Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 8
Yes, Vancouver are that good
I went with a slightly modified format1 for my Sunday night column. Hope you like it:
• Portland's secret weapon, Seattle get a spark & more from Matchday 8
And now, here’s my vote for this week’s MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings:
Vancouver Whitecaps: Checking every box – league dominance, continental competitiveness, young player development, and getting the best out of the veterans – while playing some of the most attractive ball in league history.2
Inter Miami: Sabotaging themselves by not rotating the squad enough, to be honest.
Columbus Crew: First 65 minutes were relentless. Last 25 minutes showed some flaws, particularly defending in their own box.
Minnesota United: I have my gripes about how allergic to the ball they are, but they’re seven unbeaten.
Charlotte FC: Defense remains excellent, as does Kristjian Kahlina in net.
San Diego FC: A mulligan, or an exposed weakness against two-forward set-ups?3
LAFC: Now that they’ve crashed out of CCL play I expect them to start stringing together results in the league.
Philadelphia Union: Only one win in five, and looking a match-winner short. Which… yeah, I don’t blame them for selling Daniel Gazdag. They got a great ROI. But that’s not a “we’re trying to win stuff this year!” move.
FC Cincinnati: Weren’t great, but did enough, and now have themselves a tidy little three-game winning streak. And got Matt Miazga back for the first time in 10 months. Expect them to climb.
Orlando City: Everything but the goal in the game’s first hour, and then did a nice job of holding onto the scoreless draw after going down a man.
Chicago Fire: Man, they probably should’ve taken all three. Jonathan Bamba with two great chances to win it late.
Nashville SC: I love so much about how they’re playing, but have no confidence in their ability to regularly put the ball in the net.
Seattle Sounders: We’re getting to the point where xGD matters, and guess who’s third in the West in xGD?
Portland Timbers: Five unbeaten, even with a less-than-convincing defensive performance.4
Colorado Rapids: Great shift from Chris Armas to go to the 4-4-2, which worked a treat. I think it’ll be back to the 4-2-3-1 next week, though, and hopefully with Ted Ku-DiPietro in the XI from the jump.
RBNY: This team’s kind of a wet fart right now.
Austin FC: The pieces aren’t fitting together in the way I’d feared they wouldn’t fit together. Need to see a 4-3-3 with Owen Wolff as a pressing 10 and Myrto Uzuni as a pinching left winger.
FC Dallas: Really hoping that Bernie Kamungo gets a run of starts at right wing. They need some spark.
NYCFC: Pascal Jansen was talking in the postgame as if he’d figured some lineup things out – Justin Haak at CB, Jonathan Shore at d-mid – and if that’s the case, this team’s got the talent to climb. Provided one of the young wingers actually earns his keep.
RSL: The defense has kind of fallen apart. It’s much easier to complete meaningful passes against them than it was last year.
San Jose Earthquakes: Probably would’ve taken at least a point out of that game if Daniel hadn’t been kicked in the head. The overall trend for this team is headed in the right direction, even if the week-to-week is a roller-coaster.
Atlanta United: No real answers so far this season with one of the league’s most expensive rosters.5
New England Revolution: Will the 3-5-2 change everything, as Caleb Porter intimated it would in the postgame presser? I have my doubts!
St. Louis City: To borrow a line from /r/MLS, “St. Louis signing an oft injured Nordic player from Germany seems to fit in well with Meme Monday.”6
Toronto FC: They’ve gotten compact defensively and Sean Johnson’s started to play well.
Sporting KC: They played some fun – if disastrous – soccer. Need to tighten it up, obviously, and cut out the individual errors. But it’s starting to look like something’s here.
Houston Dynamo: Yeah that’s a tough result given the lead and the man advantage. Just about waiting for the reinforcements to arrive.
Montreal Impact: Playing better with the ball, but just lack the chance creation talent they need to make that matter in the biggest moments.
LA Galaxy: Brutal points to drop. If you can’t beat Houston at home…
D.C. United: Nope.
In a return to my original intent in starting this blog, here’s a show I did last week – a react to an insane Wednesday night of CCL action:
Do you feel those ExtraTime vibes? If you do, maybe drop into the comments (on that video, which is on the official MLS YouTube channel) and let folks know how much you miss the show.
Believe it or not it’s kind of hard and soul-sucking to write the same column every damn week for 15 years. Someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. My family is dying. ↩
Not an overstatement. ↩
I think they’re weak against two-forward set-ups now, but will improve as the year goes along because Mikey Varas is proving to be a very astute head coach. ↩
Putting them behind the Sounders is not a bit. Portland’s 12th in the West in xGD and that’s a big, bright red flag, no matter what the results are. ↩
Check the Sunday column if you want more on my specific gripes about how this team plays. ↩
At least Mykhi Joyner got onto the field. It’s insane that Olof Mellberg hasn’t made more of the local talent he has access to. ↩
