MLS Cup 2008 Wrap Up

It looks like Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio will be celebrating this week with a traditional New York pizza from Staten Island, a large New York hero, and a Lager brewed at Brooklyn Brewery according to this article about a friendly wager that Bloomberg and the Columbus mayor announced to celebrate both clubs' first ever MLS Cup final.

Unfortunately, the New York Red Bulls came up short in a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Crew, who also won the Supporters' Shield--given to the club with the best regular season record. The Red Bulls had the better offense in the first half despite seeing themselves down 1-0 in the first 45 minutes, which gave the Red Bulls hope for the second half. Staten Island's own John Wolyniec scored the equalizer early in the second half, but 87 second later, Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall's header off a Schelotto corner kick put Columbus back in the lead 2-1. Frankie Hejduk scored the third goal off another assist from Schelotto, an Argentine national, to keep it out of reach in the 82nd minute. For the match report and more details regarding this match, click here.

To wrap up the 2008 Major League Soccer season, I would like to provide my final rankings for the 2008 MLS Cup and Regular Season as well as some final words and analysis regarding how each of the clubs finished. Since some clubs can get extremely luck when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs and playoff runs, I would like to analyze how each club did and why I ranked them the way I did by comparing their quality of play between the playoffs and regular season, instead of allowing the playoffs to speak for themselves. If you disagree with my rankings, let me know and we can debate.

1. Columbus Crew

Not even the fans of the biggest rivals of the Columbus Crew can deny it--Columbus Crew is definitely the number one club in Major League Soccer's 2008 season after winning both the regular season and the MLS Cup as well as the MLS Coach of the Year Award. Coach Sigi Schmid, who has been managing the club since the 2006 season, has taken a club with very successes to their first ever MLS Cup and won it (too bad it had to be at the expense of the New York Red Bulls) but I congratulate them anyway. In addition to the 2009 season, the Crew also has to look forward to the 2009-2010 season of the CONCACAF Champion's League, which starts next summer. The Columbus Crew got an automatic qualification to this international tournament--the winner of which advances to the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. Even though the Mexican and Latin American clubs have pretty much dominated the 2008-2009 edition of this Cup, I can definitely see the Crew do fairly well in the tournament even though they probably will not make it all the way--this, however, depends upon whether or not Schelotto decides to stay in Columbus or return to Argentina.

2. Houston Dynamo

I know I'll probably hear it from a lot of Red Bull fans that New York should be taking the #2 spot, especially since the New York Red Bulls upset Houston in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Let me just say that I am a huge fan of the New York Red Bulls and nothing will ever change that but I have been extremely critical of the Red Bulls this season, especially closer to the end of the regular season and the way they backed in to the playoffs, but before I digress (I will talk more about the Red Bulls when I get to them), let me talk about why I ranked the Houston Dynamo #2. I ranked the Dynamo second in the regular season and they had a good enough regular season to stay in that position. They are also the only American club that actually has some chance to advance to next round of the 2009-2009 season of the CONCACAF Champions League (this is if they can win their last match in the group stage), but they are the only American club that has that chance. Therefore, I would not rank them lower for losing against the Red Bulls. They are still a pretty solid club that just had a bad day, and even if they d not advance in the Champions League, they have a good shot at going just as far, maybe farther next season since they are joining the Crew in the 2009-2010 Champions League as Supporters Shield Runner Up.

3. Chicago Fire

I hate the Chicago Fire, especially after that 5-2 trashing that they had done to the Red Bulls in the last Red Bulls match of the regular season. This forced the Red Bulls to rely on DC United to lose against the Columbus Crew and forced them to play in the Western Conference for the Playoffs since they had to take the second wild card berth. Also, Chicago Fire is a powerful club even though I still hate the club, but I have to admit they do deserve the wins they get. The Chicago Fire has qualified for the 2009 Superliga, which will start in July.

4. New England Revolution

New England is another club that did not move at all from their spot in the regular season. In my opinion, New England is starting become more and more overrated since they won this season's Superliga final against their Western conference rival Houston Dynamo--a club they have lost two in both the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups, and finally beat them in a title match. Unfortunately, it was not the MLS Cup. Ever since they won the Superliga, I have not much from the New England Revolution. They have once again qualified for the Superliga next season/

5. Kansas City Wizards

Nope, no Red Bulls yet, but the Wizards have played fairly well this season and they were also pretty overrated in the last few seasons. They made it to the playoffs, but we eliminated in the first round by the Columbus Crew, and seeing how amazing an improvement the Crew have made since last season overall, I have to be pretty lenient with the Wizards.

