Major League Soccer Match Picks, Week 8, Weekend Edition

Missed on my Wednesday night pick. Thought that the New York Red Bulls would scratch out a draw with Sporting KC at home, but Sporting got the 1-0 win.

My pick for the weekend matches:

Winners: Colorado Rapids, New York Red Bulls and FC Dallas

Picking draws for the balance of the matches.

Predicted The Sporting KC/LA Galaxy Draw Correctly...Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 25, 9/5/11

I was a perfect 2 for 2 on my predictions for this weekend's Major League Soccer Matches, getting both the Real Salt Lake victory and the Sporting KC/LA Galaxy draw correct. I am now 7 for 19 on the year, a 37% accuracy rating.

The LA Galaxy Are #1 Again!

There were just a couple of changes to my Major League Soccer Power Rankings this week with only two matches played.

Real Salt Lake's victory over Philadelphia pushed them up two spots in this week's ranking to #4 overall, while Sporting Kansas City's home draw this evening against the LA Galaxy dropped them two spots to #11 in this week's rankings.

My week 25 Major League Soccer Power Rankings:

1) LA Galaxy (West)

2) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

3) Colorado Rapids (West)

4) Real Salt Lake (West)

5) Columbus Crew (East)

6) FC Dallas (West)

7) D.C. United (East)

8) Houston Dynamo (East)

9) Portland Timbers (West)

10) Chicago Fire (East)

11) Sporting Kansas City (East)

12) Chivas USA (West)

13) Philadelphia Union (East)

14) Toronto FC (East)

15) New York Red Bulls (East)

16) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

17) New England Revolution (East)

18) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

Your #1, The LA Galaxy! Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 24, 8/31/2011

#1 Again, The LA Galaxy!

Quick post this week...

My week 24 Major League Soccer Power Rankings:

1) LA Galaxy (West)

2) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

3) Colorado Rapids (West)

4) Columbus Crew (East)

5) FC Dallas (West)

6) Real Salt Lake (West)

7) D.C. United (East)

8) Houston Dynamo (East)

9) Sporting Kansas City (East)

10) Portland Timbers (West)

11) Chicago Fire (East)

12) Chivas USA (West)

13) Philadelphia Union (East)

14) Toronto FC (East)

15) New York Red Bulls (East)

16) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

17) New England Revolution (East)

18) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

The LA Galaxy Will Not Relent! Predictions From This Weekend and My Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 23, 8/22/11

Another week, another week on top of the Rankings...or so says the LA Galaxy.

But first, a look at my Major League Soccer match predictions from this past weekend.

I picked the nine matches that were played this past Saturday and Sunday based on my rankings system, and taking into account the home field advantage so prevalent in Major League Soccer.

My results?

I correctly picked the result in four of the nine matches played. (The New England/New York draw, and the wins by Columbus, Portland and Los Angeles.) My prediction rate is a whopping 44%. I'm going to stick with the system next week.

The LA Galaxy Are On Top Again!

Some notes regarding this week's Rankings:

- Biggest jumps up? Chicago climbed 6 spots, Sporting KC climbed 5.

- Biggest decline? FC Dallas dropped 5 spots.

- Best current form? The LA Galaxy, Columbus and Colorado.

- Poorest current form? San Jose.

My week 23 Major League Soccer Rankings:

1) LA Galaxy (West)

2) Columbus Crew (East)

3) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

4) Colorado Rapids (West)

5) Houston Dynamo (East)

6) Sporting Kansas City (East)

7) D.C. United (East)

8) Chivas USA (West)

9) FC Dallas (West)

10) Portland Timbers (West)

11) Real Salt Lake (West)

12) Chicago Fire (East)

13) Philadelphia Union (East)

14) New York Red Bulls (East)

15) Toronto FC (East)

16) New England Revolution (East)

17) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

18) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

Major League Soccer Match Predictions, 8/20/11 and 8/21/11 Matches

This week I decided to put my Major League Soccer Power Rankings to the test and try to predict the outcomes of this weekend's matches.

Here you go:

The New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls will finish in a draw.

The Columbus Crew will defeat The Philadelphia Union.

The Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake will finish in a draw.

FC Dallas and The Seattle Sounders will finish in a draw.

