Skipped this last week due to the international break and watching copious amounts of NCAA Tournament. I don’t watch much basketball, but March Madness is such a fun three weekends.
Here’s the link to last week’s Interest Rankings.
In a League of Their Own – if you’re a USMNT fan and you watch one MLS game a weekend…this is the team
Dallas – Interest Level – See gif – Dallas is #1 with a bullet and doesn’t look like falling in the near future. Pomykal started and scored two goals. Jesus Ferreira started and scored AND someone named Edwin Cerillo started at defensive midfield. I guess he’s passed Brandon Servania?. On top of all this, North Texas SC (FCD’s USL team) started a bunch of youngsters and Ricardo Pepi, a 16 year old, scored a hat trick in his first pro start! Luchi for president.
GOAL FOR PAXTON POMYKAL. https://t.co/FfAviN1sbH
— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) March 31, 2019
Tier 1: Must Watch for a USMNT fan
Philadelphia – Interest Level – Floppy high school hair – Brenden Aaronson got another start this week even with Marco Fabian back from suspension. This is good. Auston Trusty continues to start and if McKenzie can ever get off the bench this team would be even more fun to watch. Still young, American #10s are the best. 😍
NYCFC – Interest Level – Paradoxical – So the team stinks, but the players are interesting. How long does Torrent hang on? On the one side, he’s starting/playing young Americans (Sands, Lewis, Parks on occasion) and there’s no guarantee another manager will do that. On the other hand, he’s bad at managing soccer. It’s a conundrum really.
Tier 2: There’s an intriguing reason/player to watch
NYRB – Interest Level – Defenders *sigh* – Omir Fernandez was away with YNT’s and didn’t make the bench, Parker/Long started in their usual pairing and they lost again. The meme from last time I wrote about these guys still applies. ➡️
Kansas City – Interest Level – Reverse NYCFC – NYCFC is bad, but plays a lot of intriguing youth players. SKC is good, but gives limited minutes to its American youth. Busio came on and scored but didn’t start. Lindsay wasn’t on the bench. If you’re a fan of the club, you obviously prefer the KC situation…in the bizarre world of the USMNT fan/MLS atheist this makes SKC a lesser watch. *shrug* (Also, Zelalem just joined SKC – let’s hope he gets his mojo back here.)
#SportingKC has been absolutely dominant today. 16-year-old Gianluca Busio scores his first goal in front of the home crowd (the second of his @MLS career) and increases SKC’s lead to 6-0.
— FOX Sports Kansas City (@FSKansasCity) March 30, 2019
Tune in now on FSKC+ and FSGO. pic.twitter.com/3DWvdv1IDI
D.C. United – Interest Level – Water finding its level – Canouse and Arriola start every game. That’s it. Arriola is just good enough that he should be a nice back up for the USMNT and Berhalter doesn’t look like he wants a pure destroyer like Canouse on his team. Unless, Durkin gets a run of starts this is about where DC is going to stay.
Atlanta – Interest Level – 😬 – Sooooo….ummm….this is awkward. Miles Robinson is apparently a stud (Who saw that coming?) and Andrew Carleton is starting to get some real minutes, but Atlanta is now propping up the Eastern conference table. Is it a bad sign that the teams playing young Americans tend to be terrible. How long until de Boer is fired?
LA Galaxy – Interest Level – *drumming fingers impatiently* – Efra is going to get a start here pretty soon, right? No Efra or Araujo this weekend. 😕 Joe Corona and Lletget did get the full 90, but I’m not real excited about either of those guys. I just want to wake up one of these mornings and read that we’ve flipped Efra back to the good guys. Is that so much to ask?
Tier 3: I guess I could watch this
Seattle – Interest Level – Barely tolerable (anyone else’s wife a big Pride and Prejudice fan?) – The international break took some of the shine off watching the sounders. Morris looked bang average for the NT and Roldan looked overmatched against Chile.
Chicago – Interest Level – *Justin Timberlake staring gif* – Gaitan is officially signed and Mihailovic (Gaitan also subbed in before Mihailovic in the game this weekend) didn’t start. Mihailovic was away with the U23s, but this could be the start of what the fear was for Chicago. If Djordje isn’t playing then the Fire drop to the bottom of this list real quick.
RSL – Interest Level – the No Upside Allstars – They are playing a whole bunch of homegrowns and I don’t have faith that a one of them have national team upside. I’m more than willing to eat my words and admit I was wrong…but I don’t think I am.
Toronto – Interest Level – a begrudging watch – Bradley looks like a sometimes starter/depth option for the US, but I just wrote a depth chart grade-type article this week and the USMNT needs Altidore. I wish we had better options, but it is what it is.
Colorado – Interest Level – Fart noises – It’s not anyone’s favorite noise, but it does catch your attention. 17 year old Cole Bassett got a start (in place of Kellyn Acosta – yikes) for the Rapids in their 4-1 loss to Houston. Maybe he’ll leave the Rapids and someone will actually watch one of his games someday.
Tier 4: I really like watching soccer and I guess I can justify this in my mind…
San Jose – Interest Level – Rubbernecking at an accident site– This team is a disaster. Nick Lima didn’t even get off the bench and Tommy Thompson started at right back. I know Almeyda has a 4 year plan, but that plan includes winning a couple games this year…right?
Portland –Interest Level – Stink Eye – I still feel like they are mistreating and constantly trying to replace Ebobisse, but he did start and score tonight. Maybe I’ve misjudged him?
LAFC – Interest Level – Business as usual – Same stuff, different week. They are really fun to watch play and have no compelling American players involved.
Houston – Interest Level – He’s not completely dead – I still don’t think Memo Rodriguez is a real NT prospect, but he did score again this week. Houston has life!
Tier 5: “These teams do nothing for the pool, they have betrayed us and deserve our scorn.” ~Greg Velasquez
Still no reason to watch any of these teams from a USMNT perspective.
Minnesota, New England, Montreal, Cincinnati, Vancouver, and welcome to the club Orlando (What did Acosta do now? We need to know).
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