It's the beginning of the season, and everyone wants to know who's the best, right?
So, I've watched all the highlights and put together a power rankings (NYRB, Colorado, and the Fire haven't played regular season games yet, so if you are the '82 Redskins, sorry [not to the Redbulls, but to everyone else]).
Anyway, here's your stuff:
1. Columbus Crew
I honestly thought the Crew may not make the playoffs, giving up Justin Meram and Ola Kamara, but Federico Higuain played well! Gyasi Zardes surprisingly did too. But who I really noticed was fabulous was Milton Valenzuela. He put crosses in, and really went in for it. As of now, they are my number one, and of course, they did emerge victorious with out a goal against coming out of BMO Field.
2. NYCFC
David Villa was superb as always, newly signed Jesus Medina was unbeatable, Maxi Moralez was dazzling, Sean Johnson was impeccable, everything went impressively well for NYCFC at Sporting KC, though I did see they were a little weak defensively when a dangerous ball is played in.
3. Houston Dynamo
The Dynamo some how massively exposed Atlanta's defense, and no matter how many amazing saves Brad Guzan made, Houston was able to put 4 past him.
Let me tell, you, defending Miguel Almiron, Josef Martinez, and Darlington Nagbe is no walk down easy street.
4. Toronto FC
Toronto's loss to the Crew wasn't a good start to the season, but how can you say no to a team like this?
5. LA Galaxy
After a 2017 season very similar to Orlando's (we made the playoffs last season, right?) the Galaxy have done some massive rebuilding. During the game against Portland, they looked very organized and could launched some very dangerous threats at times.
6. LAFC
LAFC impressed me at Seattle. With Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi up front, Benny Feilhaber in the midfield, and Steven Beitashour and Laurent Ciman in the back, this LAFC team is stronger than anyone expected.
7. Seattle Sounders
Even without Jordan Morris, Will Bruin, Nicolas Lodeiro, and Nouho Tolo can light up some majestics, not to mention Roman Torres, Gustav Svensson, and Stefan Frei.
8. FC Dallas
OK, I know last season FC Dallas was dancing on top of Mount Everest and then fell off, and I know that they lost to Tauro in the Champions League, but I still think they have something in them. They drew with a very talented and youthful RSL, and if you look at their highlights and goals, you'd think that they are a playoff team that's maybe even competing for the Supporters' Shield. If they could be that dominant in all areas for 90 minutes a game, now that would be an eligible Supporters' Shield contestant...
9. Portland Timbers
The Timbers can be an incredibly deep and counter-attacking team at times, though you must say, at times the defense does seem to falter. They are also very strong off set pieces.
10. Real Salt Lake
This year's Real Salt Lake is very young and stealthy squad, though they are a little inexperienced as a team and aren't so deep in all areas.
11. Vancouver Whitecaps
Vancouver have bought strong attackers, such as Kei Kamara and Alphonso Davies, though keeping balls out of the net could be an issue without David Ousted.
12. Orlando City SC
The Lions have bought players of great skill, but Kljestan is suspended and Dwyer is injured, so for the time being they aren't as good.
13. DC United
The Black-and-Red have acquired 7 young and creative players, and got rid of some older more frequently injured players that wouldn't necessarily keep up with United's schedule.
A 7 game home-stand at the end of the season will hopefully get DC hot and may get them into the playoffs if they can pick up some points on the road early in the season.
GM Dave Kasper said he looked to add a fullback (most likely Joseph Mora) and a forward by the end of the transfer window on May 1st.
DC have phenomenal free kick service. An issue, though, is giving up late goals.
14. Chicago Fire
Sold David Accam and haven't bought much. They still have McCarty, Nikolic, and Schwienstieger ,though.
15. New York Redbulls
NYRB bought a bus load of USL players, and sold Felipe and Kljestan. Now their only good player is the aging Bradley Wright-Phillips. They're gonna be dreadful!
16. San Jose Earthquakes
San Jose have acquired some young players, though they don't look so good.
They do have Chris Wondolowski, though. They looked decent against Minnesota, but they're Minnesota so not so impressive.In about the 70th minute the defense gave out and Molino scored 2 goals. That's an issue. They also can't be too reliable in the midfield.
17. Atlanta United
Atlanta looked awful against Houston. They left their defense exposed, Miguel Almiron missed a penalty, and Josef Martinez couldn't finish.
Carlos Carmona and Yamil Asad, two key players on the 2017 team are gone. That only explains some of the awfulness against Houston.
Ezequiel Barco will be a perfect fit with the team, but he was injured when he was bought, and he's still injured.
I can tell you, they will be better than they were Saturday for the rest of the season, but we are talking about now, and now Atlanta had an under-performance.
18. Sporting KC
Sporting looked good on possessing the ball and then suddenly attacking but were dismal in pretty much everything else.
19. Montreal Impact
Montreal have had a weird preseason. Either their OK, good, or awful. During the season I think they'll be awful since now they're up against tiring MLS material every week.
20. Philadelphia Union
They used to have Chris Pontius (who got into double-digit assists last year with Philadelphia).
They are now a young team that has David Accam, C.J. Sapong, and Andre Blake.
They used to have a good defense.
MLS is not made up of New England Revolutions. This Union defense could easily deteriorate behind MLS level attacks. Even Bill Hamid couldn't save 2013 United or 2017 United. Blake can't save the Union's season.
21. Colorado Rapids
Basically no changes to the awful 2017 Colorado.
22. Minnesota United
Minnesota's savior is Molino. He's the one person on that side who is good. The game against San Jose looked close because of Molino, but it wasn't close at all. Molino needs another good player to help him draw a game for Minnesota. Face it, Minnesota's awful.
23. New England Revolution
Brad Friedel, who before was a Fox Sports soccer commentator and has only coached youth soccer, is coaching the Revs. Even Lee Nguyen and Juan Agudelo can't be creative enough with the team they have.
They traded away many good players and didn't get anyone good themselves.
This will be a huge down year for the Revolution.
That's it! Thanks for reading.
