2008 Eastern Conference Preview

2008 Eastern Conference Preview

Compiled by Mike Martin

March 26, 2008

This time it’s the Eastern Conference that comes under the scrutiny of Unitedmania’s podcasters. Same format, general comments on each team in alphabetical order, then predicted order of finish at the end.

Washington, D.C.

Check out our full discussion on our podcast here.

Chicago Fire
Chris Webb - Blanco will be with the team for the whole season and it will show. Chicago has a good mix of youth and experience. Not terribly deep but still good.
Randy Ruff - If you believe the Osorio hype (and I don't) Chicago will be a disaster in his wake. But the combined losses of Chris Armas and Matt Pickens will hurt far more. This team will only go as far as Cuahtemoc Blanco will carry them. The trouble is MLS is not set up for one man teams, and this year the Fire is not your 'best buy' in the east.
Martin Fernandez - Chicago has lost way more than they have added this off-season, and the loss of coach Juan Carlos Osorio will be detrimental to the Fire. Chances are the 2008 edition of the fire will unfortunately fizzle to a mere whimper.
Mike Martin – The Fire are frauds. Blanco will be found out this year. He’s talented for sure, and so is Rolfe, but they won’t be able to carry a team that has no other real scary players and has lost the intense leadership of Armas and Osorio.

Columbus Crew
Chris - Sigi's teams will always be disciplined and a tough out. However, they simply don't have any talent. But, still no main goal scorer. This is a make or break year for Eddie Gaven.
Randy - Sigi is a good coach, but the rebuilding project in Columbus may have been asking too much of him. The return of the talented and exciting Guillermo Barros Schelotto is a positive thing for Columbus, but just how much better can this guy make a bunch of lunch pail players? Let's face it Columbus has a bunch of guys that start for them who would struggle to find time off the bench on other teams.
Martin - El Melliso (Schelotto) returns and will get help from Brian Carroll and Nico Hernandez. Although this team seems to be in a funk I think they'll come through just fin. Schelotto has one season under his belt and will utilize that experience to the Crew's advantage.
Mike – Talk about no talent, this team has less skill than the first day of American Idol. The new Crew motto will be “Leave a twenty on the dresser when you’re through”. Even the fans themselves acknowledge that their team is dreadful and management refuses to spend any money to get any more talent. Could easily be another year of their fan mantra, “The Crew is like getting crabs, it hurts to love them!”

DC United
Chris - United wins the East almost by default. Simply put, the other teams in the East didn't do squadoosh to improve their teams. While the loss of Gomez will be felt at times, the addition of the Gonzalo brothers (joke of course) at the back seal up a badly needed improvement from last seasons Supporters Shield winners.
Randy - United remains king of the mountain. This team is talented, deep and well coached. In spite of numerous and painful losses the team's braintrust has arguably improved upon last season's Supporters Shield winning roster with the addition of Marcello Gallardo and the Gonzalos, Peralta and Martinez. In addition, players like Devon McTavish, Rod Dyachenko, and Santino Quaranta continue to develop their games, and provide starting quality off the bench.
Martin – I’m a homer all the way. I think United will repeat as league champions. They lost a bunch of players but replaced them man for man. The only downside is once again, the schedule - they are victims of their own success.
Mike – I make it unanimous, DC is clearly the class of the East. If this team stays reasonably healthy, they could collect trophies like those dynastic teams in the early days. Surely they have to be the favorites to bring the Cup back East to end its Western sojourn since the last time DC won it in 2004.

Kansas City Wizards
Chris - Trujillo and Lopez will help ease the loss of Eddie Johnson, but the loss of Garcia and Burciaga in the back will be felt even more. KC has the best young coach in the league in Onalfo (and might be a future National Team coach) and he loves to attack. KC will be a tough out all season long and finally they will have a full house to play in front of, albeit 12,000 fans.
Randy - Coach Onalfo continues to mold this team into his vision. Replacing talent like Eddie Johnson is never easy, but Claudio Lopez is no stiff. The Wizards started hot and then faded down the stretch last year, but they have a foundation to build on and are one of a few teams that appear to draft and develop talent well. Onalfo will have a host of his type of players like Carlos Marinelli and Michael Harrington to throw at the league this year. Top draft pick Chance Myers looks to fit in perfectly with Kansas City providing the versatility that the team is built on.
Martin - Curt Onalfo is key for this team, the Argentine addition will make KC a tough team to beat although the Minor League Baseball Park may be a distraction. Next year though, when they get their new field……
Mike – Kansas should do well this year, Onalfo is a great coach and assuming his new signings work out well, they will challenge for the East in my opinion as they will be able to concentrate on MLS, while DC and NE have international distractions. I agree with Chris that getting out of that tomb in Arrowhead will help tremendously.

