2005 National Rankings from Top Drawer - your thoughts?

[Kante]

here's Top Drawer's national rankings for the 2005 boys. I edited out the non-academy teams for brevity's sake. The list below is what TD posted for November and will be updated soon. My back of the napkin two cents are below the first list. My criteria for ranking is who would win a head to head playing on a neutral, full-sized field (i.e. discounting showcase results to some extent) tomorrow.

Top Drawer Rankings (my edit: includes academy teams only)

1. San Diego Surf
2. Real Salt Lake
3. Philadelphia Union
4. Weston (Florida)
5. NYCFC
6. LA Galaxy
7. San Jose Earthquakes
8. New York Red Bulls
9. TFA
10. Boston Bolts
11. Southern DA
12. LAUFA
13. LAFC
14.Colorado Rapids
15. Seattle United
16. Indiana Fire
17. FC Dallas
18. Dallas Texans
19. Queen City Mutiny (ISL FC)
20. Sacramento Republic
21. Vardar
_____

Here's my changes (again, criteria is who would win on a neutral, full-sized field (i.e. discounting showcase results to some extent) playing tomorrow. Changes are in blue.

Biggest change is that I think LAFC - right now - is in a place where they beat SD Surf. I think it would be 3-2 on a neutral, full sized field. Biggest reason is that I think LAFC has the D to handle SD Surf's striker, and has figured out their own offense enough to pull out the win on a neutral field.

SoCal adds to the list are Strikers, FC Golden State, Arsenal and Real SoCal. These teams may not have the same win loss records as the other teams, but you have to remember who they have to play. Also, added Pacific Northwest. Saw them play Real SoCal at Oceanside, and they're solid. They tied TFA and lost by 1 to Real Salt Lake at the showcase in addition to beating Real SoCal. In a longer match on a bigger field, I think they lose to both TFA and to RSL by a bigger margin but still a good team.

Last item: Can we all agree that "Queen City Mutiny" is the world's best name? See #23 below.

1. LAFC
2. San Diego Surf
3. Real Salt Lake
4. Philadelphia Union
5. Weston (Florida)
6. NYCFC
7. LA Galaxy
8. TFA
9. New York Red Bulls
10. Seattle United
11. San Jose Earthquakes
12. Strikers
13. Sacramento Republic
14. Boston Bolts
15. Pacific Northwest
16. Southern DA
17. LAUFA
18. Colorado Rapids
19. Indiana Fire
20. FC Golden State
21. FC Dallas
22. Dallas Texans
23. Queen City Mutiny (ISL FC)
24. Real So Cal
25. Arsenal

 

[Soccerdad2016]

here's Top Drawer's national rankings for the 2005 boys. I edited out the non-academy teams for brevity's sake. The list below is what TD posted for November and will be updated soon. My back of the napkin two cents are below the first list. My criteria for ranking is who would win a head to head playing on a neutral, full-sized field (i.e. discounting showcase results to some extent) tomorrow.

Top Drawer Rankings (my edit: includes academy teams only)

1. San Diego Surf
2. Real Salt Lake
3. Philadelphia Union
4. Weston (Florida)
5. NYCFC
6. LA Galaxy
7. San Jose Earthquakes
8. New York Red Bulls
9. TFA
10. Boston Bolts
11. Southern DA
12. LAUFA
13. LAFC
14.Colorado Rapids
15. Seattle United
16. Indiana Fire
17. FC Dallas
18. Dallas Texans
19. Queen City Mutiny (ISL FC)
20. Sacramento Republic
21. Vardar
_____

Here's my changes (again, criteria is who would win on a neutral, full-sized field (i.e. discounting showcase results to some extent) playing tomorrow. Changes are in blue.

Biggest change is that I think LAFC - right now - is in a place where they beat SD Surf. I think it would be 3-2 on a neutral, full sized field. Biggest reason is that I think LAFC has the D to handle SD Surf's striker, and has figured out their own offense enough to pull out the win on a neutral field.

SoCal adds to the list are Strikers, FC Golden State, Arsenal and Real SoCal. These teams may not have the same win loss records as the other teams, but you have to remember who they have to play. Also, added Pacific Northwest. Saw them play Real SoCal at Oceanside, and they're solid. They tied TFA and lost by 1 to Real Salt Lake at the showcase in addition to beating Real SoCal. In a longer match on a bigger field, I think they lose to both TFA and to RSL by a bigger margin but still a good team.

Last item: Can we all agree that "Queen City Mutiny" is the world's best name? See #23 below.

1. LAFC
2. San Diego Surf
3. Real Salt Lake
4. Philadelphia Union
5. Weston (Florida)
6. NYCFC
7. LA Galaxy
8. TFA
9. New York Red Bulls
10. Seattle United
11. San Jose Earthquakes
12. Strikers
13. Sacramento Republic
14. Boston Bolts
15. Pacific Northwest
16. Southern DA
17. LAUFA
18. Colorado Rapids
19. Indiana Fire
20. FC Golden State
21. FC Dallas
22. Dallas Texans
23. Queen City Mutiny (ISL FC)
24. Real So Cal
25. Arsenal

LAGSD played Arsenal 2x. Tied the first and LAGSD won 3-0 in second game in mid November. Not sure Arsenal should be thought of as higher ranked. Otherwise all of your other posts are crazy accurate.

 

[Kante]

LAGSD played Arsenal 2x. Tied the first and LAGSD won 3-0 in second game in mid November. Not sure Arsenal should be thought of as higher ranked. Otherwise all of your other posts are crazy accurate.

Got it. Fair point. LAGSD has had mad improvement since the start of the season (when they were fielding just 12(!) players in the first game) and the algo is now showing LAGSD as very slight favorites over Arsenal.

Tough reboot for LAGSD this season but they look like they're pulling it off. Probably a model to look to for some other teams who also got hit w/ significant player poaching.

 

[66 GTO]

Got it. Fair point. LAGSD has had mad improvement since the start of the season (when they were fielding just 12(!) players in the first game) and the algo is now showing LAGSD as very slight favorites over Arsenal.

Tough reboot for LAGSD this season but they look like they're pulling it off. Probably a model to look to for some other teams who also got hit w/ significant player poaching.

Maybe because Arsenal beat Nomads,OC Surf
And Strikers

LAGSD played Arsenal 2x. Tied the first and LAGSD won 3-0 in second game in mid November. Not sure Arsenal should be thought of as higher ranked. Otherwise all of your other posts are crazy accurate.

Maybe because Arsenal beat Nomads,OC Surf
And beat Strikers 2-0!!
LA Galaxy San Diego got beat 7-1 by Strikers