The first week is in the books and there was a lot of exciting soccer on display.  Here is an updated Power Rankings, predictions, and Best XI.

Green Army MLS Power Rankings:

1. (Last week 1) Columbus Crew: Stays on top with after their 1-1 tie with Houston, one of the better games over the weekend.

2. (2) Chicago Fire: With the exception of a Kenny Cooper bomb that caught Busch out the Fire destroyed Dallas, in their 3-1 win.

3. (5) Houston Dynamo: They looked like the team to beat in the West.

4. (3) Real Salt Lake: did not play this weekend, but drops one spot for Houston.

5. (6) Toronto FC: Offensive powerhouse, that isn’t likely to get scored on unless the opposing team is sending in 25 yard bombs like Davy Arnaud.

6. (10) Seattle Sounders: Ball-errific!! Came out strong in their opening game with a 3-0 win over NY. Look like a playoff calibur team.

7. (7) New England: An inexperienced squad took the field against SJ and managed to squeak out a 1-0 win.

8. (8) KC Wizards: If not for Davy Arnaud’s two spectacular goals and De Ro’s miss from the PK spot this game could have gotten ugly for KC.

9. (9) Chivas USA: When your goals come from Paulo Nagamura things can’t be going well. Still, they pulled off a 2-1 win.

10. (11) Colorado Rapids: Looked much, much better defensively . . . and then they fucked up. Poor clearance by Kimura gave Nagamura a gift for the game winner and the Rapids go home without any points.

11. (4) NY Red Bulls: Awful first game for last year’s MLS Cup runner’s up. They were missing a few players and should improve, but this squad could be one of the worst teams in the league . . . if the following four teams weren’t in the league.

12. (13) DC United: Gave up a two goal lead to LA. On the bright side, rookies Pontious and Wallace looked great.

13. (12) FC Dallas: No surprise here. They had their moments but the defense is a disaster.

14. (14) LA Galaxy: Lucky for them DC has one of the worst defenses in the league.

15. (15) San Jose: Can’t score goals you can’t win games. This weekend might have been a taste of this season is going to go for San Jose.

How did my predictions turn out?:

Prediction: NY 3-1 Seattle, actual NY 0-3 Seattle

I knew Seattle was good, what I didn’t know was how bad NY is.

Prediction: Columbus 2- 1 Houston, actual Columbus 1 -1 Houston

Could have gotten this one right if Houston’s defense didn’t all apart at the end of the game.

Prediction: Chicago 3-0 Dallas, actual Chicago 3- 1 Dallas

Basically got this one right.  A 60 yard bomb from Cooper was the only way Dallas could score.

Prediction: Toronto 2-2 KC, actual Toronto 3-2 KC.

Both teams offense was on display as was poor defending.

Prediction: Colorado 1-0 Chivas, actual Colorado 1-2 Chivas

Could have gotten this one right if it wasn’t for 6 minute defensive collapse by the Rapids. Chivas really had no hope of scoring.

Prediction: NE 0-0 SJ, Actual NE 1-0 SJ

A fortuitous goal made the difference for NE.  I think the easiest prediction anyone can make is putting a 0 by San Jose.

Prediction: DC 0-1 LA, actual DC 2-2 LA

LA was able to break a weak defense and so was DC.

Green Army Best XI:

Keller (Seattle)

Brennen (Toronto)         Kennedy (Seattle)        Conde (Chicago)

Nagamura (Chivas)          Alonso (Seattle)

Arnaud (Kansas City)        Guevara (Toronto)      Schellotto (Columbus)

Donovan (Los Angeles)       Montero (Seattle)

Subs: Shalrie Joseph (NE), DeRosario (Toronto), Brad Evans (Seattle), Justin Mapp (Chicago), Sebstian Le Toux (Seattle)

This entry was posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009 at 11:44 am and is filed under General, MLS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.