The Colorado Rapids will defeat Chivas USA.

The Portland Timbers will defeat The Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Los Angeles Galaxy will defeat The San Jose Earthquakes.

The Chicago Fire and Toronto FC will finish in a draw.

Sporting KC and DC United will finish in a draw.

What do you think?

The The LA Galaxy Maintain the Top Spot! Major League Soccer Power Rankings Week 22, 8/15/11

The LA Galaxy Maintain the Top Spot!

My Major League Soccer Rankings are pretty much for my own entertainment. I like messing around with numbers, and am a big fan of the MLS, so why not combine the two.

I have been publishing my rankings since matchweek 5. My intent with the rankings is to judge who are the best teams top to bottom at this point in the season. My intent is not to predict how the season will end.

I have been trying to figure out a way to look at how accurate my rankings are. Haven't really figured out a way, but I think the best way would be to try to look at the rankings for the current week and how those rankings predict the results on the field. More to come on that.

I have made a minor adjustment to my formula this week. Specifically, the way I was calculating the rankings prior did not take into account the number of matches played. Theoretically a team who had played less matches could be hurt in my formula, so now I have made the proper adjustments to take number of games played out as a factor.

Some quick notes for this week:

- Biggest jump up? The Houston Dynamo jumped up 3 spots.

- Biggest decline? Real Salt Lake dropped 4 spots.

- Best current form? Colorado, The LA Galaxy and Seattle.

- Poorest current form? San Jose and Chicago.

My week 22 Major League Soccer Rankings:

1) LA Galaxy (West)

2) Colorado Rapids (West)

3) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

4) FC Dallas (West)

5) Columbus Crew (East)

6) Chivas USA (West)

7) D.C. United (East)

8) Houston Dynamo (East)

9) Real Salt Lake (West)

10) Philadelphia Union (East)

11) Sporting Kansas City (East)

12) Portland Timbers (West)

13) New York Red Bulls (East)

14) New England Revolution (East)

15) Toronto FC (East)

16) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

17) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

18) Chicago Fire (East)

The LA Galaxy Are Still #1! Major League Soccer Power Rankings Week 21, 8/8/11

The Galaxy Are Still #1!

Quick post this week. Heading out of town.

My week 21 Major League Soccer Power Rankings:

1) LA Galaxy (West)

2) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

3) FC Dallas (West)

4) Colorado Rapids (West)

5) Real Salt Lake (West)

6) Columbus Crew (East)

7) Chivas USA (West)

8) D.C. United (East)

9) Philadelphia Union (East)

10) Portland Timbers (West)

11) Houston Dynamo (East)

12) Sporting Kansas City (East)

13) New York Red Bulls (East)

14) New England Revolution (East)

15) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

16) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

17) Toronto FC (East)

18) Chicago Fire (East)

The LA Galaxy Are Back On Top! Major League Soccer Power Rankings Week 20, 8/1/11

The LA Galaxy Are #1 Again!

After a 4 Week hiatus the LA Galaxy regains the top spot in this week's Major League Soccer Power Rankings. The Galaxy continue to dominate MLS play, and opened up a huge gap between themselves and the 2nd ranked team, Seattle.

Spots 2-5 are separated by the closest of margins in this week's rankings. Seattle, FC Dallas, The Columbus Crew and Colorado could overtake one another in the coming week's depending on results of their future matches.

Biggest move up the rankings this week? DC United moved up 4 spots.

Biggest drop? Sporting KC dropped 3 spots.

Who has the best current form? The LA Galaxy and Columbus Crew.

The worst? Vancouver and Toronto.

My Week 20 Major League Soccer Power Rankings:

1) LA Galaxy (West)

2) Seattle Sounders FC (West)

3) FC Dallas (West)

4) Columbus Crew (East)

5) Colorado Rapids (West)

6) Real Salt Lake (West)

7) Philadelphia Union (East)

8) D.C. United (East)

9) Houston Dynamo (East)

10) Chivas USA (West)

11) Sporting Kansas City (East)

12) New York Red Bulls (East)

13) New England Revolution (East)

14) Portland Timbers (West)

15) San Jose Earthquakes (West)

16) Chicago Fire (East)

17) Toronto FC (East)

18) Vancouver Whitecaps (West)

The Columbus Crew are Like My Psycho Girlfriend! Crew 1, Whitecaps 0, 7/6/11

Jeff Cunningham Scores the Winning Goal!

