

So I am going to pick Houston to win the match, they simply are tougher, younger, and deeper than the LA Galaxy, Houston won 6 matches on the road and LA only won 7 at home. Beckham, LandyCakes, and the supporting cast simply don’t have the depth to matchup against a lineup that is deep with talent, here is what the projected lineups are:

I see a lot more MLS All Stars in orange, I see more players getting time with their national team in orange, and I think the difference maker will be speed. Who is going to match speed with Stuart Holden and Ricardo Clark, not to mention Dominic Orduro? Klein, Berhalter, Kovalenko? No way, and with neither Buddle or Magee have proven they can provide the offensive punch. It will come down to see if Landon can provide the offense, he has scored or had an assist 18 times this year, LA has scored 36 goals, so half of their goals have the Donovan stamp on them. We all know that Beckham can be incredible on set pieces and that is what this match could come down to, but I think it will end up being a 1-0 win for Houston and I would not be surprised if it happens in extra time but I also have to remember over 1/3 of LA’s goals were scored in the final 15 minutes of matches (12 of 34).

OFF MY SOAPBOX
who will make the trip to Seattle to face RSL?

Posted in The soapbox | 5 Comments »