POWER RANKINGS: Week 1

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The first 2010 power rankings are out! For those of you unfamiliar with these here is what you need to know. Every Tuesday after game day, the rankings come out and comment on the current trends in the league. The power rankings serve as a barometer on how you are judged within the league in terms of team strength until around week 15 when the trading deadline hits. It is important to know that a teams win-loss record is not a huge factor. The rankings are based on the current trends happening in the BSL. Its a regular who's hot and who's not.

It should be no surprise which club is #1 ranked after opening kick. This honor goes to St.Louis. The Cure's offense bested everyone and it was done with several players, not some hat trick. At the bottom of the spectrum is Gateway United. Its hard to win scoring only 1 point and for one game at least the Saints posed little threat to its opposition.

Now a little history. The Champion Monarchs lost opening kick last year, so losing game one is not a big catastrophe.

GAME 1: Missed opportunities highlight the first weeks matches

BOXSCORES

First kick 2010 is in the books and were there some surprises to start the season. We will start with the game of the week featuring Montgomery County vs Union S.C. The scoring got off to an early beginning thanks to a Keller clean sheet for the Monarchs and a Zakuani assist for the Blues on Thursday night. Union S.C. could have taken the lead, but Evans goal laid wasted on the bench. On Friday the champs took a 2-1 lead when Omar Cummings struck a magnificant wrap around shot from around 15 yards out. Then on Saturday afternoon Schelotto took over with a goal and assist to build the champs a 4-1 lead. Union S.C. fought back with 2 scores, but never did get the desired yellow cards from the Monarchs to use its substitutes and thus Evans wasted goal cost the Blues a point in the standings. Montgomery County won 4-3.

So how did the 2009 Honor Trophy winners fair on opening day? In the beginning things looked very good for the Gunners when they took a 2-0 lead on Thursday courtesy of Freddy Montero. However, Collin Clarks assist was useless as a substitute, while the rest of the starting line-up forgot to show up. This left the door open for St.Louis. The Cure began its comeback on Friday with a clean sheet from Pickens. Then the club began its onslaught on Saturday when its Salt Lake connection pounded 3 goals to give the Cure the lead. Edson Buddle added another late score at night and when the smoke cleared it was St.louis that ended up with an impressive victory at 5-2. The Cure's 5 points also ended up being the league high for the week.

Two newcomers going head to head to start the season ended up in a dogfight. New York opened the scoring with an Atiba Harris goal, but also was racking up the yellow cards. The Greeks had a total of 3 yellows for game one leading the league. Burud Town found its form when Roger Smith scored both a goal and a assist to give the Stags their first lead. Hesmer's clean sheet added another score, but Kamara's goal and Auvray's assist each would not count with them in the 2nd and 3rd sub spots. Even with all the yellow cards the Greeks were picking up, a 4th one would be needed for another score to count. With the score 3-1 instead of 4-1 or 5-1, The Greeks goal from Lindpere and Clean Sheet from Rimando tied the score up 3-3. New York avoided any more cards and walked away with a tie to the game.

Finally we come to the match between the Suns and the Saints. Gold Coast came into the game wanting the keep the score close and that is exactly what happened. The club scored first on Thursday with Alonso's assist. Then amazingly the scored held up through most of the weekend against what many believe to be a strong Gateway United side. Jack Jewsbury's goal doubled the lead 2-0, while the Saints continued to have no response. Finally Landon Donovan's assist gave the Saints some offense in the 5th minute of the last game of the weekend. Near the end of the night Donovan had a breakway that looked like a for sure equalizer, but he opted to pass instead of shoot and the play never materialized. Gold Coast managed to hold on and defeat Gateway United 2-1.

Monarchs and Gunners continue the fight off the field

There has been plenty of wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes since the completion of this year's draft. Two of the BSL's top clubs have been trying to work their magic in the pursuit of signing the Costa Rican Forward, Alvaro Saborio.

It began a few days ago when both the C.D. Gunners and Montgomery County both were made aware of his potential arrival. Both clubs expressed there interest a mere hours apart. The problem was neither team could find sufficient proof that showed he was indeed coming to America. There were plenty of blogs and fan sites spitting out opinions. Finally, the Gunners won the battle when news was delivered on the "RSL to the Core" site.

