This is where Power Rankings can be helpful. Through two weeks, Houston is Major League Soccer’s only team on six points, but it’s almost impossible to make the case that it’s the best team in the league. Where we’re trying to judge which team is MLS’s best right now, it was difficult to look at Saturday’s performance at BBVA Compass and say “this is the league’s best team, right now.”
Montréal was just as good as them all night. This is the same Impact team that lost at Dallas in week one; the same Impact team that wasn’t able to get home between games. Just like last year, when the Impact started the season in Cascadia, Montréal spent this year’s first two games away from Quebec. But whereas last season they took six points out of the Pacific Northwest, the team left Texas with only one.
They probably deserved a second in Houston. Though I wrote positively of Houston’s control on Saturday night, a second viewing of the game showed how wrong I was. Particularly in the first half, Montréal looked the better side, its attack taking advantage of the lack of speed between David Horst and Jermaine Taylor. A massive deflection allowed Will Bruin to put Houston in front, giving them a lead they preserved through the final whistle. It was a well-earned victory, but it also wasn’t a performance that was much better than its opponents.
The same could be said for Real Salt Lake, who were drawn in San Jose. But last year’s Western Conference champions were on the road. They were playing superior opposition (at least, superior to Montréal). They ended up with a result a number of teams are not going to be able to take out of Buck Shaw. RSL’s draw was more impressive than Houston’s win. You don’t drop them just because their record is no longer as good.
Remember: The goal here is is augment, not emulate, the standings. If somebody looks at the league standings and sees the Dynamo two points ahead of the pack, hopefully they’ll see this list and know Houston played both of their games at home, against teams they should beat, and didn’t look like the league’s best its most recent performance.
Here’s the rest of ranking, after Week Two:
| RANKING | Up/Down | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | Real Salt Lake: San Jose is unbeaten in 20 at home. Leaving Santa Clara with one point is nothing to worry about. RSL will be upset that they gave up two goals late, but they’re hardly the first team to succumb to the Earthquakes. San Jose deserves credit. We can spare Jeff Cassar’s team any blame. (1-0-1) | |
| 2 | UP 6 | Houston Dynamo: This ranking leaves my brow slightly furrowed because Houston wasn’t particularly good on Saturday. A fluke goal is all that separated it from Montréal. At home. Their larger body of work, however, has them perfect through two rounds with a big 0 in the goals allowed column. We just need to see what they do away from home, and against better competition. (2-0-0) | |
| 3 | UP 4 | Philadelphia Union: Two straight strong performances, and if it wasn’t for Houston’s week one result against New England, Philadelphia would be higher. It’s difficult to justify putting the Union above the Dynamo when Dom Kinnear’s team was three goals better against New England. But number three? I’m not sure many Union fans will complain about that. (1-0-1) | |
| 4 | UP 7 | Toronto FC: Seattle make it easy for them in the first half at CenturyLink. If it wasn’t for that, the Reds would be higher. After their 2-1 win in Seattle, it will be nice to see Jermain Defoe and Michael Bradley go up against a team that isn’t going to donate to two early goals. (1-0-0) | |
| 5 | DOWN 3 | Sporting Kansas City: The only thing keeping them this high is their need to balance Champions League against league. In MLS, they’ve yet to score from open play and allowed themselves to be drawn at home by Dallas. But if our mandate is to tell you who’s likely to be better next week, the past only means so much. At least, it only means so much when we’re talking about Sporting. (0-1-1) | |
| 6 | DOWN 3 | Portland Timbers: Two weeks, two draws, and enough time to ask some legitimate questions. When will Norberto Paparatto stop making mistakes? And when will the team start finishing their chances? That they’re generating a series of good ones keeps the Timbers this high, but if they continue to struggle finishing them, Portland will continue to fall. (0-0-2) | |
