MLS preview is ready...for your reading enjoyment
updated transactions can be seen at
http://www.mlssoccer.com/mlstransactions/2013
MLS 2013...team previews in descending alphabetical order
My 5 East teams to make playoffs = RBNY, Sporting KC, Chicago, Houston, Columbus
My 5 East teams to miss playoffs = DC United, Philly, Toronto, Montreal, Toronto
My 5 West teams to make playoffs = Seattle, Dallas, San Jose, LA Galaxy, RSL
My 4 West teams to miss playoffs = Chivas USA, Colorado, Portland, Vancouver
Vancouver Whitecaps
- I was disappointed in Vancouver last year as I figured them to be highly entertaining and they ended up being very defensive overall and inept on offense. Robson never materialized in midfield, Harris and Thorrington never got going, and all their matches became 1 goal affairs. Darren Mattocks emerged as a potential star and both Camilo and Chiumiento showed signs of creativity but I'm expecting a similar Caps team as last year. Not much to complain about in defense as only Seattle and RSL allowed fewer goals in the West and they return basically everyone in the back. Adding Nigel Reo-Coker in midfield should help a lot but he just arrived and will need time with the new club. All eyes will be on Salgado to produce. Although just 19 he's clearly one of the most talented American strikers in the system and is finally healthy after the foot fracture. Him up front with Mattocks with the speed of Camilo and Chiumiento down the sides has the prospects of being a nice attack force. Of course relying on strikers that are 19 and 22 is a big risk but clearly Vancouver have the most upside in their attack. The Caps really fizzled down the stretch last season beating only Chivas USA in the final 3 months, 1-3-7, and failing to score in 7 of those 11. Part of that is on trading Hassli in late July, some on Salgado missing since mid-june, and also atiba harris playing just 250 minutes but mostly it was lack of interest in going forward. While they were very solid in shots allowed they were by far the worst club in shots taken with 355 including a putrid 131 shots taken in 34 first halves which produced a .38 first half gpg rate, 2nd worst to CUSA, Defensively though only KC and RSL allowed less first half goals but if Vancouver trailed they simply had no offense to get back in the game. They were 0-1-7 trailing at HT and 1-2-10 after allowing first goal so the game was pretty much over at 1-0. The skinny is that the club is good and improving. They backed into a playoff spot last year but with improvement from Dallas and Portland the competition will be real tight for that 4th and 5th spot so even improving could leave them out of the playoffs.
Toronto FC
- another rebuilding project up north but I think they at least have a plan to build for the future acquiring guys like Agossoumonde while adding quality veterans like Bruan, Califf, and Julio Cesar to give them legit shot at improvement in 2013. This is still a bad team but I think they'll be more competitive and turn a few of those losses into draws. When healthy both Koevermans and Frings are two of the best at their positions in MLS and they return their top 5 minute-getters on defense. They've been erratic in preseason (3-0 win over Orlando, then 3-0 loss to Philly) but that's to be expected from a team that won just 5/34 and allowed 62 goals in 2012. When you look at the numbers TFC probably played a lot better than their record would indicate. 6 teams look fewer shots than TFC and 4 teams allowed more shots but they were almost always losing by HT...in 34 games they led at HT just 5 times so were always chasing the game. Unlike Chivas who got blasted often TFC played 16 one goal games so 24/34 matches were either tied or a 1 goal match. The problem for TFC is that they won only 4/16 one-goal games and a lot of that can fall on their two best players (Frings/Koevermans) being injured far too often. Frings started just 20 games, Koevermans 12 and neither played 1700 minutes in the season. TFC never gave up last year...they scored in final 8 away matches and held 4 of last 5 teams to 0 or 1 goal at home so i think that's a positive. Not sure why the schedule maker is giving TFC so many home games early when weather is unlikely to be nice but it will allow TFC to start strong as 5 of first 8 matches are at home and the 3 road games are just Vancouver, Montreal, and Philadelphia so a very favorable early schedule. So expect a nice improvement over 23 points this year...something in low-mid 30's I'd say. Not enough for playoffs but not completely pathetic again.
Sporting KC
- big question marks are replacing Kamara's 11 goals until he returns from Norwich and replacing Espinoza in midfield otherwise Sporting look very strong once again. Kamara scored 11 goals and led the league in shots and 2nd in shots on goal while Espinoza was 2nd in minutes for any MF. The back four of Besler, Sinovic, Myers, Collin is the best in MLS by a wide margin and bringing in both Gardner and Opara makes them even better. Considering they allowed just 27 goals (no other team in East allowed less than 43) that should worry the rest of MLS. Offensively, if Feilhaber can return to his old form which saw him starting for USMNT that could be the pick-up of the offseason but either way this team could certainly win the East again. Sapong and Bunbury must provide the scoring until Kamara returns in May but after that trio the depth is tough to find. Any injuries up front and this team will be playing a lot of 0 and 1 goal matches especially when they will be playing Concacaf CL games in addition to MLS and US Open Cup. They won the Cup last year so it's a competition they take seriously but that is a lot of matches in the brutal KC heat in summer. This team was #1 in shots taken and #1 in shots allowed last year which is a remarkable stat that shows how dominant they were on both ends of the field. Assuming the back four stays intact and Europe keeps their paws off of Sapong, Kamara, and Bunbury this will again be a title challenger and the odds-on favorite to win the East.
Seattle Sounders
- Very disappointing season for Seattle after finishing the league with 5th most points and home field advantage in playoffs they got KO'd by champs, LA, and lost cup final to Sporting KC. They didn't even win the Cascadia Cup (points b/w vancouver, seattle, and portland) although they have advanced to final 16 in concacaf CL (but expected to get KO'd by Tigres in March). Considering they've not lost consecutive league matches in 2 years and haven't lost a match after scoring first since Oct 2010 they are still a title challenger. Up front they must replace Fredy Montero their all-time leading scorer but they did add Shalrie Joseph to MF but the biggest loss could be trading away DF Jeff Parke who led all DF with nearly 2600 minutes last year (next closest was 1800 minutes). Midfield looks outstanding as Alonso is the best defensive MF in the league and Rosales the best attacking MF plus the addition of Joseph, steady Evans, and young talent like Estrada, Caskey, and Rose. Defensively they have issues without Parke and replacing Montero won't be easy so tough to see them better than they were in 2012 but should make the playoffs
San Jose Earthquakes
- Supporter Shield winners in 2012 but failed in playoffs which was not a huge surprise considering how bad their defense could be at times. What was surprising is that they took a 1-0 away win to the home leg before the Galaxy destroyed them. Just like KC they will be playing league, CCL, and USOC and highly unlikely Wondolowski can replicate a 27 goal season so they'll need to find some other scorers. They addressed defense in the offseason picking up Attakora, Gargan, Harden, and Jordan but did lose talented Opara to KC. Really the key here is to find someone other than Wondo who had 14 more goals, 62 more shots, and 22 more SOG than anyone else on the team. Still up and down the roster this is a very strong team and while another 1st place finish in the West could be tough to repeat they will make the playoffs and score and allow plenty of goals. Replacing Dawkins (aston villa) who was 2nd in shots, 4th in goals in 2011 could be the difference in this team being a playoff team or champion. Either way they’ll be in the post season and one of the more entertaining teams to watch in the league.
