So, yes, getting back to a flying start of my USL coverage which has quickly flamed out, I guess the real world tends to do that to the best of us. At any rate, let's have a look at some comments and questions that were raised from my season preview in light of how things have gone in the first few weeks of the season.
JBSilverbacksFan says: I'm just interested if the person that wrote it is a vancouver fan? If so it shows in his/her writing if not then they def have there mind firmly set on Vancouver white washing pretty much everything they play in.
Nope, as a matter of fact I'm more a Battery fan than anything else, which I'm sure some that frequent Blackbaud would recount. My take on doing this preview pretty much came from "who do I think will be the toughest to beat?" For me, that came out to be the Whitecaps. Although, I hear the California Victory would like to have a word.
SC-1 says: It helps if you do this before predicting, right Bill? *insert image of some sort of smoking device*
I, sir, have never seen one of these things before in my life, nor did I inhale.
SC-1 goes on to say: A gutsy prediction, and without any warrant whatsoever for a club that has lost several defenders and will be a target every match in 2007. (Been there, done that. Didn't like it.) - ed. Note: referring to Seattle's title defense.
That's why some would say records are there, to be broken. Their loss of defenders, while disconcerting, somehow didn't sway me as much as their returning core of players. It could very well come back to bite me much like the MLS pundits are feeling the sting after having picked D.C. to run rampant over there.
Morbital says: the prediction for the caps, although optimistic, is nowhere near unrealistic, the caps have a VERY solid team that shouldn't suprise anyone if they pull it all off
Thanks for the confidence in the Caps and the pick. It is optimistic and I'll get to exactly why in a bit.
SC-1 again says: Are you kidding? It would be a HUGE surprise if *any* club won every trophy they had before them. When is the last time that happened in this league, or any other league?
Here's why the picks for the trophies went the way they did: First, I have Vancouver coming out on top in the league at the end of it all. So there's the Commish Cup. Then, I have them narrowly winning the Cascadia, making two trophies to their credit. After that, I had Montreal originally winning the Voyageurs but then I noticed that they only play the Impact twice. In reality, I think it will be a split but with picking Vancouver to win the league I felt it was unrealistic to then not pick them to win that trophy. At the same time, that and the Championship were the hardest for me to pick them to win. I still think Montreal could very well win the other two (Championship and Voyageurs) and it truly was a toss up in my thinking.
Now, for the Championship/playoffs, I created a bracket consisting of my top eight seeds and played through how I thought those matches would go. This left me with the Islanders and Whitecaps. Any teams that get to the final need some luck on their side which is why I went with my hunch on Puerto Rico and Vancouver's presumed home field advantage.
In summation, I was extremely uncomfortable with picking them to win every trophy but in the end it worked out that way. This is also a great time to mention that this is the reason why you should never, EVER listen to me when it comes to picking the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
TimbersRoberto says: Kudos to the author for his preview. Right or wrong I appreciate his efforts at a league-wide preview. That isn't easy to put togther in this league with all the players coming and going, and some teams getting better media coverage than others.
Thanks, Roberto. This year was slightly easier than most but it was still very difficult considering most teams in our league continue to trade players in and out of their rosters throughout the first few weeks of the regular season. And you're right about the press coverage to an extent. Some teams are also just better about updating their websites and press releases than others.
Daniel from Montreal: One of the "to watch for" players for the Impact in the preview is Baldeh, obscure to begin with, and who will not be playing with Montreal this season.
Not much I can say on that one except "mea culpa". I really thought Baldeh might make the roster and be one of those guys, midseason, that you look at and go "where'd that guy come from?" It was a reach that I was off on. It happens.
Uhclem: says Bill Fetty has written some marvelous stuff and been a great asset to soccer fandom. However, I think his preseason prediction pieces have been his weakest, as far as content.
This is, for the most part, not his fault. With the league rosters as unstable as they are from year to year, the rosters not being settled until a team's opening day and frequently, not even then, and the amount of work it would take to interview all the coaches to get a feeling for what they were going to try to establish, tactically, for the upcoming season, it would be a nearly impossible task to examine the subject with any depth. And it shows.
Now, I realise that just having such an article motivates some fans to post and that's a good thing. And I don't condemn people who enjoy these yearly predictions. To each... well, you know.
Thanks for the insightful criticism. You've pretty much hit the nail on the head with your statements and I've always felt that the season previews are more a bit of fun and possibly the chance to brush up on the more major off-season moves. I'm happy that people actually read it and feel the need to comment on it even if it does get ripped to pieces. It makes me work harder to improve the writing at each opportunity I get to put something out there for all of you.
With that out of the way, let's see where we stand right now. Atlanta is surprisingly on top of things but averaging a goal per game against worries me. Then again, Carolina is the only club averaging less than a goal per against but they also haven't lit things up yet. Vancouver is about where I thought they would be, however, California looked surprisingly strong against the Caps.
Teams that look about where I expected them to be include Puerto Rico, Charleston, Minnesota, Seattle, Rochester and Montreal. Of course, this early in the season, no one has distanced themselves from the pack or fallen too far away from the leaders. The next few weeks will be intriguing because we'll get to see who proceeds to do the above. I'll be especially interested in seeing what happens when Vancouver heads to Rochester tonight on FSC.
The entire weekend is chock full with what should be quality matches. You've got Puerto Rico at Carolina, Carolina at Atlanta the following night, Portland at Seattle, Vancouver stopping in Minnesota on their way back from Rochester, Sunday, and the Rhinos making the trip to Blackbaud that same day. Those two matches should be intriguing to see if the Battery and Thunder can steal more points than maybe they normally would due to what should be a very tough match for their opponents on Friday night. One thing's for certain, it's going to be quite a weekend in the USL1 and I'll have fun taking in the view from here while my boss, Dan B., welcomes the latest addition to the Soccer Zone gang: his grandson, Nathan B.
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