With the MLS Playoffs around the corner, Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America handicaps the field of contenders for the MLS Cup-
Each MLS team is ranked by its odds to win MLS Cup, given the teams' performances this season and their grouping in the playoff brackets. If all eight teams had an equal chance, each would be ranked at 7-1 (one chance in eight, 12.5 percent).
1. Real Salt Lake (4-1). RSL set a league mark by conceding only 20 goals and tied the league record for fewest losses (four). It has added depth and a very dangerous goalscorer, Alvaro Saborio, to last year’s championship group, and is also hardened by qualification for the Concacaf Champions’ League quarterfinals. If not worn out from an arduous schedule, RSL should get back to the final.
2. Los Angeles (5-1). The Galaxy blew through the first half of the season so impressively that hysteria erupted when the results cooled off a bit. The 2010 team is younger and faster than the 2009 squad that fell a PK short of the title, and would host RSL if both reach the conference final. Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle and David Beckham get most of the headlines yet this has been a very good year for the other Donovan, as in goalkeeper Ricketts.
3. New York (6-1). Yes, it has three DPs, but Juan Pablo Angel is 35 and Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez have yet to start together in four consecutive games, which the postseason demands. The form of Joel Lindpere, Dane Richards, Bouna Coundoul and Carlos Mendes -- and how well rookies Tim Ream and Tony Tchani handle playoff pressure -- may determine the Red Bulls’ fate.
4. FC Dallas (8-1). Losing the final two regular-season games doubled the number of defeats this season to four; still the defense is solid and David Ferreira is one of the league’s best game-breakers. But several starters are still rounding back into form after injury layoffs, an especially important factor in the case of keeper Kevin Hartman.
No comments:
Post a Comment