Real Salt Lake
- The longtime partnership of Saborio/Espindola is now over as Espindola was traded to RBNY. More big moves happened when Will Johnson was sent to Portland and big central defender, Olave, also to RBNY. Of course replacing these guys will be key....Espindola was 2nd in goals, 2nd in assists, 2nd in shots, 2nd in SOG...Johnson 4th in goals, 3rd in shots, 3rd in SOG...Olave 2 years ago was considered to be one of the best central DF in league. To a lesser extent they'll miss Steele and Paulo Jr but I never really considered either to be of high quality for MLS but good depth up front. But 10 new faces are here and some potentially impactful players like Plata, Garcia, Stephenson, and Findley. Obviously Findley has been a star in this league before but Plata is the guy up front to really keep an eye on. I don't know much about the young Colombian striker they just signed, Olmes Garcia, but at 20 years old he's likely here just to learn for the 2013 season anyway. The big question is how you replace one of the best central defenders in the league and I guess we'll find out if that can happen. This team probably lost a little too much to contend in west but playoffs are still a reasonable goal. Still a top home club (11 wins in 2012) and will win plenty at Rio Tinto.
Portland Timbers
- as you can see from transactions list this is a totally different team...12 new faces, 14 gone from last year. Mikael Silvestre is the name that pops out on the list (former Man U defender) but Will Johnson and Ryan Johnson are full internationals and Diego Valeri is a former Argentine national teamer that gives them an attacking MF they have never had. While midfield looks creative and solid attack looks horrible. Top scorer Boyd is gone, Ryan Johnson is erratic, Dike and Richards are out with injuries, and Zizzo scored 1 goal in 20 appearances last year. I find it hard to believe they are putting everything on Johnson to be the 15+ scorer they would need but they also have Danny Mwanga who has shown great potential when healthy. While they will always play well at home in front of the best crown in MLS (lost just 4/17 here last year) they must improve from their 1 road win and 10 road goals in 17 games. Caleb Porter is the new coach and what he put together at the U of Akron was remarkable...they are basically a soccer factory and he's one of the top coaches in America. Perhaps the team I'm most looking forward to watch as they should be involved in a lot of high scoring matches. They allowed 1.64 gpg in 2012 but have a ton of speed up front and in MF and now Valeri to run the offense with Will Johnson, Nagbe, Alhassan, and Chara as top wingers. Could be a wild season in Porter's attack-minded system and while playoffs might be a long shot they will certainly be improved and are now on the right track for the future.
Philadelphia Union
- This team is very poor and is going in the wrong direction. They finished 2012 on a 3-4-8 streak and could continue down that path from what I see on this roster. Their new striking partnership with be Casey (in from Colorado) and Le Toux (2nd stint with Philly) which is not quality IMO and their MF will rely on Freddy Adu to live up to the potential he's supposedly had for nearly 10 years. Carroll is an excellent defensive MF and their defense is deep so that's not going to be the problem...it's the offense that I can't see. Conor Casey is only good when he has a dynamic forward next to him and that player is not on this current roster. The midfield is a joke...just one MF had more than 2 assists in the entire 2012 season and the only MF that scored more than 1 goal (Gabriel Gomez, 5g) is gone! Doesn't help that as I type this I'm watching the Union get dismantled by DC United but really this will be a brutal team to watch this season and surely a good under candidate again this year.
Red Bulls of New York
- winter cleaning saw 16 Red Bulls players pack up including starters Solli, Tainio, Le Toux, Marquez, Lindpere, Conde, and Cooper yet somehow it doesn't seem like that big of a loss outside of Lindpere. Of course the big reason for that is the additions....Espindola who will be a PERFECT match up front with Henry...Olave, a top central defender in the league...Juninho, an aging but spectacular MF....not to mention a full season of Dax McCarty and Tim Cahill. The Red Bulls led the east last year at 3.03 gpg and that can actually go up with this group. Preseason so far has not been kind to RBNY (drew RSL, lost to NE, lost to Seattle) but this will be one of the most attack-minded sides in MLS and a candidate to make the playoffs. I don't expect they have the defense to really threaten Sporting KC and Houston in the East but they should be in that next tier for sure.
