GREEN ARMY’S MLS POWER RANKINGS: WEEK 4
I’m a little bit late with these this week but here are the Green Army’s MLS Power Rankings.
The Galaxy stay on top for another week after defeating Real Salt Lake. RSL is slowly making its way towards the bottom of the table. Going in the opposite direction is San Jose. The Earthquakes earned another victory at home this weekend, against New England side without Shalrie Joseph. Rookie defender Ike Opara scored his second professional goal. The Revs looked better than anticipated, but still need a healthy Joseph if they want any hope of reaching the playoffs.
In the category of underachievers and overachievers are New York, Kansas City, Seattle, and Dallas. New York moves up the table, although unconvincingly. The Red Bulls need to clean it up, but I’m sure the franchise is just happy to get points. Kansas City dominated at home but lost their first game on the road. They didn’t play poorly, but Seattle isn’t the dominating home team of last season. Speaking of Seattle, where has their offence gone? Their land slide down the table halted this weekend with a victory against Kansas. But this club should be ranked top 3 every week. Another team underachieving is FC Dallas. Dallas is starting to move away from the bottom of the rankings but their record would argue otherwise. They played better than New York but still managed to cough up a late PK to lose the match.
The Colorado Rapids and Houston are on pace. They aren’t over achieving by any stretch of the imagination but their record indicates that they aren’t underachieving either. They are winning winnable games and losing some tough matches. Both sit in playoff spots at the moment, and I expect them to stay there for most of the season.
In the screw up of the week category are Philadelphia goalkeeper Chris Seitz and defender Danny Califf. Seitz spilled the ball into his own net on De Rosario’s free kick, and Califf made a stupid play and received a red card early in the match. Way to let your team down boys.
Chivas, Toronto, Chivas, and DC United . . . suck. Right now I think Toronto is in the worst shape. While DC has yet to win a game, Toronto doesn’t have the quality on the roster to move up the table. DC and Chicago both have talented teams but are feeling the repercussions of shake ups and big departures in the offseason. Chivas just isn’t clicking. I wonder if coach Vasquez will abandon his attractive soccer mentality and go after results.
MLS Power Rankings after Week 4:
1. – (1) Los Angeles Galaxy: Edson Buddle is the Galaxy’s “O Rei.”
2. ↑ (3) New York Red Bulls: Won but didn’t convince.
3. ↓ (2) Kansas City: Played well but lost away from home
4. – (4) Columbus Crew: Bye week face Real Salt Lake on Saturday.
5. ↑ (7) Seattle: Fucito saved them, but where have the goals gone?
6. ↑ (8) Colorado Rapids: Won a winnable game.
7. ↑ (9) Houston: Kinnear gets the best out of his players.
8. ↓ (5) RSL: Valiant against LA, but Buddle is on fire.
9. ↑ (10) San Jose: Two wins in a row, Opara ROY candidate?
10. ↓ (6) NE Revolution: They need a healthy Joseph.
11. ↑ (13) FC Dallas: Not nearly as bad as their record indicates.
12. ↓ (11) Philadelphia Union: Chris Seitz, are you F-ing kidding me!!
13. ↑ (14) Chicago: Beat DC United, but who hasn’t.
14. ↓ (12) Chivas USA: Team will struggle on the road all season.
15. – (15) Toronto FC: Won one, lost one.
16. – (16) DC United: The misery continues.