Last years BSL Cup finalist appear to be battling for supremacy once again. On the field Montgomery County got the last laugh taking the 2009 Cup. This time its the Gunners that got the last laugh with Saborio. So what's in store when these two champions meet in the first NECC match? This is how rivals are made.

MATCH PREVIEW #1: A fresh start

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A fresh new season, a fresh start for every team. Its hard to say which match is the match of the week since all records are 0-0.

We'll start with the team everyone has to chase, Montgomery County. The Monarchs first opponent will be Union S.C., a club they have never lost to. In 2009, these two teams tied each other twice before eventually in their third meeting, Montgomery earned a win. The 2009 Honors Trophy winner, the C.D. Gunners will begin their season against the St.Louis Cure. Last year the Gunners scored 7 points on opening day to best the entire league that weekend and eventually finished the whole year #1 in the BSL in team offense. Can they do it again? Gateway United will begin its 2010 campaign against Gold Coast F.C. Finally, two newcomers will meet face to face with the hopes of building some momentum when Burud Town takes on the New York Greeks.

Line-up orders are due before the first whistle of the first MLS game on the weekly docket. Any late submissions means the previous game line-up will be used again. Since this is the first game, any late submissions will be subject to their teams draft order line-up. Your line-up submission should include Starters 1-8 plus a Keeper. Also specifics on who will be subs 1, 2 & 3. Finally your 2 reserves. Good luck.

DRAFT: Goal Keepers dominate final round of the draft process

14 Rounds, 108 Players, the 2010 BSL draft is complete. Again. Some of the results of this part of the draft came as no surprise. For example the number of Goal Keepers picked up. Team owners have every opportunity now to staff back-up Keepers and took complete advantage of that fact. It should be interesting to see just how many times in the season teams end up chosing the wrong Keeper on gameday's.

Some things however were a surprise. Like the picked up from the C.D. Gunners of Sainey Nyassi. While the Gambi has only contributed a goal and 2 assists in his last 2 seasons, he could play a bigger role in the new look Revolution in 2010. If New England ever adapts a more forward style of play, this could be a worthy addition for the Gunners if you consider how far deep in the draft it is.

DRAFT: Expanded rosters allowing BSL owners new flexibility

As the BSL began Round 13 of the 2010 draft, it became pretty clear very fast that this was going to be a completely different part of the draft. For the first time in this league there is a place for patience. The best example is the high profile addition of David Beckham. Even before the "Reserve Rule" was passed and made into effect his name was floated around as a prime example of the kind of player who could now fit into an expanded BSL roster. Beckham isn't due back until August which would have been owner suicide only a day ago. Union S.C. wanted him, but Burud Town got him. Now both teams will have to wait until very close to the end of the BSL regular season to see how that will affect both clubs. Some clubs took more immediate advantage of these expanded rosters. St.Louis Cure added Brek Shea to its roster. This young man could produce decent numbers this year and be the steal of this round with the most immediate benefits. Montgomery County used this round to re-aquire Jason Garey. A player the champ's released only a day ago due to the confines of roster space, is now back on the Monarch's roster. Will this make them that much stronger?

The new "Reserve Rule" passes with enough votes

At the conclusion of the 2009 season the league office instituted a new rule to begin with the 2010 season. It was dubbed the "Yellow/Red card Rule" and the league has high hopes for this new rule. As mentioned before it will add more value to Substitute players. It will add more value to the placement of Substitute players and it will add another element of suspense to gameday.

A small unforeseen wrinkle arose from this new rule. "What to do with injured players, or sick players, or National team call-ups." With more value on the Substitute players now, something had to be done.

Introducing the "Reserve Rule". Each BSL team is allowed 2 slots for reserve players. These players are free to be moved around the line-up, but have absolutely no value of any kind on gameday's. BSL teams now have 14-man rosters. 8 starters plus 1 Goal Keeper. 3 Sub players (Only offensive players can score, not keepers in the Substitute slot) and 2 Reserves.

