| Amarilla is more than just a 25 goal/season player. He’s an MVP in the making | Amarilla will struggle to hit 25 goals let alone a dozen of them. | |
| I’m a little bit further to the left on this one. I think Amarilla played pretty well in game 1. Little things like knowing when it’s best to just take the ball to the corner and win a corner kick instead of ignoring the wall of defense and blindly pushing through is impressive to me. He obviously has skill on and off the ball and his connection with Finlay for the header was excellent. I hope the midfield is able to feed him better in future games because Amarilla is going to be able to make lemonade. | ||
| Reynoso-who? Molino is the true #10 for the rest of the season. | It’s obvious that Molino has lost a step and only scored because of 2 gimmies from a poor Portland defense. | |
| Put me on the right side here. I thought Molino looked sluggish. I think his goals were the result of being in the right place at the right time. That’s certainly a great feature to have, don’t get me wrong. I just think Portland’s defense was rough around the edges and made a lot of mistakes that we were able to capitalize on, especially in transition. Molino is a fine piece coming off the bench, but I don’t think we’ll be as successful with him in the long term as with a DP in that spot. | ||
| The Loons defense is better than last year. | The Loons defense is shallow and is one injury from total ineptitude. | |
| I’m right in the middle of these views. Our defense is good and will continue to stay good. It feels very “bend but don’t break.” Portland’s attack couldn’t get a clear shot on goal and we kept the pressure on. Players like Yimmy Chara couldn’t overwhelm us with pace. Our height was a big advantage both defensively and offensively. I love Opara. But also… we will get into some card trouble if we need to be overpowering opponents like we were. I can see more penalties and plenty more cards coming. I’m terrified of losing Opara or Metanire to injury because I think our defense falls apart quick without those two. | ||
| Miller is a worthy replacement for Vito Mannone and will contribute with a few assists this season. | Miller takes a lot of risks and he was caught out of position more times than comfortable. | |
| Miller is good. Do I trust him in goal? Yes. Would I feel better had Mannone become the highest paid keeper in the MLS? Definitely. Am I upset having Miller? Absolutely not. Is Miller going to cost us a goal every once in a while? Certainly. Is it the end of the world? No. | ||
| Counter-attacking works. We outlasted Portland and took control of the game because we didn’t attack all out at the start. | Counter-attacking will not work & we were sluggish from the get-go. That will cost us goals and points in the future. | |
| We’ll see on this. I think it was wise to counter-attack against Portland. I loved watching Finlay tear up that right side. I especially liked that it won us the game. It’s not going to work every time and it’s also not going to be our main strategy this season. I can see us taking the offensive more often than not. We’ll see how things shake out over the course of a season. |
Tag: Minnesota United FC
2020 Predictions
Can you feel it? The sun is hanging around just a little bit longer. The snow piles are turning just a bit more grey, and I could smell no less than three families grilling over the weekend around my neighborhood. It can only mean that March is around the corner and with it the start of the 25th edition of the MLS season!
March 1st has been marked for months on my calendar. The Loons head to the Cascadia region to take on the Portland Timbers for the season opener. Finally the long MLS off-season is coming to a close and we can start answering important questions like how many home games will the Loons have to play with an orange ball due to snow? Can you use snowman as part of your wall? Will there be hot chocolate at the stadium?
Seriously though, since their entrance into the league three years ago the Loons have shown steady progress. Of course being blown out in the first two games helped to lower expectations, but even in that first season the Loons held it together and has been building steadily ever since culminating last season where they capped off the opening of Allianz Field with a trip to the finals of the Lamar’s Cup and their first trip to the MLS playoffs. My biggest question is where do the Loons go from here?
It’s early in the season, but I am optimistic that the Loons will make the playoffs again this year. The Western Conference is tough, tougher I think than the Eastern Conference, but I’m still projecting the Loons to be fighting for a playoff spot at the end of the season. Based on commentators around the league, there seem to be at least a few people giving the Loons a chance to be contenders this year. Here’s how I think the conference shake out.
Western Conference
- Los Angeles Football Club
- Seattle Sounders FC
- LA Galaxy
- Minnesota United FC
- Sporting Kansas City
- FC Dallas
- Portland Timbers
- San Jose Earthquakes
- Real Salt Lake
- Houston Dynamo
- Colorado Rapids
- Nashville SC
- Vancouver Whitecaps
I think the Loons not only have a good shot at the playoffs, but I think they get another home playoff game. With my projections they would be playing Sporting Kansas City in the first round, and this time I think they win their first round game. This likely sets up a match for the Loons in L.A. and I think this where the Loons’s season ends. Meanwhile both the home team, the Galaxy and Sounders, win. This time the Galaxy defeat the Sounders to play LAFC in the western conference championship. Chicahrito does what Zlatan couldn’t and the Galaxy play NYCFC in MLS Cup 25.
As for stats I think the Loons continue to improve on their defense. Last year they only allowed 43 goals. I think they bring this to under 40 and allow only 39 goals in during the 2020 campaign. The Loons scored 50 goals last season. We’ll see if Luis Amarilla can boost this tally, and I think in this system can he. I do think the Loons improve and score 57 goals.
Eastern Conference
Folks are going to be paying attention to expansion side Inter Miami CF and Atlantic United FC, but that means a lot of people are going to be sleeping on the champions of the East again, New York City FC.
- New York City FC
- D.C. United
- Philadelphia Union
- Atlanta United
- Columbus Crew
- Toronto FC
- New England Revolution
- Orlando City
- Inter Miami CF
- New York Red Bulls
- Chicago Fire
- Montreal Impact
- FC Cincinnati
In this playoff picture, D.C. slips up against the New England Revolution and Toronto who started the season slow dismantle the Union. Atlanta is the sole home side victor. In the second round NYCFC outplays the Revs and Toronto finds a way against Atlanta again. NYCFC wins the Eastern Conference and heads to MLS Cup 25.
High scoring MLS 25 ends 3-2 with New York City FC winning it all.