| 7 | UP 4 | San Jose Earthquakes: San Jose just drew the best team in the league, bringing back memories of 2012 while doing so. Considering Real Salt Lake was coming off a 1-0 win in Los Angeles, the result looks like a great one for the Earthquakes. Of course, you want to open with a win at home, but RSL is a very good team. San Jose may have been poor in the first half, but in the second, it made up for it. (0-0-1) | |
| 8 | DOWN 3 | LA Galaxy: Did not play. Just got passed in the rankings by a few impressive teams. (0-1-0) | |
| 9 | UP 1 | Columbus Crew: Did not play. (1-0-0) | |
| 10 | DOWN 4 | Seattle Sounders: The problems creating chances they had against Sporting went away in the second half against Toronto. Too bad they were chasing two goals, a game state that allowed Ryan Nelsen’s conservative tactics to work in Seattle’s favor. Defensive errors in the first half give Sigi Schmid something else to worry about. Surprise, surprise: The team that made a ton of offseason changes is a work in progress. (1-1-0) | |
| 11 | UP 3 | Chivas USA: The Goats have given two strong performances with none of their players performing significantly beyond expectations (with the possible exception of Thomas McNamara). Some will see 11 as too high, but they’re judging the reputation; not the performance. Chivas USA has been good, and while we can expect some regression, it’s unclear when that will come. (1-0-1) | |
| 12 | DOWN 8 | Vancouver Whitecaps: Their performance in Carson lent credence to the notion the Whitecaps caught New York at the right time (and, in the right place). That array of attacking talent that stunned the Supporters’ Shield winners in British Columbia was nowhere to be found against Chivas. With an extra man, they should have taken full points. For much of the game, they looked aimless. (1-0-1) | |
| 13 | UP 2 | FC Dallas: Sporting Kansas City dominated play, but FC Dallas only conceded from a late corner. Play that match again (or, play it with Graham Zusi), and Dallas isn’t going to be so fortunate, but we did learn something about Óscar Pareja’s team in the process. Even without George John, the capable of staying organized in their defensive third, even if they had trouble doing so at times against Montréal. (1-0-1) | |
| 14 | DOWN 3 | Colorado Rapids: They needed a late, unfair whistle against Jámison Olave to salvage a result at Red Bull Arena, but the Rapids’ performance around that moment was decent. Granted, Colorado looked nowhere near as cohesive or threatening as the team that made last year’s playoffs, but they were also on the road against last year’s Supporters’ Shield winners. Overall, it was a good point, even if the performance leaves us with questions as to whether they can recapture 2013’s magic. (0-0-1) | |
| 15 | UP 1 | Montréal Impact: I originally had Impact two spots lower, but after writing up New York and Chicago’s descriptions and remembering how well Frank Klopas’s team played at Houston, I had to move them up. Montréal may have had a bad opener at Dallas, but they were Houston’s equal on Saturday. And Houston’s number two on this list. (0-2-0) | |
| 16 | DOWN 7 | New York Red Bulls: Mike Petke’s team looked much better in week two; then again, it would have been almost impossible not to. Shaking up his midfield, Petke got a result, but home against Colorado, he should have expected full points. It’s not even clear his team was the better side (or would be, if they played the game again). A seven spot drop is drastic, but Saturday provided new perspective on the performance in Vancouver. New York doesn’t look good. (0-1-1) | |
| 17 | - | Chicago Fire: A great result in Portland, but one that requires some context. Norberto Paparatto gave them their first half lead, after which the Fire only generated a few chances toward Portland’s goal. The Timbers created a number of chances that would have equalized before Gastón Fernández came through. Against a team with better finishers, the Fire would have been in trouble. (0-1-1) | |
| 18 | DOWN 2 | New England Revolution: Possibly the most disappointing team in the league through two rounds. Not only have they lost, they haven’t been particularly close to getting a point. Granted, Diego Fagundez almost oet the Revolution on the board Saturday, but the way Philadelphia played, New England seemed destined to lose that game. The Jose Goncalves situation has unsettled the defense, which Jay Heaps needs to perform at last year’s levels to replicate those results. (0-2-0) | |
| 19 | - | DC United: Did not play. (0-1-0) |
