Key Losses - Jeb Brovsky :)

I remember seeing our preseason ranking last year at 14 or 15 and thinking we were jobbed by an American media conspiracy. Now I'm almost embarrassed at 12 given we haven't done shit in this league. Hopefully we'll be well surprised the other way. :)

Montana said: In Rennie I trust.

I know I was arguing with you on the other thread so I'm not saying this sarcastically but I like your optimisim even if I can't quite get there myself yet.

I'm an eternal optimist, so I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, until they prove me wrong.

I feel it in my bones, that Rennie is something special though, and he's going to lead us to success.

I'm genuinely more concerned about how soon it will be before another higher caliber club comes calling for him, than I am about him potentially failing here.

(That said, Rennie being an incredibly optimistic person himself, it could just be a matter of me wanting him to be the guy to take us to that next level)

I for one would prefer the league to underestimate us. It won't last, but for a while it'll be a modest advantage.

Montana said:

FootyMonster said: FIFA™ Club World Cup? I JOKE!! /:)

More than anything, I love that you "tm"'d FIFA, haha...

I love to mock the FIFA™ whenever I get the chance... whenever I've done anything football related that involves any FIFA™ collateral, they have been very explicit about usage of the logos and trademarking everything even in body copy.

Now that we have an unbalanced schedule a big worry is the amount of games we play against the strongest teams since a lot of the top ones are in the West (ie: Galaxy, Sounders, etc). So even if the Whitecaps prove to be better than the 12th best team in the league, their record may not reflect that.

ibeep said: Now that we have an unbalanced schedule a big worry is the amount of games we play against the strongest teams since a lot of the top ones are in the West (ie: Galaxy, Sounders, etc).

Shades of the Canucks in the 80s in the same division with Calgary and Edmonton.

That said, I think we're going to compete strongly for a playoff position. We have tunnel vision here, obviously, but the whole league is talking about us, and our upgrades this year. I don't know if we can finish ahead of Seattle, but I won't surprised to see us ahead of Portland. I would bet money that we'll be above San Jose and Chivas. Then the question will be how much Fake Salt Lake and Colorado have dropped off from last year.

I love the optimism, but as has been discussed, I'm tend toward the realistic. If we compete for a play-off spot I will be quite happy. We have a ton of new players, no clear midfield leader, and an abundance of attacking talent but no true wide players other than Teibert. I'm pretty amazed and impressed at how much Rennie has done, but we'll play a lot of games against tough opposition.

Fox Soccer has come out with their pre-season Power Rankings and the have us at 17th overall.......Perfect, as we are flying under the radar!! :D

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/mls/gallery/power-rankings-january-26-ives-galarcep-mls-teams-images-pictures-012612-#photo-title=17. Vancouver Whitecaps&photo=30600010

This was made before we got Seba.

With an unbalanced schedule it is stupid to have overall power rankings. They need 2 now, one for each conference. There is no longer any basis for MLS top team for the regular season.

CapsConvert said:

Bad_Gones said: Who the hell is Lee Pyong-Ho? Nice research Fox.

They don't do any research for their news shows, why would they do it for a sports column?

News shows? I thought we were talking about Fox. Aren't their pograms called Infotainment?

codes24 said: This must have been done before the Le Toux signing. They have Phili at #6 and us at #17 (which im fine with) but IMO phili will have a tough time even competing in the east. And if this guy talks about Salgado being a contributer I will not look into his readings in the future.

Hey now, Salgado has put on 20 pounds, and looked far better in training than he did last year. I'm not saying he'll be a starter or even a regular off the bench (especially with our attacking options), but he does look like he's improved and build up more strength. Remember, he's only 18.

tim13 said: With an unbalanced schedule it is stupid to have overall power rankings. They need 2 now, one for each conference. There is no longer any basis for MLS top team for the regular season.

They get done for the NHL and NBA in various places, too. The general idea is to slice through all the unbalanced schedules and other extraneous things and analyze (or guess) who actually is best.

Brenton said: Conferences require these stupid things. The rest of the world just relies on table standings, like smart people.

While I agree with you, and don't wish to defend Power Rankings, I feel I should point out that Table Standings only work at the end of the season. During, the effect is the same as having an unbalanced schedule.

Brenton said: So you would put Sunderland at the top of the Power Rankings before their Arsenal lost? They had the best record in the Premier League since O'Neill took over, but there they are, down in 8th/9th.

Power rankings might as well be a "record over the past three games" list. Wigan had a good run over a few games, would that have vaulted them up your Power Rankings? They're an easy way for lazy sports columnists to fill space.

That's precisely what power rankings are. They're a pointless exercise in filling column inches that are supposed to show who's on form. Some people probably would have had Sunderland atop the rankings, others would've seen that they were still not regularly beating the top 5 and had them not quite so high. It's subjective and pointless, but people read them, and it's a convenient way to do a summary of the league on a single page.

For me, a power ranking of any sort, is simply a tool by which fans can discuss the state of their team, with regard to how they stack up against the competition.

This has got me thinking. There are many Clubs across Europe who have a relationships with bigger clubs. The big club will provide young talent on loan, to be nurtured and developed, and reap the benefits once they achieve a certain level. While developing them, the smaller club gets more raw talent than they likely could afford. In some cases, players who aren’t good enough for the big club will be sold to the smaller club on a permanent basis. It’s a very unofficial partnership, but one that United have with Everton, Sporting CP, and Royal Antwerp FC. Other clubs have similar arrangements. I wonder if we might be able to someday form a similar relationship with a bigger European club? Is it even feasible with MLS' rules? I think I heard that Real Salt Lake have a burgeoning one with Real Madrid, and for a time, Barcelona thought about putting a club in Miami. Manchester United actually thought about buying Galaxy as well at one stage.

slamo said: Energie Coutbus?

Bayern Levancouver

krisaug5 said: Also it would be Bayern Moncton (Or something that starts with an "m"), but BAYER LeVancouver... Leverkusen and Munich are Bayer and Bayern respectively. Bayer as in the medicinal company, and Bayern as in Bavaria the province in which Munich is located...

Adam Straith, Gagan Dosanjh, Jerome Baker, Kyle Porter, Julien Latendrese, Sahil Sandhu have all been sent on loan to Energie Cottbus. I want to say REB as well but, not - the point being we've had this relationship in the past.

slamo said: Adam Straith, Gagan Dosanjh, Jerome Baker, Kyle Porter, Julien Latendrese, Sahil Sandhu have all been sent on loan to Energie Cottbus. I want to say REB as well but, not - the point being we've had this relationship in the past.

Aren't these sort of upward loans?

It would be nice to have a team where we were comfortable sending guys for a year. Schaad mentioned San Antonio for Salgado the other day which I thought was a good idea.

To what? I was joking, as a response to a similar situation with Kris earlier.

I know you were joking. Don't get testy with me just because I was joking too.

It's not a Power Ranking poll, but it's a poll on the MLS, and I couldn't figure out where else to put this, so here it is:

WHICH CASCADIA TEAM WILL HAVE THE BEST RECORD IN 2012?

http://www.mlssoccer.com/extratime