Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 11
Vancouver and Columbus are good and fun and other teams should feel bad that they're not Vancouver or Columbus
We’re about a third of the way through the season. That was quick! Here’s my wrap-up from Matchday 11, which… honestly, this one felt pretty good coming off the bat:
• LAFC's emerging star, Red Bulls shift identity & more from Matchday 11
A few things to look at there:
- I briefly touched on the winger-to-striker thing, which we’re starting to see a bit of (Nathan Ordaz for LAFC, Alonso Martinez for NYCFC). Meanwhile it’s like THE thing in Europe right now.
- Miami are winning and they’re better than last year, and also they’re not a tactically interesting team in any way.
- The Fire are weird as hell. And also, I should’ve mentioned that 16-year-old homegrown center back Chris Cupps started and went 90 for them.
Ok, now I’m gonna drop in a quote from MLS PR:
After this weekend, four teams in the Eastern Conference will be averaging at least 2.00 points per game.
The top of the East is a blender. The bottom is basura. That’s reflected in my vote for this week’s MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings below:
Vancouver Whitecaps: The best team on the continent.
Columbus Crew: The second-best team on the continent, maybe?2
Inter Miami: I wish they were more fun to write about, but they don’t really do anything too interesting.
Philadelphia Union: Did not play particularly well, but picked up another three points. Huge game coming up this weekend when they host the Crew.
FC Cincinnati: I know I said I’d give the Pavel Bucha thing a rest, but this performance is a perfect example of what I was talking about, so I’m gonna take a victory lap.
LAFC: The unbeaten streak hits four. Enormous game this weekend at Vancouver.
AFC Charlotte: The Crown are still not good enough on the ball to trade punches with the best in the league.3
Seattle Sounders: Ten points from the past 12, third in the league in xGD/90, and they’ve sorted out the attacking depth chart. Told you guys they were fine.
Minnesota United: Long-balls, long throws, counterattacks… it’s fine. They needed this win. But I’m still eager to see them add some variety.
San Diego FC: Utter dominance. Are they all right again after a very bad three-week stretch?
Orlando City: Literally zero goals – scored or allowed – in the four games Eduard Atuesta hasn’t started this year.4 Pedro Gallese has been immense.
Nashville SC: They play beautiful soccer but man, what a schizophrenic season they’re having.
Portland Timbers: Just weren’t ready for San Jose’s formation shift, and man did they miss James Pantemis.
New England: The Revs are still 14th in the East in xGD/90, but those numbers have gotten better (not great, but better) since the shift to the 3-4-1-2. Which has coincided with a four-game win streak, so… upwards they climb.
Colorado Rapids: Just pretty mid overall. Capable of beating a good team like San Diego 3-2, and capable of losing to a bad team like D.C. United 2-1.
FC Dallas: Eric Quill’s throwing stuff at the wall5 to see what works around Lucho Acosta. Not a criticism – there’s a lot to sort through – just a fact.
San Jose Earthquakes: They were ruthless in front of goal, and the personnel changes in defense have been promising over the past couple of weeks.
NYCFC: Three wins in four, including a couple of good ones over Philly and Cincy. The advanced data since Matchday 3 is very promising, too.
Chicago Fire: Now winless in six, and it is unbelievable that they did not get on the board in the first 30 minutes.
RBNY: Yeah, I don’t know. At least when things were bad last year it was because Emil Forsberg was hurt. He’s been out there almost every minute this season.
Sporting KC: That was not a good performance, but it was a hilarious performance. And if you bring that kind of joy into my life you get bumped up a few spots.6
Austin FC: None of the DPs look like DPs, which means that Brad Stuver can’t have a bad game. Brad Stuver had a very bad game.
RSL: I think this is probably too low. It’s maybe not visible in the data yet, but it’s felt like things have started slowly coming together over the past couple of weeks.
Houston Dynamo: LAFC are just a level above what Houston can handle right now. But as with RSL, I’m seeing some positive signs here.
D.C. United: Christian Benteke is unbelievable.
St. Louis City: They’ve gotten worse over the course of the season, and the defense has completely fallen apart over the past two weeks.7
Atlanta United: Played with real fear after taking a 1-0 lead. At home. I don’t get it.
Toronto FC: Looked really ragged defensively for the first time since since March.
Montreal Impact: Didn’t play badly, but don’t have the attacking talent to make that matter.
LA Galaxy: Saw two DPs limp off injured and made some history. Basically have to average 2 ppg from here on out to make the play-in.
I assume “on May 5” means “as late as May 5.” ↩
It hasn’t worked immediately for Daniel Gazdag – who missed this past weekend with an injury – and that’s ok. Be patient. ↩
That’s not to say they can’t win those games on occasion. But it’s smash-and-grab stuff instead of truly dictating the proceedings. ↩
Oscar Pareja should consider going back to dual overlapping fullbacks when Atuesta isn’t available. Otherwise they just don’t get their best attackers on the ball in good spots. ↩
Personnel, formation, line of confrontation, build-out philosophy… all of it changes almost every game. ↩
Doesn’t hurt that they’ve won three out of five since Kerry Zavagnin took over! ↩
That said, they’re in as brutal a five-game stretch as any team will play in MLS this year. They’re probably not as bad as they’ve looked, but man have they looked bad the past two weeks. ↩
