Monday, April 6, 2009

Lemon Basil Rankings (April 6)

1. Chicago. No Blanco not exactly a hindrance for early-season success.
2. Seattle. Setting the standard in the Western Conference already - does that speak to Sigi Schmid's ability to manage or the state of Western clubs?
3. New England. Efficient and effective soccer.
4. Chivas USA. Not quite like Seattle's 3-0 start but Chivas USA have been unbeatable this season thus far as well.
5. Real Salt Lake. RSL hoping to make Rio Tinto a fortress in '09; so far, so good.
6. Toronto FC. Shaky defense at home not supposed to have been trademark of this year's team.
7. Colorado. Conor Casey-Omar Cummings partnership could be lethal.
8. DC. Slowly emerging as a decent club.
9. San Jose. First road game of '09 not encouraging.
10. Columbus. Was Schmid that influential?
11. Kansas City. Solved, at least temporarily, their defensive issues.
12. Houston. Slow starts have plagued them before, but the slump might last until October.
13. New York. Can't score against 10 men for 76 minute; Danny Cepero was a nightmare too.
14. LA Galaxy. Embarrassing performance against the Rapids.
15. FC Dallas. Will struggle to win six games this season.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chivas USA only #4? Not surprised.

What is surprising is the play of Gerson Mayer, Eduardo Lillingston, and Michael Lahoud.

C'mon Goats!!

just another one of you said...

Luis,

Is it safe to say that as it stands right now there are two teams (CHI & SEA) that are a cut above the rest and two teams that have a shot at beating them (NE & Chivas)?

Was tornto exposed this weekend or did the early success make them a bit complacent?

L.B. said...

Chivas USA is 4 because they haven't been a dominant 3-0 like Seattle, and New England has shown more this season.

just another... yeah, Chicago and Seattle are tops right now, through the first three weeks. That's pretty much a given. New England and Chivas have surprised early on as well... I guess though who you ask depends on whether you're surprised or not. I had New England ranked high in the preseason and Chivas not so high, but the consensus was that New England was going to be bad, bad bad this season.

As far as Toronto goes, they have a lot of team building to go through still, and Saturday's loss was a sign of growing pains in my opinion. Maybe they won't be as good as many had figured, who knows? I guess my biggest concern with them was how their defense folded. That was supposed to be an upgrade, but it wasn't really at all. Ljungberg sliced right through their central defense on his goal and made them all look bad.

Anonymous said...

Excellent work, Luis.

How do you see the Stupor Clasico?

Galaxy wins by how many goals?

L.B. said...

Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself here but Chivas USA has lost their first games against the Galaxy each and every season. Their first encounters in 05 (by 3-1), 06 (2-1), 07 (3-1) and 08 (5-2).

Is history going to repeat itself? Has Chivas shown anything to make us think it will? I guess that's the bigger question.

just another one of you said...

thanks for the response, Luis

Anonymous said...

Based on the "History" angle,

I guess Chivas USA will lose on Saturday. Chivas USA will make the playoffs and lose in the first round. The Galaxy will crumble. Arena will lose his job.

Thanks, LB!! LOL!

ELAC

nothingtoseehere said...

This year is going to break the pattern. The Galaxy are going to get spanked, badly.

It seems like Arena is bringing in all these veterans to tutor the load of rookie and young defenders the Galaxy have on the roster...But I'm not sure how the fans are going to make it through yet another losing season.

It's no wonder people aren't buying tickets to the games. We've been getting boned the past two years...

CarlosT said...

Considering the Sounders are at the top of the standings league-wide and two out of their three opponents so far have been Eastern teams, then I think it has to be Sigi's ability over the state of the Western division.