We try really hard not to knee-jerk react to any one particular result and usually, we are right not to. One result jumps off the page this week and it will be fun to see how things play out.
Clearly, Toronto took the hint and fired Chris Armas, but how much of Saturday’s 7-1 bloodbath in the nation’s capital is due to D.C. turning things around? Yes, we move United up a few slots, but not a huge amount because while they have wins it’s been against teams like Inter Miami, Chicago, and Toronto.
Then again wins are wins and D.C. has shown some signs of improvement lately.
Top Shelf
1. Seattle Sounders (Previously 1).
Once again, getting the result they needed in a road tie against a good Colorado Rapids team.
Quality
2. Sporting Kansas City (2).
Big road win against the LA Galaxy makes us reconsider moving SKC back into the top tier, but they just have too many results that don’t fit up there.
3. New England Revolution (4).
A sign of a good team is finding a way to get results when they are not the better team on the field that day. Arena’s side did just that in an electric environment on Saturday as they kept the Crew from winning their first home game at their beautiful new facility.
4. Colorado Rapids (6).
Tied at home but move up? Yes because relative to the other results around them, tying Seattle is better than getting crushed at home by SKC, etc.
5. Orlando City (3).
“Three wins, two on the road, is a strong statement.” Losing to the Red Bulls at home, not so much.
6. LA Galaxy (5).
The Galaxy are very good, but have clear gaps in their resume, especially against the top teams. This weekend is a good example.
7. New York City FC (12).
Considering how the teams above their No. 12-spot last week performed and revisiting their overall schedule, seems like they need to be moved up.
8. Portland Timbers (7).
When this team does poorly, they really do make a mess of it.
9. Philadelphia Union (10).
A road loss to Nashville is a step back, but not an awful result.
10. Columbus Crew (13).
They move up despite being tied at home because they showed some real power in their game and you can see them coming into their own. This is the team we expected to see.
11. Nashville SC (15).
A good win at home against a solid Union side.
12. Austin FC (17).
Who would have thought that an expansion side might be up and down? Portland encountered them on one of their up days. Ouch.
13. New York Red Bulls (14).
A big win over Orlando on the road is a strong statement. Can they back it up?
Middle of the Road
14. Houston Dynamo (8).
It’s good to be competitive, but at some point, you have to win home games against comparable (or worse) teams.
15. Los Angeles FC (18).
“The win over Dallas shows that there are signs of life. Even the loss to SKC says something as they scored first and played well down a man.” Add a road win at RSL and it is safe to say LAFC is getting it back together. They probably don’t stay in this tier long.
16. Minnesota United (11).
The Loons have been making progress and getting away from the horrid start to the season they had, but their game against San Jose was a stumble.
17. Real Salt Lake (9).
Maybe this is a little harsh after they lost to a resurgent LAFC, but revisiting their overall body of work left us unimpressed.
18. FC Cincinnati (22).
“Have they figured out how to be better than the lowest tier?” Absolutely, and they may be going higher
19. Atlanta United (16).
“Not the ideal set of results.” And then they lose to Chicago? Things might be falling apart for Atlanta.
20. D.C. United (23).
Hello there. This is definitely a team worth watching and there are signs that they might be really turning things around rather than winning against the worst teams.
Lots of Questions and/or Concerns
21. FC Dallas (19).
Dallas showed they are still a team trying to find themselves as Vancouver used some FCD mistakes and some luck to steal a point. We can credit Dallas for fighting hard the whole way, and that is definitely better than previous outings, but this team has a real grind ahead of them and this may be a key opportunity missed.
22. San Jose Earthquakes (20).
For a team that has been kicked around a lot lately, give them a lot of credit for fighting for the tie against a good Minnesota side.
23. Vancouver Whitecaps (21).
Similar to New England, the Whitecaps were not on the front foot a lot but made their opportunities count.
24. Chicago Fire (27).
Two goals late in the first half gave them some real energy and they rode it to a 3-0 home win over Atlanta. A sign of change or just a one-off?
25. CF Montreal (24).
A win over Miami doesn’t change what we said last week – The rebuild is still in progress.
26. Toronto FC (25).
“The wheels are truly falling off.” Uhm, understatement maybe? Ouch.
27. Inter Miami (26).
“So much talent, so little cohesion.” How many ways are there to say this?