MLS Power Rankings: Sporting Kansas City stays top, Portland takes third
- by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, May 29, 2018
Leader Sporting Kansas City and the runner-up Red Bulls held their positions by playing 0-0 ties, and Portland surged into third by winning its sixth straight game. Another hot team, Houston, knocked off New York City FC, 3-1, to edge into the top five. Crew SC jumped to sixth by getting that result at SKC and FC Dallas moved up another notch by maintaining the woes of TFC.
The 1-0 defeats incurred by TFC and Seattle dropped them into 17th and 20th place, respectively. Their combined 13 losses are one fewer than they incurred during the entire 2017 regular season.
MLS Results, Week 13
May 25
LA Galaxy 1, San Jose 0. Highlights
May 26
Seattle 0, Real Salt Lake 1. Highlights
Toronto FC 0, FC Dallas 1. Highlights
Houston 3, New York City FC 1. Highlights
Vancouver 3, New England 3. Highlights
Orlando City 1, Chicago 2. Highlights
Minnesota United 2, Montreal 0. Highlights
NY Red Bulls 0, Philadelphia 0. Highlights
Los Angeles FC 1, D.C. United 1. Highlights
Colorado 2, Portland 3. Highlights
May 27
Sporting KC 0, Columbus 0. Highlights
Only MLS results are factored into the Power Rankings, which include a teams record (W-L-T) in parentheses and rank last week.
1. SPORTING KC (7-2-4), 1. A few flat performances and stifling heat bogged down the SKC efforts to score against 10 men during a frustrating second half.
2. NY RED BULLS (7-3-1), 2. Defender Tim Parker cleared a shot off the goal line and the Red Bulls were fortunate a four-game winning streak ended with a tie instead of a loss.
3. PORTLAND (6-2-3), 4. A pair of goals eight minutes apart by Samuel Armenteros propelled the Timbers to their sixth consecutive victory.
4. ATLANTA UNITED (8-3-1), 3. A weekend off sets up AUFC to play New England on Wednesday.
5. HOUSTON (5-3-3), 8. The Dynamo impressively rolled past NYCFC despite falling behind in the sixth minute and is unbeaten in its last four games. Tomas Martinez (scorer of the winner) and Alberth Elis (notched the clincher) were particularly dangerous.
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6. COLUMBUS (7-3-4), 9. Crew SC banded together after a red card to Federico Higuain in first-half stoppage time left it down to 10 men. Zach Steffen came up with a couple of big saves and got enough help to nail down a fifth consecutive shutout.
7. LOS ANGELES FC (6-3-3), 7. LAFC survived most of the second half playing 10-against-11 trying to protect a Diego Rossi goal shortly before halftime but didn’t get to the finish line.
8. NEW YORK CITY FC (7-3-3), 5. The goal scored by David Villa was his fourth in the last three games and his sixth in the last five. Now for the bad news: NYCFC has conceded at least two goals in five of its last seven games.
9. FC DALLAS (5-1-5), 10. The penalty-kick denial of Sebastian Giovinco made all the highlight clips, yet Jesse Gonzalez was solid throughout the 90 minutes on his birthday. Max Urruti scored his fourth goal in as many games and leads the team with six.
10. NEW ENGLAND (5-4-3), 11. The Revs led 2-0 and 3-2 but seldom looked secure defensively. Cristian Penilla scored his fifth goal and Teal Bunbury bagged his sixth.
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11. PHILADELPHIA (4-5-3), 13. A penalty kick squandered by C.J. Sapong and a clean chance that Marcus Epps could have converted left the Union frustrated, but still with seven points in the last three games.
12. VANCOUVER (4-5-5), 12. Three goals by Cristian Techera brought the ‘Caps a fourth straight tie. He landed six of seven shots on goal.
13. L.A. GALAXY (5-6-1), 14. The scoring streak of Ola Kamara ended at four games but Roman Alessandrini turned a half-chance into a powerful low shot to earn the win. That was the Galaxy’s only shot on goal.
14. REAL SALT LAKE (5-6-1), 16. RSL responded with a huge effort to down the Sounders with a first pro goal by Sebastian Saucedo. RSL had not won in Seattle since 2012.
15. CHICAGO (4-6-2), 19. The ageless one, Alan Gordon, drove a 30-yarder into the top corner to present keeper Pat McLain (five saves), playing his first MLS minutes in 19 months, with his first league victory.
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16. ORLANDO CITY (6-5-1), 7. The losing streak reached three after the Lions failed to build on Cristian Higuita’s equalizer in the 28th minute. The home record is 4-3-1, which means only nine more games at home and 13 on the road.
17. TORONTO FC (3-7-1), 15. If you’re getting the impression TFC is edging toward an abyss, you’re not alone. It was another night of bad omens along with a bad result: Sebastian Giovinco failed to convert a penalty kick.
18. D.C. UNITED (2-5-3), 20. United plugged away with a man advantage to get a Darren Mattocks equalizer in the 84th minute.
19. MINNESOTA UNITED (5-7-1), 21. The Loons took command early in the second half with goals six minutes apart from Cristian Ramirez and Miguel Ibarra to halt a three-game winless slide.
20. SEATTLE (2-6-2), 17. Another injury took down Handwalla Bwana in the 33rd minute and already without seven regulars the Sounders could not match the goal they conceded just after the hour mark.
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21. COLORADO (2-7-2), 18. A dismal display at home in which the Rapids’ two goals came from an own goal and penalty kick in the ninth minute of stoppage time.
22. SAN JOSE (2-7-3), 22. The Quakes generated one shot on goal which was deflected onto the woodwork by former employee David Bingham.
23. MONTREAL (3-10-0), 23. Four losses in a row, eight defeats in the last nine games.
