Power Rankings, 1-30 | Matchday 5

Columbus need a match-winner and Berhalter's got the Fire climbing fast

Did my usual thing writing about the entire MLS weekend, which is always at least a little weird on international dates.¹

• Charlotte get flashy, Cuypers finds form for Chicago & more from Matchday 5

One thing I’ll say is that this serves as an effective depth test for a lot of clubs since everybody’s missing at least a few pieces. And in a lot of ways, a depth test is really a stress test for the overall functionality of the entire club: How is the developmental pipeline? How good is the scouting department at identifying useful role players? Do you have the kind of culture that makes you an attractive landing spot for veterans?

This is all useful stuff that’s more than just academic, and can definitely reveal something about a team’s long-term health. But yeah, it’ll be good to have the first-teamers back next weekend.

Ok, in we go:

1. Inter Miami: Starting to be some whispers linking them to young Ecuadorian No. 9 Alan Obando, who’s someone I’d had on my radar and mentioned here earlier this year² (though for the Galaxy instead). Getting him as the primary Suarez back-up gives them a clear answer at the one spot they’re lacking depth. So even in an off-week they’ve improved.

2. Philadelphia Union: Never got that second goal but never felt in danger of conceding an equalizer. St. Louis had no ideas against the press.

3. Vancouver Whitecaps: Basically giving them a mulligan in spite of the home loss. Jayden Nelson’s development, by the way, has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the young season.

4. Columbus Crew: Open the checkbook. Sign a DP attacker.

5. LAFC: Ruthless and clinical and never in doubt.

6. Charlotte FC: Some really lovely play against a Quakes team that was absolutely asking for it:

7. Chicago Fire: Chicago have yet to have their first-choice midfield out there and have repeatedly had to shuffle that backline, and yet they haven’t lost since First Kick. And they’re now winning in ways that look familiar (I am old enough to remember Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT and Crew tenures) and repeatable.
   
   And the depth test part I referred to above? Man, the Fire look very healthy in that regard. 19-year-old Sergio Oregel had a nightmare in the opener, but Berhalter’s stuck with him and now he’s an asset out there every single week.

8. San Diego FC: Looked defensively vulnerable for the first time all year. There will be time in the film room this week.

9. Minnesota United: Dropping points due to late concessions is not a habit to get into. Would love to see this team start using the ball more.

10. Nashville SC: This might be too low. They’re playing excellent ball, Sam Surridge finally looks like a DP and Edy Tagseth has been an answer they needed in central midfield.

11. Seattle Sounders: Frustration is justifiably mounting, but that was a finishing variance draw, not a process draw.

12. St. Louis City: Might be too high. Have only scored in two of five games, and that lack of attacking output tracks with Olof Mellberg’s managerial record in Sweden.

13. RBNY: Some nice interplay on Emil Forsberg’s winner. They’ll need more of that as their game model evolves.

14. NYCFC: First shutout in 15 games. Matt Freese was awesome, and they’re passing the depth test with flying colors.
    
    Still, though, this team needs the big-money signings from last winter (Julian Fernandez, Agustin Ojeda et al) to be better. Minimal progress on that so far.

15. Orlando City: Have been dynamic in attack and vulnerable defensively. It’s the opposite of the usual balance we see from early-season Oscar Pareja teams.

16. Austin FC: A very good, very pragmatic win that showcased Nico Estevez’s ability to make good defensive adjustments on the fly.³

17. FC Cincinnati: Might be too low here – decent chance I’ll feel stupid about this in a week. Thought this was a really good breakdown from Nate at Preseason Streams.

18. Colorado Rapids: They’ve gotten some wins but it’s mostly been pretty bad soccer to start the year. Need to seem more compactness and ability to stop the ball through central midfield.

19. FC Dallas: A much-needed win after dropping two straight at home.

20. Portland Timbers: They’ve been better since switching to the back four, and David da Costa looks pretty good.

21. RSL: Five of the next seven on the road. They need to get themselves right.

22. Atlanta United: Haven’t won since First Kick. Now looking at three straight at home. Need seven points.

23. San Jose Earthquakes: They were a disaster any time they were without the ball this past weekend – so, so so so many gaps. Big fix needed.

24. D.C. United: First loss of the season, which wasn’t really unexpected given how soft their schedule had been.

25. LA Galaxy: Good fightback for a second straight road point. Can they turn it into some sort of momentum?

26. Houston Dynamo: Well, they got their 10. Let’s hope he can inject some life into this attack.

27. New England Revolution: Hope the week off got them closer to full health.

28. Sporting KC: Now 12 winless going back to last year.⁴

29. Toronto FC: Please start DeAndre Kerr. And it’s probably time to start Luka Gavran, too.

30. Montreal Impact: They’ve been a disaster, and head coach Laurent Courtois paid for it with his job. Montreal will now have their 11th coach in 13 MLS seasons.
    
    I don’t think Courtois was doing a particularly good job – they’d made zero progress towards becoming the free-flowing, ball-dominant side they were supposed to be with his arrival (and had been under Wilfried Nancy), and most of the young players have stalled in their development. So I can’t say it’s not justified.
    
    But yeah, 11 coaches in 13 seasons. It’s hard to build anything meaningful when there’s that much churn.

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Ok, at some point this week I have to write about the massive shit the USMNT just took on the field in LA. Or two massive shits, I guess.

I’m trying to think of the right angle, or the right way to sort of contextualize all of it. But the short version is this:

I’m not really all that worried⁵. I think they’ve got time to figure it out, and there’s enough talent to do so, and if you offered to trade me a Nations League title in exchange for 1) Luna proving he belongs with the first team, and 2) Reyna getting a wake-up call that he needs to find a club where he plays every week⁶, believe me when I tell you I would not have taken the Nations League title.

There’s some other stuff to unpack in there — Luna should’ve been fast-tracked into the program before this, Reyna shouldn’t need such an obvious wake-up call, etc. — which is, I guess, what the column will be about.

But yeah, we got some valuable data about both the coach and the player pool. I’ll have some words on it soon.

1. I’ll, uh, leave the commentary there.

2. I’m a big “never read the comments” guy but am really trying to turn this blog into an “always read the comments” safe space. And always read the footnotes too, obviously.

3. I still have major concerns about their attack, especially since Osman Bukari has just about entered the RigoniZone. But this is the not the weekend to voice those.

4. Sporting also lost all their preseason games. I usually don’t think that means anything in particular, but given the context here, it doesn’t not mean anything.

5. Except about the center backs. Chris Richards was soft as shit again, while Cameron Carter-Vickers was terrible and Mark McKenzie was once again not good.

There are better options in the pool. Poch has to be brave enough to try them.

6. And Turner hopefully!