June 4th: Psycho girlfriend, "Let's go out, your kinda cute!" (Crew get a dramatic draw at the New York Red Bulls.)

June 8th: Psycho girlfriend, "That was fun, I really like you! Let's go out again. " (Crew beat Real Salt Lake 2-1 at Crew Stadium.)

June 12th: Psycho girlfriend, "I hate your guts, don't talk to me..." What did I do? (Crew play an uninspired match at home and lose to the Chicago Fire.)

June 18th: Psycho girlfriend, "I am so sorry, please come over." Huh...OK. (Crew shutout the Houston Dynamo at their place 2-0.)

June 26th: Psycho girlfriend, "Oh you are so nice to me, I don't know what I would ever do without you." (Crew demolish the Colorado Rapids 4-1.)

July 2nd: Psycho girlfriend, "You're so mean, don't touch me." What did I do this time? (Crew get demolished in Dallas 2-0.)

July 6th: Psycho girlfriend, "Why are you mad at me?" (Jeff Cunningham heads in the winner in the 90th minute to earn the Crew 3 points at Vancouver.)

Game story: http://www.thecrew.com/news/2011/07/recap-crew-vs-whitecaps-fc

With the win, The Crew maintains 3rd place in the MLS Eastern conference. (Tied for 2nd on points with Philadelphia, but 3rd in the standings due to goal differential.)

It wasn't pretty last night. The Crew fielded a ramshackle line-up due to suspensions (Emmanuel Ekpo, Andy Iro) and injuries (Rich Balchan) to regular starters. William Hesmer saved a PK. But they got the job done, and in a league where 40% of the matches end in draws, getting an away win is gold!

And what better way for Jeff Cunningham to tie the MLS career record for goals (with Jaime Moreno) and become the Columbus Crew's all time goal scoring leader (topping Brian McBride) by scoring the game-winner!

Yeah, my girlfriend is psycho, but she's worth it.

A Plethora of Goals! The Columbus Crew Win 4-1! 6/26/11

I have always wanted to use the word "plethora" in my blog. Seems pretty apropos (another word I have wanted to us) to use "plethora" to describe last night's Columbus Crew victory over the Colorado Rapids. Four goals in one match? Yeah, The Crew did that.

I missed the last home match against the Chicago Fire, so I didn't blog about that debacle. But last night was a very inspired performance by The Crew. After giving up an early goal to Colorado's Conor Casey (who was later red-carded after going in hard on a ball saved by Crew keep William Hesmer) The Crew racked up four goals, two by Andres Mendoza (who received a standing ovation when he was subbed off in the 68th minute) and one each by Eddie Gaven and Tommy Heinemann. The Crew got a measure of revenge against the Rapids, who eliminated The Crew from the 2010 MLS playoffs on penalty kicks last November at Crew Stadium.

If Mendoza continues to convert his scoring chances, The Crew fans will learn to appreciate him. He clapped for the fans when he came off the pitch. Maybe he has learned a little to show a little appreciation for the fans. We really aren't hard to please.

I really thought Emmanuel Ekpo played one of his best matches of the season. He controlled the midfield and made very good decisions with the ball. I also continue to be impressed with Rich Balchan as a holding midfielder. And Sebastian Miranda has turned into one of the best outside backs in the MLS. The guy just doesn't make a mistake.

There was some interesting goings-on in the Nordecke last night. During the first half, the whole group moved to the upper deck. I was trying to track what was going on via twitter during the match. Looks like Chris LaMacchia of the MassiveReport.com captured what happened here:

http://massivereport.com/content/nordecke-takes-vacation-corner

It will be interesting to listen to the Massive Report's podcast tonight, as Crew President and General Manager Mark McCullers will be the guest. I'm sure Nordecke-Gate will be discussed.

Two wins in a row for The Crew now finds them tied for second in the Eastern Conference with the New York Red Bulls with one game in hand. The Crew are playing some quality soccer right now, and I'm enjoying it.

The LA Galaxy are #1 Again! Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 13, 6/13/11

The LA Galaxy are on Top for the 4th Week in a Row!