New England Revolution
- Revs were very poor in 2012 but look to have improved a bit. Much less experience in MF now without Feilhaber and Joseph but a full year with attack of Sene, Barrett, Bengston, Dorman should produce some goals. MF is clearly their weakness...first off it is very young with Fagundez, Nguyen, and Rowe and it lacks that true veteran leader like they had in Shalrie Joseph before they traded him last year. Second half scoring was a huge issue for the Revs last year netting just 16 times in 2H's all year which was 2nd least to Chivas USA's 15. They were actually #12 in first half record (8-16-10) but couldn't score in 2H's and those HT draws turned into FT losses, 9-8-17. Kalifa Cisse gives the Revs a much needed rock in defensive midfield and returning 3 defenders who all played 2300+ minutes in 2012 should help them improve on goals allowed. Bengston could miss a lot of time with Honduras MNT qualification and possibly Gold Cup and I'm not sold on this MF so they will be improved but not enough to make the playoffs.
Montreal Impact
- last month Montreal announced the hiring of Marco Schällibaum as coach which was a major "wtf!" to folks that follow MLS. His resume is basically a bunch of bad clubs in Swiss league that he made worse so not really sure where they dug this fella up at. Then to sign him to a one year contract won't give him a whole lot of job security but they must have gotten the recommendation to talk to Schallibaum from somewhere. Anyway, perhaps due to the coaching change this team is pretty similar to the 2012 version. They brought in another italian and signed Andres Romero who has played at Nautico, Criciuma, and Argentinos Jrs which is impressive for a 23 year old. A full season with Nesta and Di Vaio along with their nice mix of kids and veterans is sure to improve the Impact who didn't trail at HT in a single home match all year. Just like NE the 2H's were atrocious and they conceded a ridiculous 28 goals in the final 30 minutes of matches tied with Dallas for league worst. You have to like how they've put the club together and if their two big signings, Romero and Pisanu, can become starters this should be a decent club in 2013 and a playoff challenger. Nesta must stay healthy to run the defense and DiVaio will have to improve on his 0.29 gpg scoring rate but this will be a real tough club to beat in Montreal. Away from home I don't expect they'll be much improved over 2-3-12 -22 GD but certainly a club to back on home turf.
Los Angeles Galaxy
- threepeat? No team has ever done it but this club has more than enough talent to give it a shot. Robbie Keane is still the best striker in the league and once Donovan returns from injury he's still a top MF and this defense will only be better with a year of Omar Gonzalez at centerback so all pieces are there. Replacing Beckham's 9 assists from right midfield is the major question but Magee, Juninho, Sarvas, and Jimenez all have quality and are ready to break out in 2013. My big question mark is what happens if Keane gets injured? Gyasi Zardes believes he's the real deal in attack but making the jump from college to MLS is tough enough even without a major foot injury. Buddle was a major disappointment last year as was Chad Barrett but it's tough for Keane to score all by himself particularly without Donovan and Beckham to begin the year. They've been awesome in preseason but a slow start would not be a shock to me with CCL final 16 matches coming at same time as start of MLS year. Major issue will be to take more home points as only Chivas USA lost more home games in the west (ironically LA and Chivas USA share same stadium). I expect LA to make a splash after Euro seasons end and bring in a big scorer. Lampard's name was tossed around but he's not coming so we'll have to wait on the Beckham replacement.
Houston Dynamo
- back to back final appearances and no titles but little reason to change a whole lot. They brought in Cummings in attack which will be huge for them as will a full season with Boniek-Garcia. What has been forgotten is this team only made the playoffs by 1 point and were horrible on the road so it wasn't like they were dominant. They've yet to lose in their new stadium and only conceded 12 at home in 2012 tied with KC for best in the East. Only DC accrued more home points (40 vs 39) so continued home domination is a must if the Dynamo are to make the playoffs. Defensively they will remain strong (3rd in MLS shots allowed) and Cummings instantly gives them a legit scorer in attack so I expect them to improve in regular season and end up around 2nd or 3rd in east. Like LA and Seattle they have early international tests in the final 16 of CCL so getting out of the gates in MLS play could be unexpectedly slow. I’d be more surprised by them winning the east than if they missed the playoffs.
