What my Power Rankings *would have been* if there were Power Rankings this week

Wrote a big old Sunday column that was not the typical Sunday column because we did not have the typical weekend slate:

• MLS Midseason Awards: Top players, best transfers & more

Because this was not the typical weekend slate – it was abridged because of the international date1 – there was no official Power Rankings vote this week. And that’s good, because honestly, the results from B and C teams shouldn’t really move the needle much. Over-index at your own peril.

However, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t move the needle at all. Sometimes things you see from further down the roster really does matter, so here are a few takeaways from the weekend:

• Vancouver’s hold on No. 1 is rock solid, even if their hold on No. 2 was apparently touch and go all week:

  

  Just endlessly impressed by what Jesper Sørensen’s put together in that locker room, because the ‘Caps won this game with roughly 73 dudes missing to injury, illness or international duty.2 It’s such a shame about the Cruz Azul shitshow3, but everything else has made this as impressive a half-season as any MLS team has ever authored.

  Also, shouts to Jeevan for the Wu-Tang shirt.

• The bad vibes in Sounders-ville are real. This is a team that looks like it has stuff other than soccer on its mind, and that is understandable.

• The Fire are 6-1-1 in eight games across all competitions since that 7-2 beating they took in Nashville. The last five of those have been on the road, and it hasn’t mattered.

  They are fun and they are good.4 And I really hope that when they buy a third DP this summer, they go for a 25-year-old who can be a centerpiece for a decade rather than a mid-30s legend of the game. They don’t need that; they need to win.5

• There’s, like, one or two D.C. fans that get mad at me on social media every week for barely writing about this team. All the rest of them are smart enough to have moved onto the Spirit, who play gorgeous, ‘Caps or Crew-style soccer.

• This was a 2-0 win for Austin:

  

  Brad Stuver, man. Simply one of the best in the league, year after year after year.

  Obviously this result is something of a disaster for Colorado, though if they keep playing like this they’ll start winning games again. Not sure I trust them to, though.

• Portland got the result they should’ve but man did they have to work for it. Nothing about that was convincing.

• St. Louis have been better in two games under David Critchley,6 and eight points is not an insurmountable abyss between themselves and the red line, especially given Colorado’s run of form.

• LAFC have become the team I thought they would be, and it’s no surprise that Denis Bouanga’s at the center of it. I also really, really like the minutes Frankie Amaya’s been giving them.

• Sporting KC have also become the team I thought they would be.

Back to that Sunday column: over on /r/MLS I went a little more in-depth on some of the choices I made. Here ya go:

• Initially I had Messi first in the MVP race, but Tom & Anders talked me out of it for three reasons. One is that a third of Messi's goal contributions came against the fucking Impact; two is that Miami's weakness (they get ripped up through the middle vs. good teams b/c it’s so easy to build against them) is directly downstream from Messi's lack of defensive involvement; and three is that his body language is awful and the disdain with which he greets every officiating decision has rubbed off on the rest of the team, and has actually cost Miami goals.

That's not leadership. So he's still the best player in the league – and arguably the world – but he's actually taken some things off the table for Miami this year in some big moments. There are, in other words, times when he’s brought negative value.

• Jean-Jacques' transition defense is shockingly bad, to the point that I'm still uneasy about having him No. 1 on the d-mid list. But he's been incredible playing on the front foot, both defensively and in attack, and that’s Philly’s defining trait. So at the top he stays.

That said, conceptually he's more of an 8 than a 6 in some real ways.

• I should've found a place in the column to mention Jack McGlynn. He's been one of the leading chance creators in the league, and has settled in as a true No. 10 over the past 6 weeks or so (which has coincided with Houston playing much better ball).7 Fantastic young player now that he doesn’t have to think quite so much about defense, and it was a smart and bold move of the Dynamo to make that purchase this winter.

• There is much more to be said about the two-striker set-up, especially with regard to how it functions differently for a 3-4-1-2 team vs. a 4-4-2 side.

I went to Providence this past weekend! That’s another reason I didn’t write my usual column.

Here’s why I went:

Simply one of the best food towns in the US, on par with the likes of Charleston and Savannah. (Skip the salad, though, or at least be smart enough to get the dressing on the side).