The Los Angeles Galaxy keeps the top spot this week giving them four #1's in a row, matching Real Salt Lake's run in my rankings earlier in the year.

Interesting week this week. I weight current form, road wins and home losses as part of my formula. With four teams getting road wins this week (San Jose, Colorado, Chicago and Sporting KC) along with San Jose's current run of  good form there are some significant changes in this week's rankings.

Biggest moves up the rankings this week? Chicago moved up 6 spots, Colorado moved up 5.

Biggest drops? Portland dropped 6 spots, Chivas dropped 5.

Who has the best current form? San Jose, The Galaxy and Philadelphia.

The worst? Portland and New England.

My Week 13 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1) LA Galaxy, Western Conference (8-2-7) 31 points

2) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (5-4-4) 19 points UP

3) FC Dallas, Western Conference (7-4-4) 25 points DOWN

4) Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (6-3-4) 22 points DOWN

5) Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (5-3-7) 22 points UP

6) Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (5-4-7) 22 points DOWN

7) New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (5-2-7) 22 points UP

8) Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (6-3-3) 21 points DOWN

9) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (2-4-8) 14 points UP

10) D.C. United, Eastern Conference (4-5-4) 16 points DOWN

11) Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (4-5-6) 18 points UP

12) Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (4-4-6) 18 points

13) Chivas USA, Western Conference (4-5-5) 17 points DOWN

14) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (2-6-4) 10 points UP

15) Portland Timbers, Western Conference (5-6-2) 17 points DOWN

16) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (2-5-8) 14 points

17) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-6-8) 11 points

18) New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (3-7-4) 13 points DOWN

Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 5, 4/18/11

Major League Soccer has just finished Matchweek 5, with all but two of the teams having played at least five matches. Real Salt Lake and Sporting KC have played 4 matches.

Time for me to introduce my MLS Power Rankings. At this point in the season, I think I have a pretty good idea of how the league is sorting out, so I'm going to share my thoughts on a weekly basis. My rankings combine overall season performance along with current form, so it's my attempt to show the 18 teams as I currently see them.

Real Salt Lake #1, Week 5

Week 5 Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws):

1)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (4-0-0) 12 points
2)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (3-1-1) 10 points
3)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (3-1-3) 12 points
4)   Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (3-2-0) 9 points
5)   Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (2-1-2) 8 points
6)   Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (2-1-2) 8 points
7)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (2-1-2) 8 points
8)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (2-2-1) 7 points
9)   D.C. United, Eastern Conference (2-2-1) 7 points
10) Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (1-2-3) 6 points
11) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (1-2-3) 6 points
12) New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (1-2-3) 6 points
13) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (1-2-2) 5 points
14) FC Dallas, Western Conference (1-3-1) 4 points
15) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-2-1) 4 points
16) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-3-1) 4 points
17) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-2-3) 6 points
18) Chivas USA, Western Conference (0-2-3) 3 points

A few comments:

- Real Salt Lake continues to dominate.
- The Portland Timbers are the biggest early season surprise. Two big victories this week earned them the 8th spot in my rankings.
-Sporting KC is the biggest early season disappointment. Their first home game can't come soon enough.
-The Chicago Fire started the season well, but have since gone into a 3 game tailspin.

Remember, the CONCACAF Champions League Finals begin this Wednesday, April 20th. The game is on Fox Soccer Channel, 8pm MST, 10pm EST. On Twitter, use the #MLS4RSL hashtag and support Real Salt Lake!

Mountain Time

My 2011 Major League Soccer Predictions

Can't get enough of the prediction game. I realize Major League Soccer had their First Kick last weekend, so I'm cheating a bit by making my predictions now.

2011 Eastern Conference Champions:

New York Red Bull

2011 Western Conference Champions:

Real Salt Lake

2011 MLS Cup Playoff Teams:



2011 Supporters Shield Winner!

New York Red Bull

DC United

Columbus Crew

Real Salt Lake

LA Galaxy

Colorado Rapids

Sporting KC

San Jose Earthquakes

Philadelphia Union

Houston Dynamo

2011 Supporters Shield Winner:

Real Salt Lake

2011 MLS Cup Champion:

New York Red Bull



2011 MLS Cup Champion!