Three mid-week games in Major League Soccer have made our Tuesday Power Rankings obsolete, but one day before Los Angeles kicks off the weekend’s slate against Colorado, we have a chance to make some adjustment before the league returns to the field. Here are our PR adjustments, with teams listed in alphabetical:
MORE: Tuesday’s Power Rankings | Methodology
Chivas USA
Tuesday ranking: 19
Wednesday result: 4-2 loss to visiting Seattle
If we were doing North American Power Rankings, Chivas USA would be below Minnesota United and the San Antonio Scorpions, at least. There are at least two NASL teams capable of beating the Goats right now. USL Pro’s Orlando City would merit some consideration, too.
Alas, these are MLS Power Rankings, which makes 19 our boring, lenient floor. Though giving up four goals in Wednesday’s first half to Seattle felt like a new low, there’s nowhere else for this Chivas team to go.
New ranking: 19
New England Revolution
Tuesday ranking: 11
Wednesday result: 3-1 win over visiting Sporting Kansas City
Turn your back for a couple of weeks, and New England’s suddenly good again. The Revs are now four games unbeaten, with their last two results one-sided affairs against playoff clubs.
Unfortunately, “playoff clubs” is the rosiest description you can afford Toronto and Kansas City right now. For different reasons, both teams have fallen apart, and while it’s encouraging to see the Revs back in the win column, flat-pinging opponents can’t be ignored.
New England deserves credit for taking care of business. After all, it’s not like they’re squeaking out wins against these wounded foes. Still, the greater context around these games recommends caution. While the Revolution deserves a bump up the chart, a big move should wait until they catch a team in form.
New ranking: 9
Philadelphia Union
Tuesday ranking: 7
Wednesday result: 1-0 win over visiting Toronto
Toronto’s form mad a home win obligatory result. That Philadelphia met that obligation wouldn’t normally recommend them for a rise, particularly given the 1-0 final. When you’re near the top third of the rankings, it takes more than holding serve to make up ground.
Philadelphia was coming off a bye week, though, with Tuesday’s ranking reflecting a bit of wait-and-see uncertainty. Now, uncertainty has given way to reference, making it easier to justify a bigger rise.
Thanks in part to Columbus’s loss at Montréal, Philadelphia’s in our top six.
New Ranking: 6
Seattle Sounders
Tuesday ranking: 5
Wednesday result: 4-2 win at Chivas USA
As impressive as Wednesday’s first half was, it told us little about Seattle’s prospects vis-à-vis teams above them in the rankings: Real Salt Lake, D.C. United, FC Dallas, LA Galaxy. As obligatory as Philadelphia’s 1-0 over Toronto may have been, a two-goal victory over Chivas USA may be more so. Chivas just aren’t played at an MLS level, right now.
The result does put Seattle in position to gain ground this weekend. RSL hosting Dallas will make it difficult for the Sounders to pass either, but if DC slips at Vancouver, there may be a chance to move up. Granted, we’ll likely lean on the “Eastern Conference teams on BC Place’s rug” trope, but if United performs worse than the usual fish out of water, Seattle could end the weekend in the top four.
New ranking: 5
Sporting Kansas City
Tuesday ranking: 9
Wednesday result: 3-1 loss at New England
Unfortunately, yesterday’s disappointment was nothing new. We’d seen the problems Sporting was having at the back. We suspected New England, energized by the insertions of Charlie Davies and Kelyn Rowe, would take advantage. Though Sporting has now given up nine goals in their last three games, that form was already cooked into their ninth place ranking. A loss at New England doesn’t change that much.
The new information Wednesday gave us: a measure relative to New England, who Sporting can’t be ranked above, right now. We also saw the champions may be farther from a recovery than previously thought, the hole they’re digging requiring a bigger adjustment. Maybe D.C. United really did “find them out 10 days ago?
If that bears out, even this new, season-low ranking will be too high. After this weekend, Sporting may drop below our mid-table mark.
New ranking: 10
Toronto FC
Tuesday ranking: 17
Wednesday result: 1-0 loss at Philadelphia
One point in four games leave Toronto on the verge of becoming the East’s Colorado - a former Western Conference playoff hopeful who’ve now lost six in a row. Like the Reds, Colorado’s most recent result is a 1-0 loss on the road, but whereas TFC’s defeat came at playoff-contending Philadelphia, the Rapids were playing the Shield-leading Sounders.
That seems to recommend TFC for a place above the Rapids, but too often a pair of games proves inadequate when trying to answer our question: Which team would win in a neutral site game, tomorrow? Between two slumping teams, it may be impossible to tell, but I keep going back to one, fabricated test.
Looking back at Toronto’s four-game slide, I see two games where the team could have prevented its slump (vs. Chicago, vs. New England), while Colorado was an underdog in each of its six losses. While that might tell us much, it does present a possibility: that the Rapids’ slide is about schedule in addition to quality.
New ranking: 18
PST’s Major League Soccer Power Rankings (post-mid-week results):
1. LA Galaxy
2. FC Dallas
3. D.C. United
4. Real Salt Lake
5. Seattle Sounders
6. Philadelphia Union (+1)
7. Columbus Crew (-1)
8. Portland Timbers
9. New England Revolution (+2)
10. Sporting Kansas City (-1)
11. New York Red Bulls (-1)
12. Houston Dynamo
13. San Jose Earthquakes
14. Vancouver Whitecaps
15. Chicago Fire
16. Montréal Impact
17. Colorado Rapids (+1)
18. Toronto FC (-1)
19. Chivas USA