DRAFT: The 2010 BSL player draft is complete

The final rounds of the 2010 draft are complete. In Round 11: Union S.C. selected P.Campos(RSL), Gateway United selected J.Busch(CHI), C.D.Gunners selected M.Chavez(DAL), Montgomery County selected J.Garey(CLB), St.Louis Cure selected E.Renteria(CLB), New York Greeks selected M.Reis(NE), Burud Town selected J.Braun(CHV), Gold Coast selected O.Alonso(SEA).

In Round 12 only the teams without Designated Player slot drafted. St.Louis Cure selected R.Wallace(DC), New York Greeks selected M.Ballouchi(COL), Burud Town selected A.Williams(RSL) and Gold Coast selected R.Levesque(SEA).

Now all BSL teams are free to explore any free agent that were not selected in the draft. Please remember you are allowed a maximum of 12 players on your roster. In order to selected a new player, you will have to release one of your existing one's. Please review the rulebook about the released players waiver period.

The first Match Preview should be out next week.

DRAFT: It could be a battle of the bench's this year

How important is it to have good substitute players on your roster. Besides the obvious reasons like injuries and off dates, having team depth is even more important in 2010. Now that sub's can come into a game based on yellow and red cards, these players could come in with the winning points.

This is why this part of the draft is so important. Its a team's first chance to build on this depth. Its also a team opportunity to take some chances. No BSL team is taking as many chances as Montgomery County at this stage. The Monarchs controversial pick of Collins John might be a complete waste if he doesn't get signed by Chicago or he could get picked up and he could be just what the champs ordered. Montgomery's other pick is also a risky proposition. Its the kind of signing you'll find this deep into the draft. Maybe the best pick in the 9th round goes to Burud Town with the addition of Santino Quaranta. He's probably the most proven player in these rounds and the least risky.

With the draft coming to a close its beginning to look like 2010 will be a very competitive year. Who knows which team has the upper hand. It appears as if everyone thinks they have what it takes to win the next BSL Cup. One thing is for sure, it looks quite possible that this year could beat 2009's league scoring average of 2.69

DRAFT: BSL teams working on their team depth

The 2010 draft is in full swing with several team owners beginning to evaluate early roster placement already. There have definitely been some jems in these late rounds as well.

One such pick comes from the Champions. In the 6th round with the 44th pick, Montgomery County picked up Macoumba Kandji, a player with plenty of upside this far into the draft. The same can be said for the St.Louis Cure, who picked up Rodney Rodgers the very next pick.

In the 7th round, the New York Greeks pulled a possible ace in the hole with the pick of Lindpere. Ofcourse some BSL teams decided to go back to familiar names. Union S.C. re-signed the teams first player from last years roster with Eduardo Lillingston. The C.D. Gunners re-signed Padilla to their roster as well.

Finally we come to what might the winner of this part of the draft. Gateway United catching the MLS headlines at the right time and signing Osael Romero in Round 7! No player is a sure thing and all the great BSL team owners know this. To get an attacking striker who appears to be an important part of his teams future at pick #50 is a real find. On that same front Gateway United is takng a big chance with its selection of Luis Landin.

DRAFT: Middle rounds see BSL owners starting to gamble more

The middle of the 2010 BSL draft was filled with more excellent picks and some huge gambles. We start with the biggest gamble of the draft so far and that is St.Louis' pick of Taylor Twellman. Sure when he plays he produces like no other, but the gamble is how much will he play. The first Philadelphia players were grabbed in the draft and once again one has to wonder just how much scoring an expansion Philadelphia team is going to score. On the other hand, Gateway United continues to aggressively pick up players with speed. The Champion Monarchs used their 4th round pick to re-secure Kasey Keller to guard the post. Finally, the debate as to which team won which round is always in question, but give some credit to the New York Greeks for signing Dane Richards as the 30th pick. This could be one that make a lot of owners jealous. On a side note, every BSL team now has its own team site.

DRAFT: Round three filled with stellar picks

The 3rd round of the BSL draft might go down as one of the best third rounds in history. Only time will tell ofcourse. This round might also be as strong or even stronger than round 2 was. Just look at all the talented players on this list.









Plenty of teams can make an argument as to why they stole or won this round. If time shows any failure or injury from these players it shouldn't be to any fault of its ownership. The intelligence of these picks should be acknowleged.