MLS Power Rankings: FC Dallas back on top
- by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, May 9, 2017
The Lions lost at Toronto and Houston to plummet down the listings, and FC Dallas regained first place in Soccer America's MLS Power Rankings by defeating Real Salt Lake, 3-0, to remain unbeaten. Toronto FC followed up its taming of the Lions to win at Seattle, 1-0, and move into second.
Sporting Kansas City retained third place by beating the Red Bulls, 2-0, before losing at Minnesota United by the same score. New York City FC and Houston both won and round out the top five.
Columbus, San Jose, and Vancouver were rewarded for their good form and have joined the teams in the top half. Taking the biggest drops, besides Orlando City (first to seventh), are Seattle and D.C. United, which both lost at home.
MLS Results, Week 10:
May 3
Toronto FC 2, Orlando City 1. Highlights
Sporting KC 2, NY Red Bulls 0. Highlights
May 5
Colorado 0, Vancouver 1. Highlights
May 6
Houston 4, Orlando City 0. Highlights
Seattle 0, Toronto FC 1. Highlights
LA Galaxy 2, Chicago 2. Highlights
Philadelphia 3, NY Red Bulls 0. Highlights
Real Salt Lake 0, FC Dallas 3. Highlights
D.C. United 0, Montreal 1. Highlights
San Jose 3, Portland 0. Highlights
Columbus 2, New England 0. Highlights
May 7
New York City FC 3, Atlanta United 1. Highlights
Minnesota United 2, Sporting KC 0. Highlights
Only MLS results are factored into the Power Rankings, which include a team’s record in parentheses and rank last week.
1. FC DALLAS (5-0-3), 2. FCD scored its earliest goal of the season – a Max Urruti penalty kick in the third minute – but didn’t take command until Matt Hedges headed home a Kellyn Acosta corner kick midway through the second half. Urruti netted again in stoppage time with the last of FCD’s 10 shots on goal, and a six-save game by Jesse Gonzalez bagged the shutout.
2. TORONTO FC (5-1-4), 5. After saying he wouldn’t consider a compressed schedule and cross-country travel in making his team selections, head coach Greg Vanney rested Sebastian Giovinco and made four other changes after the win over Orlando City and still TFC prevailed in Seattle with a penalty kick by Jozy Altidore to win its fourth in a row. Two sharp finishes against OC upped Giovinco’s take to five goals this season.
3. SPORTING KC (5-2-3), 3. A third game in nine days necessitated the insertion of defenders Igor Juliao (first SKC appearance since 2014) and Kevin Ellis (first start of 2017), and though SKC piled up a 17-7 advantage in shots it could not get a goal. Dom Dwyer scored his fourth and fifth goals in the last five games against the Red Bulls, and was denied only by a great save in Minneapolis. SKC has conceded just five goals in 10 games; its league record is 27 goals in 34 games.
4. NEW YORK CITY FC (5-3-1), 7. Goals less than two minutes apart by Rodney Wallace and Maxi Moralez blew open a 1-1 game and NYCFC won its third game of the last four. David Villa opened the scoring in the 17th minute and assisted on the goal by Moralez, who is steadily strengthening his place in the Newcomer of the Year category. Wallace bagged two assists. Andrea Pirlo stayed on the bench again.
5. HOUSTON (5-3-1), 9. At home the song remains the same. Mauro Manotas scored two goals and assisted on a third after Alberth Elis had tallied midway through the first half. Romell Quito also netted as the Dynamo trio upped their combined production to 11 goals. Alex earned two assists and is tied for the league lead with six. The goals leader, Erick "Cubo" Torres (seven), is going through the MLS Concussion Protocol.
6. PORTLAND (5-3-2), 4. The Timbers, which lead MLS with 20 goals in 10 games, were shut out for the second time this season despite managing 13 shots. Forward Jeremy Ebobisse and midfielder Victor Arboleda made their MLS debuts in the second half.
7. ORLANDO CITY (6-3-0), 1. Only Kaka -- making his first start since the season opener -- scored during a rough road swing, and in Houston a couple of errors by Joe Bendik exacerbated a poor performance by a tired defense missing Jonathan Spector, who was rested.
8. NEW YORK RED BULLS (5-5-1), 6. Boy, that was a bad week. Head coach Jesse Marsch made six changes -– including Sal Zizzo at centerback – for the first game, and NYRB needed six saves from Luis Robles to keep it close. In Philly, a great save denied Bradley Wright-Phillips during an eventful final 16 minutes during which the defense cracked three times. That’s five straight road losses during which NYRB has scored two goals and conceded 13.
