Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 2

Usually I'm pretty reluctant to make big adjustments to the Power Rankings early in the season, but a bunch of what we've seen from teams I thought were going to be bad – Minnesota and RSL especially – has been too compelling to ignore. So up they go.

Still, my fundamental understanding of the 2026 version of the league (a defined top seven, with NYCFC maybe making it a top eight) has yet to be dented.

Let's get to it:

1. LAFC (-): Handled the CCC grind better than anyone with a convincing 2-0 road win against what looks like a good Houston side. And in Amin Boudri they might've added another game-breaker.
2. Vancouver Whitecaps (-): Took care of business on set pieces, but let's take a moment to appreciate how dynamic both center backs – Tristan Blackmon and Ralph Priso – are with the ball, and how much impact that has on what happens upfield.
3. Inter Miami (-): On top of everything else, Javier Mascherano's a really good tactician. We talked about that a bit on Soccerwise.
4. San Diego FC (-): One of the prettiest goals of the season, and then 90 minutes of some of the prettiest pitch control in North America.
5. Nashville SC (-): I kind of thought it was a mistake not to start Woobens Pacius with Sam Surridge out via illness. A road point is not a bad result by any means, but this was a little disappointing to me.
6. Seattle Sounders (-): Will they ever win in Utah again?
7. FC Cincinnati (-): Didn't have any juice for the game's final 20 minutes after going down 1-0, which is understandable given the schedule. For what it's worth, I'm monitoring the forward situation (outside of Kévin Denkey) a little bit.
8. NYCFC (-): They were the better team, and eventually made it pay. Seymour Reid could, perhaps, have ended it before it got to the drama of added time, but was disappointing on a pair of breakaways. Hopefully he's better prepared and more ruthless next time through.
9. FC Dallas (-): Didn't create much, didn't allow much. Need some creative spark out there in midfield to really threaten the top teams.
10. RBNY (⬆️ 2): I believe in the talent on this roster – and not just the super-young guys, who are undeniable (and will not be in Harrison all that much longer). But guys like Justin Che and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty are playing the best ball of their lives.
11. San Jose Earthquakes (-): By the underlying numbers they're the best team in MLS. They've also played by far – BY FAR – the easiest schedule. So this is as high as I can go.
12. LA Galaxy (⬆️ 4): Love the fit with Klauss and the two wingers. Love the dynamism we saw from the midfield this week. Hoping there's more of that to come.
13. Minnesota United (⬆️ 6): Looked good against the ball and good with it (which I really, really enjoyed). Kelvin Yeboah looks reborn, and Joaquín Pereyra has been good fun. Four points from these two games is a very credible start.
14. Real Salt Lake (⬆️ 10): They spread the field to take advantage of their wingbacks, which comes with the typical RSL approach of a million switches. Feels like the overall structure is better-designed this year to take advantage of that – and thus far, much less vulnerable to counters going in the other direction.
15. Austin FC (⬆️ 5): Earned a million restarts and eventually made it count with Christian Ramirez's late, "Welcome to Texas!" winner.
16. Chicago Fire (⬆️ 5): Good defensively, but got to get sharper in turning possession into attack.
17. Houston Dynamo (🔽 2): They were good – structured and pragmatic – before the red card (which I was fine with; that was a dirty play). Didn't have much spark in the final third, though.
18. Philadelphia Union (🔽 4): As I wrote in the Sunday column, they're suddenly behind the play a lot more often than they were last year. New faces – meaning less chemistry – and a heavier schedule are likely to blame. But folks, the Supporters' Shield defense is already over. Kaput.
19. Columbus Crew (🔽 1): They are bad in the re-press, which head coach Henrik Rydström talked about in the postgame. And they are not as clinical in front of goal as they should be.
20. Club Atlético de Charlotte (🔽 9): By the numbers they belong 10 spots lower, but I can't get there – yet. If they don't make the most of this five-game homestand, however, the bottom's going to drop out.
21. Colorado Rapids (⬆️ 7): They were dominant on restarts and energetic across every other phase of play. Missing some final third quality, but the past 110 minutes have been encouraging.
22. Portland Timbers (🔽 8): Yo-yo club so far. I will say that I'm a little bit concerned about their inability to control the game – at all – across 180 minutes.
23. St. Louis City (🔽 5): Maybe too much of a drop given the difficulty of the opposition? City showed a lot of good things, to be honest, but with all the pieces they're missing really had no shot against los Niños.
24. Orlando City (🔽 1): Great first half. Nightmare second half. But at least there was a spirit in the side that was missing on Matchday 1.
25. D.C. United (🔽 3): Defended hard but created nothing. Still, if you'd offered this team three points from these opening two games, I think everybody would've taken it.
26. Sporting KC (⬆️ 3): They were dangerous in transition, at least. But there's not been a lot to suggest they can climb higher than this.
27. New England Revolution (-): Body language doctor's not loving what he's seeing from Carles Gil. Not at all!
28. Toronto FC (🔽 4): Asking Josh Sargent to fix all this is a lot.
29. Atlanta United (🔽 3): So far they're worse than last year. That said, Tomás Jacob appears to be very, very good.
30. Montréal Impact (-): I suspect they'll be down here for a good, long while

As usual we reviewed the entire weekend on Monday's Soccerwise: