The Western Conference has dominated MLS Cup for the better part of a decade, but it’s the East that continues to shine bright as this MLS season hits the midway point.
Here are PST’s latest MLS Power Rankings as we head into another busy weekend:
[ FOLLOW: All of PST’s MLS coverage ]
TEAM | RANKING (Last Wk) | ||
---|---|---|---|
| 22 (21) 21 (22)
20 (20) | D.C. United: Five consecutive defeats for Ben Olson’s group has D.C. firmly at the bottom of the MLS table. Minnesota United: Similar to D.C., the Loons have gone winless in five. The only saving grace? They host D.C. on Saturday. Colorado Rapids: A solid effort against Toronto last week gives the Rapids a temporary distraction, but they’ll hit the road again this weekend... where they haven’t won all season. | |
19 (19) | New England Revolution: The playoff gap is already widening for the Revs, and a loss against the Union could be potentially devastating for Jay Heaps and Co. The distance from sixth place is currently eight points for New England. | ||
| 18 (9) | Orlando City: The Lions got their man in Dom Dwyer, but now they have to take advantage of his presence while Cyle Larin is still with the team. Orlando has scored just 22 goals this season -- third-fewest in MLS. | |
| 17 (13) | San Jose Earthquakes: The Quakes have conceded 12 goals in their last three matches. Somehow, they’re only point out of sixth in the West though. | |
| 16 (21) | Real Salt Lake: The Claret and Cobalt are unbeaten in three straight and have the chance to extend that run when they welcome the Crew on Saturday. | |
| 15 (7) | LA Galaxy: Sigi Schmid is in to stop the bleeding for the Galaxy, and his first challenge? A test against his former side, the Seattle Sounders. | |
14 (16) | Montreal Impact: The Impact have been woeful on the road in 2017 (1-4-5), and a trip to Harrison to face the revamped Red Bulls probably isn’t what the doctor ordered. | ||
13 (14) | Vancouver Whitecaps: Carl Robinson’s side travels to Dallas this weekend as they look to rebound from last weekend’s defeat against Portland. | ||
12 (18) | Philadelphia Union: Another big Eastern Conference clash is on the docket this weekend for the Union, who have played better as of late.
| ||
11 (12) | Columbus Crew: The Crew are still battling a suspect back line with more than half the season gone (35 goals allowed).
| ||
10 (10) | Portland Timbers: We knew this would be one of the top attacks in MLS entering 2017, and the Timbers are backing it up. Diego Valeri and Fanendo Adi each have 10 goals on the year. | ||
9 (15) | Seattle Sounders: The way the Sounders have been playing lately it probably won’t be a warm welcome back to the Pacific Northwest for Sigi Schmid and the Galaxy.
| ||
8 (11) | Atlanta United: The expansion side has won four in a row and lifted itself up to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
| ||
7 (8) | New York Red Bulls: Jesse Marsch has brought in some reinforcements both defensively and in the attack, and on top of that, the Red Bulls are starting to look like their old selves.
| ||
6 (5) | Houston Dynamo: The Dynamo are just one of four sides in MLS with a perfect home record in 2017. They’ll put that record to the test against the Timbers on Saturday night.
| ||
5 (3) | Sporting KC: Peter Vermes’ side hasn’t lost since the end of May. Unfortunately for the Western Conference side, they haven’t been winning a lot of their matches. | ||
4 (2) | Chicago Fire: The Fire finally lost against NYCFC... their first defeat since April 29. Don’t go writing off this team though. They’re the real deal. | ||
3 (6) | FC Dallas: A stingy defense and dangerous attack are a deadly combination, and that’s exactly what Dallas possesses. | ||
2 (4) | New York City FC: It was a pretty successful week for Patrick Vieira’s group. A group against Toronto, followed by a win over Chicago. | ||
1 (1) | Toronto FC: This is a Toronto team that has lost just three matches all season. To put that into perspective, TFC had three defeats by May 1 a season ago. |