9. COLUMBUS (5-4-1), 13. A goal and assist by Ola Kamara and a few key saves by Zach Steffen enabled Crew SC to halt a two-game losing run. Kamara ran onto a feed from Justin Meram to curl a shot inside the far post and set up Federico Higuain on a counterattack for the clincher. Kamara has scored in three straight home games. Head coach Gregg Berhalter was ejected for protesting a clothesline foul by Je-Vaughn Watson that yielded a caution rather than a red card.
10. SAN JOSE (4-3-3), 14. The Quakes delivered one of their best 90-minute performances in quite some time to topple the Timbers. Centerback Victor Bernandez led a strong defensive effort that quelled Fanendo Adi, Jahmir Hyka scored during a scramble in the eighth minute to jazz up the crowd, and Chris Wondolowski added two more goals to his impressive career total of 125.
11. VANCOUVER (4-4-1), 15. In his first appearance since suffering a knee injury in late March, Brek Shea scored 15 minutes after coming on as a sub. He ran onto a long ball from fellow sub Nicolas Mezquita to slide a shot through the ankles of keeper Tim Howard and thus the ‘Caps won a second straight road game.
12. SEATTLE (2-3-4), 8. In the 2016 MLS Cup rematch, the story of Sounders 2017 remained the same: lots of possession (63.5 percent), a rightly disallowed goal (Jordan Morris), and a costly mistake (Roman Torres foul that gave away a penalty kick). Seattle is paying the price for constant shifting in the back line because of injuries, and not matching the intensity with which teams play the defending champions.
13. CHICAGO (3-3-3), 12. Sparked by David Accam, the Fire jumped out to a 2-0 lead but then conceded twice on corner kicks. He converted a retaken penalty kick awarded for a foul on Nemanja Nikolic, then set up Nikolic with a slick pass during a counterattack for the second goal. On both Galaxy goals the Fire didn’t win aerial duels against defenders on corner kicks; in the 76th minute, a header by Luis Solignac cleared the keeper but hit the crossbar.
14. ATLANTA (3-4-2), 11. A goal by Carlos Carmona –- his first in MLS -- pulled AUFC even before halftime but the defense couldn’t cope as NYCFC took command in the second half. In its last four road games, Atlanta United has been outscored, 10-5, and the arrival of keeper Brad Guzan this summer won’t solve everything.
15. MONTREAL (2-3-4), 17. Another impressive game for teenage midfielder Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla brought him his second goal of the season as the Impact won its first game on the road of the six it has played already. Montreal plays the next three at home sandwiched around the Canadian Championship semifinal series with Vancouver and maybe by then it will be known where this squad stands in comparison to last year’s version that reached the Eastern Conference finals.
16. D.C. UNITED (3-4-2), 10. Head coach Ben Olsen called his players “posers” after a feeble effort at RFK Stadium in which it managed just two shots on goal and a Luciano Acosta blast that caromed off the crossbar. United has been blanked five times this season, including three home games.
17. MINNESOTA UNITED (3-5-2), 18. The Loons took advantage of a fatigued foe with goals by Abu Danladi and Christian Ramirez. Miguel Ibarra assisted on both of them, and keeper Bobby Shuttleworth played on after suffering a broken nose. They have won three of their last four at TCF Bank Stadium after being blown out by Atlanta United in their home opener and have matched their expansion brethren in wins, albeit playing an easier schedule.
18. NEW ENGLAND (2-4-4), 16. Despite the absence of Kei Kamara, who missed a second straight game to await the birth of his second child, the Revs generated 18 shots while enduring a fifth straight game without a win. A Lee Nguyen effort from distance hit the crossbar and he was also thwarted from close range in the final minutes.
19. PHILADELPHIA (1-4-4), 20. Sapong! Sapong! Sapong! The first MLS hat trick for C.J. Sapong pushed him into a share of the league lead with seven goals and ended the Union’s 16-game winless streak dating back to 2016. A great save by Andre Blake, who pinned a shot against the grass while diving to his right, gave the Union a huge boost with the score, 1-0.
20. REAL SALT LAKE (2-6-2), 19. Even at full strength, RSL doesn’t match up well with FCD, and a lineup missing Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman, and several defenders battled valiantly after conceding early. Joao Plata, dropped from the starting lineup for missing a training session, came on in the second half and set up a couple of chances. RSL has lost three in a row while scoring one goal.
21. L.A. GALAXY (2-5-2), 21. Trailing 2-0 at halftime, the Galaxy rallied to score twice on corner kicks delivered by Romain Alessandrini and tucked away by Daniel Steres and Giovani Dos Santos. Head coach Curt Onalfo benched defender Jelle Van Damme in the 33rd minute and brought on Dave Romney, whose redirected header of Alessandrini’s second corner was poked in by Dos Santos, who hadn’t scored since the season opener. Still the Galaxy has only five points from six home games.
22. COLORADO (1-6-1), 22. The Rapids managed just one shot on goal while losing their fifth straight game. They are last in the league with five goals and no other team has scored fewer than nine.
