MLS Power Rankings: Columbus stumble opens up top spot for NYCFC
- by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, Apr 4, 2018
New York City FC jumped into the top spot by rallying for a 2-1 victory at San Jose. Atlanta United captured a 1-0 victory at Minnesota United to win its third straight and move into second.
By unleashing the Might of Zlatan in the first El Trafico the Galaxy overtook rival LAFC in the rankings. Orlando City unleashed striker Dom Dwyer, who had been sidelined by a strained quad, to score twice in a rousing 4-3 defeat of the Red Bulls that brought the Lions their first victory of the season. A hat trick by Dominique Badji powered the Rapids past Philadelphia, 3-0, and into the win column.
Defending MLS Cup champion Toronto FC got back to winning ways, 3-1 at Real Salt Lake, but losing finalist Seattle dropped a 1-0 decision at home to Montreal and is the only 0-3-0 team in the league. The other winless teams include Portland and Chicago, which played a 2-2 tie, and temporarily homeless D.C. United.
MLS Week 5, Results
March 30
Toronto FC 3, Real Salt Lake 1. Highlights
March 31
Orlando City 4, NY Red Bulls 3. Highlights
LA Galaxy 4, Los Angeles FC 3. Highlights
Columbus 1, Vancouver 2. Highlights
Houston 0, New England 2. Highlights
San Jose 1, New York City FC 2. Highlights
Colorado 3, Philadelphia 0. Highlights
Chicago 2, Portland 2. Highlights
Seattle 0, Montreal 1. Highlights
Sporting KC 1, D.C United 0. Highlights
Minn. United 0, Atlanta United 1. Highlights
Only MLS results are factored into the Power Rankings, which include a team’s record in parentheses and rank last week.
1. NEW YORK CITY FC (4-0-1), 2. Players keep stepping up in the absence of David Villa, who failed a late fitness test for this match. Maxi Moralez chipped a ball that Anton Tinnerholm hammered into the net and netted the deflected winner himself as NYCFC won a road game it trailed in the third minute.
2. ATLANTA UNITED (3-1-0), 5. Gutted out the win after losing defensive linchpin Leandro Gonzalez Pirez to a second caution late in the first half.
3. SPORTING KC (3-1-1), 6. Five goals in five games makes Felipe Gutierrez an early candidate for Newcomer of the Year and SKC also got back its shutout mojo while outshooting D.C., 22-12.
4. VANCOUVER (3-1-1), 9. An equalizer by Brek Shea early in the second half provided the platform for Kei Kamara to score the winner against one of his former MLS teams. Cross by Felipe set up Kamara to head home.
5. COLUMBUS (3-1-1), 1. A fourth goal in five games from Gyasi Zardes provided a lead that vanished when keeper Zack Steffen parried a crossed ball right to Shea, who volleyed it home.
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6. LA GALAXY (2-1-0), 10. Goals by Sebastian Lletget and Chris Pontius set the stage for IbraTime and a spectacular derby triumph. Galaxy defense has its issues but this squad obviously wanted to win, and scored four goals without the dos Santos brothers.
7. LOS ANGELES FC (2-1-0), 3. Two sharp goals by Carlos Vela were blown away in a disastrous half-hour. Nothing to do but push on towards an historic home opener less than a month away.
8. NEW ENGLAND (2-1-1), 14. A nice game for Cristian Pentilla -- set up the first goal, netted the second -- and a shutout provided the Revs with a well-earned road win.
9. NY RED BULLS (2-2-0), 7. Missing several starters, the Red Bulls were disjointed much of the time and managed to fritter away a pair of one-goal leads as well as a late equalizer by Aaron Long. The goal that put them behind came from a first-time finish of a throw-in. Not good.
10. FC DALLAS (1-0-2), 11. The only team to sit out the weekend gets back to work Saturday at home against Colorado.
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11. TORONTO FC (1-2-0), 17. TFC launched 19 shots -- six apiece for Jozy Altidore and Sebatian Giovinco -- and simply overpowered RSL to get into the win column.
12. PHILADELPHIA (1-1-1), 8. Early in the second half, Union conceded twice within eight minutes. It hasn't won any of its last 13 road games.
13. MONTREAL (2-2-0), 16. Impact exploited a man-advantage to win with a Jeisson Vargas goal created by an elegan cutback from Ignacio Piatti. Big kick-save by Evan Bush preserved the victory.
14. HOUSTON (1-2-1), 4. Dynamo hasn't won since bopping Atlanta United in its first game of the season. It was trailing 1-0 in the 35th minute when DaMarcus Beasley was sent off for denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity yet still managed to generate 16 shots.
15. SAN JOSE (1-2-0), 12. Quakes failed to build on third-minute goal by Yefferson Quintana despite a creating a few decent opportunities to do so.
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16. MINNESOTA UNITED (2-3-0), 13. Presented a chance to atone for last year's 6-1 thrashing as well as a man advantage late in the first half, the Loons falied to capitalize. They scored the only goal -- for the other team.
17. REAL SALT LAKE (1-2-1), 15. Whatever propelled RSL to a strong finish last year hasn't resurfaced so far in 2018, which prompted head coach Mike Petke to declare, "I know what the problem is and it's going to be fixed."
18. COLORADO (1-1-1), 22. Rapids rolled to their first win on the momentum of a Dominique Badji hat trick.
19. ORLANDO CITY (1-2-1), 23. Recovered from a strained quad, Dom Dwyer led a fiesty, scrappy effort by scoring twice, and the Lions won it late with a Scott Sutter shot that deflected off Josue Colman into the net.
20. PORTLAND (0-2-2), 19. The Timbers led twice but couldn't get to the line for that first win. Diego Valeri got his first goal of the season and Sebastian Blanco bagged his third. For the second straight game, defender Liam Ridgewell was left off the game-day roster.
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21. CHICAGO (0-2-1), 20. Assists on both goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger brought the Fire back twice to get its first point of 2018. Defender Brandon Vincent set up the first goal and headed home the second from a precise Schweinsteiger cross.
22. D.C. UNITED (0-3-2), 21. United fell behind in the third minute when a ball bounced into the net off defender Felix Brillant and only rarely looked potent enough to equalize.
23. SEATTLE (0-3-0), 18. Red cards in each of their losses is a distrurbing trend for the Sounders. This time Kelvin Leerdam foolishly patted an opponent across the face in the 40th minute. They were cut apart when Piatti set up the Impact's goal.