6. New York Red Bulls

Finally! I know. Where do I start with this club that has disappointed me so much this season? They had a terrible regular season and they were only able to win one road match the entire regular season until playoffs and suddenly they started playing better where it counted but it doesn't stop me from wondering "why?" The only reason I can think of is because they ended up playing in the Western Conference (which sorry to say sucks pretty bad--except for Houston Dynamo which was a very good win but it seemed to come out of no where). Real Salt Lake seemed much easier for the Red Bulls. The main reason I am ranking them so low is the fact that if they did beat the Chicago Fire in their regular season finale, they would have ended up in the Eastern Conference Semifinal, but I do not think they would have made it as far as they did, so strangely, losing to Chicago was actually good for the Red Bulls--it allowed them to advance into an easier conference. Had they gone forward in the Eastern Conference, they would have probably of had to play Chicago again in the conference final if they would have been able to defeat the Crew in the first round (a club they should have beaten to win the Cup). The keys to the Red Bulls success in the playoffs was mainly due to Danny Capero (their new and young goalkeeper) and Juan Pablo Angelo (an excellent striker from Colombia). Cepero started playing goal in the second to last match of the regular season against the Columbus Crew, which they actually won 3-1. They also beat the Columbus Crew 2-0 in their first match of the regular season back in April. Cepero was like a wall in the matches against Houston and Salt Lake and one of the biggest highlights of the Red Bull season actually involved him. In his MLS debut (the match against Columbus Crew near the end of the season), he actually scored a goal off a free kick from beyond mid field--something few goalkeepers can boast that they have ever done!. Here is a youtube video of this amazing goal:



To give the Crew goalie some credit, however, there was nothing the Crew goalie could have done to stop that. The (American) football turf caused a higher bounce than usual so there was no way he could have saved that. That is definitely a once in a lifetime event.

The reason Cepero took over is because the Red Bulls regular starting goalkeeper allegedly purchased some over the counter painkillers not knowing that they had an illegal performance enhancing drug in the ingredients. The league suspended him.

Don't think I let that win against the Houston Dynamo go unnoticed! I had the Red Bulls ranked 8th in the regular season and their win against Houston and their unexpected playoff run is what put them up 2 spots to #6. My opinion of the Red Bulls, however, might change when I see them play against some premier league clubs that are not MLS affiliated in the Champions League next season which they qualified for by being MLS Cup runner up.

7. Chivas USA

Chivas USA, in my opinion, is extremely overrated and I feel that they should have done a lot better in the playoffs. it doesn't help that they were upset and eliminated by Real Salt Lake. This is the reason why I have them dropping one spot from #6 in the regular season to #7.

8. Real Salt Lake.

I also have Real Salt Lake dropping one spot to #8. I don't really consider defeating Chivas USA much of an upset anymore--maybe last season it would have been, but not this season.

9. FC Dallas

FC Dallas is another club that has become somewhat overrated the past few seasons. This season have not seen them play very well. In my rankings, the did not move at all mainly because they didn't qualify for the playoffs.

10. Colorado Rapids

My opinion of this club is the same as that of FC Dallas. I have seen very little from them this season.

11. DC United

The one club that could boast being the most successful club in Major League Soccer is now practically falling apart. Last season they started off badly but were able to come back to win the Supporters Shield for the second time in a row, but this season they were downright horrible. They were eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League fairly early in the group stage and were lucky enough to face off against fairly easy clubs in the US Open Cup-- the only title they won this season--this win gives them another shot at redemption since this title qualifies them for Preliminary Round of the Champions League. Read this article about DC United's failed season.

12. Toronto FC

With Los Angeles Galaxy struggling this season, Toronto FC has actually saved themselves from ending their second season in MLS on the bottom. To be honest, the club has not been that bad this season--after picking up a few quality wins here and there. For example, a 1-1 tie and penalty kick loss in a friendly tournament (Carlsbery Cup) against Pachuca, one of Mexico's best clubs. They also managed a 1-1 tie against the Columbus Crew at home as well as a 3-2 win against a determined Chicago Fire side at home.

13. Los Angeles Galaxy

It is somewhat strange to see the Galaxy so low in the standings this season and not making the playoffs two seasons in a row, especially with players like Landon Donovan and David Beckham on the squad. Despite this, Landon Donovan did win the Golden Boot in the regular season.

14. San Jose Earthquakes

This was the expansion year for the San Jose Earthquakes and like most clubs during an expansion year, they were not that successful. The Earthquakes franchise did play as one of the original clubs when the league was first established in 1996 but were then known as the San Jose Clash. They successful for a few years winning two MLS Cups and a Supporters Shield. However, in 2005, they were put on hiatus while most of the players and coach moved to Houston to form a club known now as the Houston Dynamo. Eventually the club was reformed in San Jose.

For more information regarding MLS Cu 2008, check out the official website.










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