FC Dallas
- Dallas was a 2H disaster all year. Not only did they allow the most goals in final 30 minutes of matches but they took the least amount of 2H shots in the league so obviously the combo of no offense and bad defense didn't help them in second halves. No better stat to show this than their 6-8-3 record after scoring first goal. Only Toronto had fewer wins after scoring first goal but that's because they only led 9 times out of the gate. No team had more wins turn into draws than Dallas as they were just 3-4-1 when leading at HT meaning that a potential 24 points leading at HT netted them just 13. Again, only TFC was worse. The good news is when you look at those 11 points that would have easily gotten them into the playoffs so this team is not far from being a challenger like they were in 2011. The loss of Brek Shea to Stoke is big but they basically return every other meaningful player on the squad. Up front a Cooper/Hassli/Perez attack is big and nasty and a fully healthy Ferreira gives them one of the top attacking MF in MLS. They have 4 DF returning that played over 2000 minutes last year and if their MF and attack can stay out of the training room this will be a top club in MLS. I've been real impressed with them in preseason as well...drew AIK, beat Atlante, beat Merida, beat Portland. While losing little they brought in experienced MF Watson from Houston and just signed DF Michel who played in Brazil's Serie A with Nautico and Atl-PR. With the other two new strikers (Hassli and Cooper) beside him Blas Perez could win a golden boot or at least knock in 15-18 goals. If I were a betting man I'd put a few bucks on Dallas winning the league so obviously I'm really high on this club despite winning just 9 of 34 matches in 2012. They have a great shot at jumping out of the blocks quickly with 3 of first 4 games at home and the lone road match at CUSA. Through mid-May they'll have played 11 matches...7 at home and the 4 away to CUSA, NE, Toronto, and Vancouver (only Vancouver made playoffs of those 4) so a really big start should be expected...7-2-2?
DC United
- Hell of a year for DC finishing 2nd in East but I think they punched a bit above their weight and will fall back a bit in 2013. DC fans ripped on Boskovic in his years there but I always liked him and I think he's going to be missed in MF where he was 2nd on team with 8 assists last year. Andy Najar was just ready for a breakout season but DC sold him to Europe and then also got rid of 2nd leading scorer Maicon Santos so I expect fewer goals in 2013. Defensively I never really liked their group to begin with and the only new face is James Riley in the back. Riley is solid as hell and has started at least 27 matches for 4 straight seasons so an excellent pick up. Up front they brought in Carlos Ruiz who's best days are long gone and also signed Rafael who has been on Brazil's u-20 team. Obviously he must be talented but a 20 year old big money striker is a bit of a risk and his injuries in preseason are not a good omen for DC. DeRo is still a superstar and Pontius and De Leon can score so while I don't think they'll see 53 goals like last year a solid 45-47 is still in the offing. I certainly think they're in the playoff discussion but a 2nd place finish would shock me this year. I think it'll be b/w them and Columbus for 5th spot and maybe a lean toward Cbus although I consider DC United to have more depth of talent.
