Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 12
Not much movement, but only because the Galaxy couldn't drop any lower
Things have really stabilized: we mostly know who the good teams are, and we mostly know who the bad teams are, and most of the middle is sorting itself out.
That includes the Chicago Fire, who were one of the main subjects of this Sunday’s column:
• Chicago’s breakthrough, Philadelphia’s evolution & more from Matchday 12
I, frankly, didn’t like that blurb I wrote. There was more I wanted to get into about their midfield shape (it’s a 4-3-3 with free 8s and a back point, and one of the fascinating thing has been watching to see the rotations that get the Fire into a 3-2-5 shape in possession), and some on pressing triggers, and a lot on Hugo Cuypers being the perfect example of a center forward thriving under Berhalter (as I wrote, he’s tied atop the Golden Boot race and ahead in the Golden Boot-for-xG race by a mile), and a guy who’s maybe got the yips in front of goal?1
But I think the bigger picture that I wanted to drive home is that I’m not really sure if Chicago’s defensive struggles are because Berhalter yet hasn’t really hammered home his structural demands, or if it’s because he’s hammered them home and they’re just having trouble executing because of individual inefficiencies.2 My hunch is that it’s a combo of the two, and that as the year goes along, they’ll become more and more defensively sound, and we’ll see less game-to-game variance.
That’s just a hunch, though.
Ok, here’s my vote for this week’s MLSsoccer.com Power Rankings:
Vancouver Whitecaps: Did not play well against LAFC but came back for a point. Still don’t have a real, non-asterisk loss on the season. Wildly impressive.
Columbus Crew: Did not play well against Philly but came back for a point. Feels like the Daniel Gazdag Breakout Game is nigh.
Philadelphia Union: They played more than well enough to win, and would’ve if not for the fact that they took a nap on a very late set piece. Good lesson for a young(ish)3 team that’s outkicking their coverage a bit so far.
FC Cincinnati: Still not playing great, but they were better and more fluid with the ball, and I think the Luca Orellano move to right wingback is going to be a permanent thing. Not sure what that means for DeAndre Yedlin, but it’s clear that Orellano is much more comfortable playing out wide like that.
Inter Miami: Four losses in five, and just 3W-5L-2D in 10 games across all competitions since the start of April. The vibes around this team seem really bad!
LAFC: On the one hand: a very good point that could’ve been all three with better finishing at the end there. On the other hand: they coughed up a 2-0 lead by putting numbers behind the ball and playing scared. Again.
Seattle Sounders: Told you they had adequate power.
Minnesota United: This version of Miami was basically the perfect opponent for this version of the Loons. Excellent win that doesn’t really change my overall assessment.
Nashville SC: Avoided the late collapse that killed them the last time they faced the Crown, but those final 15 minutes were worrying.4 Still, this team is mostly playing very good soccer and have now lost just once in their past five.
San Diego FC: Patient and opportunistic win sees them take six points from two games after that three-game slide threatened to derail them. I remain extremely bullish on this group.
SC Charlotte: Thought they played well – honestly, better than they did in last month’s win over the ‘Yotes. But it’s three straight losses, now, and any flexibility in the game model has been of marginal value to this point.
Portland Timbers: A just-good-enough bounce-back after last weekend’s humiliation at San Jose. Those first 10 minutes… can we get more of that from this team?
Orlando City: That’s a really dispiriting home draw, in which they coughed up two separate leads. Nine unbeaten is very good of course, but only three of those are wins.
New England Revolution: The 3-4-1-2 thing is very real, and the Revs are rolling. Putting the ball on the foot of Carles Gil as often as possible is a good plan!
San Jose Earthquakes: They’ve looked irresistible the past couple of weeks, and Bruce Arena has done a wonderful job of playing and developing down-roster options (not just kids like Beau Leroux or draft picks like Max Floriani, but borderline cast-offs like Ousseni Bouda).
FC Dallas: It's three months into the season and I still have no idea how this team wants to play.
RBNY: An indication that they’ve broken out or an indication that they just played a home game against one of the worst teams in league history?5 Maybe both?
Chicago Fire: You got, like, four blurbs’ worth up top. Don’t be greedy.
NYCFC: There were a couple of Pigeons’ fans last week who were big mad I had this team 18th.
Colorado Rapids: Panic stations?
Real Salt Lake: Not a pretty game but they just took four points from a three-game road swing, and Diego Luna is going to bring down the Empire.
Sporting KC: They are no longer a bad team, though they continue to be a hilarious one. In their past three games they won one in which they didn’t register a shot, and lost two in which the opponents’ winner was scored via a bicycle kick. Pure cinema.
Austin FC: I liked the 3-5-2 change, but the personnel issues – no real chance creator, no chemistry among the forwards – remain.
Houston Dynamo: Just got out-classed, even before the red (which looked legit to me).
Toronto FC: A nice and deserved win, and Sean Johnson’s been immense since a rough start. 2-3-2 in their past seven… not all bad.6
D.C. United: I’m petty.
Montreal Impact: They earned that win, and this was their second good performance in a row.
St. Louis: I’ve mostly pointed the finger at head coach Olof Mellberg, but we’re three years into Lutz Pfannenstiel’s tenure as CSO and both Josh Yaro and Kyle Hiebert are nailed-on starters. Just gonna let you guys marinate in that one a little bit.
Atlanta United: Never did I imagine it would get this bad.
LA Galaxy: That was as complete a capitulation as I’ve ever seen in this league, and I’ve been around from the start. Their underlying numbers on American Soccer Analysis have them as one of the 10 worst teams in their database, which goes back to 2013.7 Their xG differential is the worst in FBRef’s MLS database, which goes back to 2018.
This is, at least, a good year to tank since no expansion team means the Wooden Spoon “winner” gets the No. 1 pick in the SuperDraft.
Bigger picture on that: How do we feel about guys who’ve come from the Belgian league to MLS over the past few years? Hasn’t been as seamless as one would think.
Fans will always point the finger at the center backs, and fair enough. But that midfield can be shockingly easy to play through – or maybe not that shocking, when you think about the amount of squad rotation they’ve had to do there – which is always going to put the CBs in a bind.
One of the big surprises for me this year is that the Union definitely have not gone full-bore into the young brigade, which I thought was one of the reasons for moving on from Jim Curtin.
Really struggled to kill the game off with the ball.
Force me to choose one and I think it’s Column B. The type of looks they were getting, the types of spaces they were finding… you don’t get that in a typical MLS game. You only get that against a team that’s quit.
As I mentioned in the Sunday column, they’re starting to develop some of the kids as well.
Fun note: Those numbers say that St. Louis have been just as bad!
When is a team going to remember Sean Davis is currently without a club and get that guy involved again? He'd be a great add for close to half the league
Diego Luna is going to bring down the Empire - Amen