New England Revolution
Chris - Yet again NE loses key players, but somehow, someway Steve Nicol always makes it work. Can he do the magic again? My guess is that the sand in the hourglass is running out fast. NE will still be good, but they won't be as good. There’s virtually no depth beyond the starting XI this season.
Randy - The Revolution has a habit of wining in spite of the talent drain which has now sucked out the likes of Pat Noonan and Andy Dorman after Clint Dempsey left the year before for Fulham. But they still remain strong down the middle of the field with top players on each line in Taylor Twellman, Shalrie Joseph, Michael Parkhurst, and Matt Reis.
Martin - New England's scramble to bring in new players may be the thorn that New England has been avoiding. For me this is the hardest team to figure out. Never leave Nicol out though, the man has shown again and again that he can bring this team to the final, winning it? Another story.
Mike – Finally someone took a skimmer to that gene pool NE had festering up there, but unfortunately, they took out a lot of the mid-level talent you need to succeed in MLS. No doubt Nicol’s hack ball will keep them respectable, but they have as many international games to worry about as DC, and a far thinner roster. I think NE will struggle badly this year, but lucky for them, other teams in the East will struggle more.

New York Red Bull
Chris - Etcheverry and Thornton? That's all they could muster in the off-season? Add in the loss of Dane Richards and you really might have a big free fall this season. Sure, they'll score goals with Juan Pablo Angel and Altidore in the house, but what if Jozy leaves during the summer? What then? Rely on John Wolyniec?
Randy - Juan Pablo Angel is a money player, and rising star Jozy Altidore give the Red Bulls a lot up top, but who will run the midfield? The losses of Joe Vide (expansion draft), Dema Kovalenko (trade), and Dane Richards (injury) are going to hurt, and the team has done nothing to address this. Claudio Reyna isn't in the class of superstar busts like Lothar Matteus and Branco, but even if he can stay healthy he's not the playmaker that this team needs. How the so-called wundercoach Juan Carlos Osorio plans to get the ball to Angel and Altidore remains a mystery.
Martin - Osorio is a fantastic coach, especially with Juan Pablo Angel in his ranks. Seems that just like their former incarnation the Metrostars, they continue to look like they have been bitten by the failure bug. For the good of the league let's hope they do well.
Mike – I think NY surprises people this year. They don’t look that good on paper, but then again the years they looked good on paper, they stunk. Bottom line this team will score goals, and like LA in the West, all they need is to defend just enough to get by. Osorio will get them into the playoffs.

Toronto FC
Chris - Another team that did diddly over the winter, aside from hiring a British coach no one has ever heard of. This team can't possibly go through the same injury crisis from last season but even that won't help them. Great crowd, great stadium, great atmosphere. Terrible football.
Randy - The head-scratching coaching change in the off season leaves one wondering what's going on in the Great White North, eh? The lack of big name/big talent acquisitions is further puzzling, yet Toronto is not a disaster. They'll get great fan support at home, and remain a difficult team to break down, but it's hard to see them making the playoffs.
Martin - Toronto is my enigma team - they fall in the same realm as RSL in the West. Other than the home field advantage and the management advantage I don’t see anything else that has made improve this team through the off-season.
Mike – If the Crew are the first day of American Idol, Toronto is the people who didn’t even make the show. They had very little talent or depth last year, and remarkably they have even less this year. Johnston as GM doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to go out and get any talent either. Could be an even longer year for that boatload of fans up there that deserve better.

Predicted order of finish
Bucket head:
1. DC United
2. Chicago Fire
3. New England Revolution
4. Kansas City Wizards
5. New York Red Bulls
6. Columbus Crew
7. Toronto FC

Randy
1. DC United
2. New England Revolution
3. Kansas City Wizards
4. New York Red Bulls
5. Toronto FC
6. Chicago Fire
7. Columbus Crew

Martin
1. DC United
2. Red Bull
3. Revolution
4. Kansas City
5. Columbus Crew
6. Toronto FC
7. Chicago Fire

Mike
1. United
2. City
3. Revs
4. Bulls
5. Fire
6. Crew
7. TFC

Visitor Comments

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