Jimmy Conrad and Josh Wolff will be called to lead in 2010 for KC. (WVH Photo Correspondent Brian Stevens)

We’re continuing on today with our look at each Major League Soccer club’s pre-season outlook of what players they have on board and where they need to go next before the new season kicks off. So far we’ve covered nearly half of the league with Chicago, Colorado, Chivas, Columbus, DC, Dallas, Houston and Philadelphia all already looked at here.

Today we go to the middle of the country to take a look at the Kansas City Wizards and what coach/technical director Peter Vermes is doing with his club.

The Wizards had a shaky season in 2009 but they hope a few changes around their roster will be enough to stay with the top of the pack in an already tough eastern conference.

So let’s see what the Wizards have done with their winter and where they need to go from here. Continue Reading…

Luciano Emilio and DC travel to New England to face Shalrie Joseph and the Revs. (Getty Images)

I won’t lie, last night’s game between Chicago and Chivas put a sour taste in my mouth for this weekend. The game itself was entertaining but the officiating was lacking in quality as we’ve all seen by now. Hopefully this weekend won’t be filled with yellow and red cards or lots of questionable PK calls.

Sorry for the rant but that’s just how I feel going into this weekend.

As for the weekend ahead here, we have a full slate of games with everyone in action except for Chivas (who played last night). I do hope we get seven quality games like last night’s contest though. Aside from the horrible officiating in the middle it was a good game. I’m gonna start switching things up here for the weekend previews. While I like doing longer previews for each game, time just doesn’t allow me to do so anymore for the weekend games. Instead I will stick with a quick preview and a player to look out for along with the score prediction. Continue Reading…

Kansas City fans have been pretty good so far. (Brian Stevens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

Typically I do a version of this kind of thing for all MLS clubs but this time around I wanted to do something a little different with the typical Good, Bad, and Ugly column. Instead I will be looking at things in the league as a whole that I have liked, disliked and have absolutely hated thus far in the early going of the season.

Most of this is stuff I’ve been keeping track of here since the start of the season. I may ramble on a bit but you are always welcome to do the same below.

Good:

Quality crowds in Seattle, Toronto and even in smaller venues like San Jose or Kansas City. I believe there is a reason why San Jose and KC want smaller soccer stadiums for their future. It doesn’t all have to do with money and not being able to consistently fill those stadiums, it is because they have the fans that create good atmosphere (I think both clubs have underrated supporter’s groups). The same sort of thing you see in Seattle and Toronto. Passionate fans equal a good time at the park.

Bad:

So-so numbers in places like LA for Galaxy and Chivas games, Chicago for Fire games and DC for United games. For those clubs it doesn’t really deal with a lack of advertising or even the clubs being bad on the field. Its honestly an economical thing in my eyes.

Still seeing bad numbers in Colorado and Columbus too. Thing about the Rapids is though they’ve only played one home game so far. With the club doing pretty well so far this year things could change in their favor in terms of butts-in-seats.

Ugly:

Numbers we see in Dallas are just terrible. The fact that the club has gotten a shade under 12k for their last two home games is pathetic. Marketing around Dallas is nearly non-existent, and people just can’t get excited about this club. It has little to do with the performance on the field I think (because the town supports baseball’s Rangers decently enough each year and they are largely just as bad if not worse), but it deals more with a lack of knowledge about the club in the local community.

Continue Reading…

Freddie Ljungberg and Osvaldo Alonso have been huge additions to Seattle and to MLS this year. (Getty Images)

While rookies have been doing well this year so far, so have the list of newcomers to the league that aren’t rookies. It seems like last year we talked at length about the lack of positive newcomers until the summer months when guys like Darren Huckerby came into town for the San Jose Earthquakes.

This season is far in a way different as plenty of newbies are making a positive impact on the league. Most of the list below does contain a lot of Seattle Sounder players, but there are a few others that have made similar headlines this year that aren’t in Sounder green.

The list below is really no particular order here. After a while though I will still track the newcomers to the league this season as we gear towards the end of season awards. If you see a newcomer that I failed to remember, be sure to post his name below. Again, no rookies please, they have their own watch list that will probably be updated again next week.

Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle) – As some of you know, I am part Swedish so I am a little biased on this one when I see a Swede in the league and one doing well. So far Ljungberg is playing just the way Seattle needs him to be, a strong part of the midfield and one that hits the back of the net when called to do so. Continue Reading…

Dwayne De Rosario leads TFC against FC Dallas on Saturday. (Brian Stephens, WVH Photo Correspondent)

So far the 2009 season has been a lot different than most would expect. Two western teams headline the standings with perfect records, while a couple eastern clubs aren’t far off the pace. Judging by this weekend’s schedule this could be a good for some struggling clubs to get on the board here this season.

This will be the first weekend in a while that I can remember where all the games are on Saturday. Easter Sunday probably has a good bit to do with that reasoning. Seven games total, with only New England missing out on the fun due to the unbalanced schedule this season.

Feel free as always to post your score predictions for your club’s game or for all the games below. Continue Reading…

From year to year we see a crop of newcomers in the league that either take the league by storm or they fail to do much of anything (like most of last year’s). The 2009 bunch so far seems to be doing quite well in compairson to the 2008 bunch.

First of all we know what Seattle’s Fredy Montero did in week one. His two-goal effort against the New York Red Bulls was pretty much what we expected out of him. And as we all know if he keeps it up he will either become the Newcomer of the Year or he will be bought by some European club by mid-summer.

Montero wasn’t the only Seattle newcomer that turned some heads. Both Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Osvaldo Alonso stood out and former USL MVP Sebastien Le Toux wasn’t too shabby either. Continue Reading…

Chad Barrett and Toronto FC travel to KC to face the Wizards Saturday night. (Getty Images)

Back at it for the 2009 season. Nearly every club in action this weekend with five games on Saturday evening and one lone match on Sunday afternoon.

Just as yesterday I will try to give just a quick preview, a couple questions, and score prediction. Nothing too fancy since I don’t get to see every club all the time. Also feel free to pipe in your game predictions below.

Columbus Crew – at – Houston Dynamo:

1. How will Houston contain Schelotto?

Its a question for everyone but Houston did a decent job a year ago against the Crew. They split their season series and Houston won the home leg. However, Columbus looked very strong in preseason play while the Dynamo struggled here and there. With no Eddie Robinson (out to injury) it could be a long afternoon chasing GBS in the midfield. Richard Mulrooney or Ricardo Clark will probably be set to lock him down and if they come up short in the task it will put more pressure on the backline. Luckily for the Dynamo that is one of their stronger departments. Continue Reading…