Columbus Crew
- after a few disappointing seasons it was probably good to overhaul the roster. Matias Sanchez was a great addition after playing 140 matches with Racing and Estudiantes in Argentina and he will dominate defensive midfield but other than him I'm not sure they got any better. Oduro is exciting up front but 33 goals in 183 MLS games isn't going to blow anyone away especially when they gave up 23 year old Dilly Duka (USA u20 and u23 international) for him. A full season of Arrieta and Higuain and addition of left back Viana from Bella Vista (URU) plus solid Eddie Gaven at left wing and Marshall in central defense gives them some real quality but overall the roster is just not very deep. So I think the Crew are about the same as last year...a 46-56 point team right on edge of playoffs. They won't be particularly entertaining to watch but they'll win plenty of close matches. They were tough to beat when leading at HT (8-1-1) and came back to win 5 of 16 matches after conceding first goal but allowed the most shots in the league. This is an average team in every respect...but average gets you near the playoffs in MLS
Colorado Rapids
- overhaul in the offseason saw Colorado drop both starting strikers, the best MF, and almost all important defenders except Moor and Wynne. Needless to say it's tough to predict how they'll do in 2013. Buddle had a bad 2012 with LA but is a competent striker, Harris is good when healthy, and guys like Sturgis and Avila and Labrocca are MLS vets. They added an Ecuadorian international to the defense and with 2nd year of Pareja's system you'd expect an improvement but that's a crazy amount of changes for one offseason. With Dallas getting better and top teams SJ, Seattle, LA in the west I can't see Colorado cracking the top 4. If anything I'd say they might stay in the upper 30's in points but that won't be enough for playoff spots. 13 losses in 17 away games is horrible and I don't see a lot of improvement coming in that area either. My guess is they'll be parting ways with Pareja before their annual July 4 match but this is really THE unknown club in MLS so anything is possible. Personally don't see enough quality in the roster for anything above 6th in the West. Top scorer Castrillon is out with a knee injury until maybe June which is a brutal way for them to start the season especially since he was the one player that was clearly made for the 4-3-3 system
Chivas USA
- Chivas now basically a team of latin players as they unloaded pretty much every guy that doesn't speak Spanish. Overturning a squad that won just 7/34 matches is probably a good idea but the roster is too young and too physically small to be anything but bad. It looks like new manager Chelis is making changes for change sake but other than being Mexican I have no idea how he's qualified for this job. In Mexico he never took Puebla past the semifinals and failed to even make the playoffs in half of his tournaments then "led" Tecos on a run that ended in them relegating to Ascenso. The only think I understand less than the hiring of Chelis is the moves he's made since taking charge. James Riley was outstanding for them last year (32 starts, 2880 minutes) so he got released from DF. Nick LaBrocca was possibly their best player in MF (29 games, 2300 minutes) and he got sent away. Shalrie Joseph played very well in his 12 matches after getting traded from New England and he got tossed over to seattle. Obviously Chelis has a specific system he likes to play and is bringing in Mexicans to play it but it has been a long time since he had some success and I doubt it will translate to a lot of wins in MLS. That being said there is talent here...Agudelo up top, Bolanos in the middle, and Kennedy in goal are excellent players but 11 MF or FW that are under 6 feet tall is tough for a very physical MLS. Quick turn-arounds don't happen often in MLS but honestly how much worse can you be than 24 goals scored in 34 matches and 9 goals scored at home? In addition to not scoring they allowed 2nd most shots in league and the most 2H shots in league and were a brutal 1-4-16 when allowing first goal. Incredibly they led in just 3 of 34 matches at HT, failed to beat a single team by more than 1 goal all season, and were beaten by at least 2 goals on 10 different occasions. Even with that things might get worse before they get better.
Chicago Fire
- if Dallas is my "sleeper" in the West, Chicago is mine in the East. They didn't make many changes but really didn't need to. They loaded up the midfield with Lindpere, Duka, Larentowicz and covered up the Oduro loss by picking up a more well-rounded striker in Maicon Santos. They return their top 6 minute men from 2012 and should have enough midfield additions to account for losing Alvaro and Pappa last year. Much like Sporting KC they bring back top 4 defenders all of which played at least 1800 minutes (three played 2500+). MF Alex looks set for a breakout season and if they can find a true scorer from their group this is a club that will contend in the East with Sporting KC. No team won more matches from a trailing position than Chicago (7-2-11 after being down 1-0) and when scoring first they were unbeatable, 10-2-0. They were on fire in August and Sept last year, 7-0-1, but tired down the stretch and got caught in bad losses to New England and Philly before losing to the Dynamo in playoffs but they were not far off at all in 2012. Rolfe will always pop a few goals in, as will Nyarko and Santos, but the season probably hinges on just how many their DP, Sherjill MacDonald, can net this year. I'd be surprised if one of these strikers doesn't find double digits in goals and I'd be surprised if Chicago dropped any further in the East. They were 6 points behind KC this year and I think they can close that gap and finish 2nd or 3[SUP]rd[/SUP], possibly even win the East.
