MLS Power Rankings: Timbers' tie retains first place
- by Ridge Mahoney @ridgemax, Jul 17, 2018
Behind the Timbers, FC Dallas held second by winning its game and New York City FC jumped up to third by bagging two victories. D.C. United opened up Audi Field by presenting Wayne Rooney and beating the Whitecaps, 3-1. Philadelphia and the Galaxy were the only teams to win on the road. The 13 games produced an average of 3.2 goals per game (42 total) despite a pair of 0-0 ties.
MLS, Week 20:
July 11
Chicago 3, Philadelphia 4. Highlights
New York City FC 3, Montreal 0. Highlights
July 14
FC Dallas 3, Chicago 1. Highlights
New England 2, LA Galaxy 3. Highlights
Colorado 0, Houston 0. Highlights
NY Red Bulls 3, Sporting KC 2. Highlights
D.C. United 3, Vancouver 1. Highlights
Minnesota United 3, Real Salt Lake 2. Highlights
Montreal 2, San Jose 0. Highlights
Orlando City 2, Toronto FC 1. Highlights
NYCFC 2, Columbus 0. Highlights
July 15
Atlanta United 1, Seattle 1. Highlights
LAFC 0, Portland 0. Highlights
Only MLS results are counted in the Power Rankings, which include a team’s record in parentheses (W-L-T) and rank last week.
1. PORTLAND (8-3-6), 1. Four ties in the last six games have slowed the Timbers’ momentum, but they are still unbeaten in the last dozen. A shot by Samuel Armenteros hit the post and the Timbers placed another half-dozen attempts on target without reward.
2. FC DALLAS (11-3-5), 2. It’s been a rocky season for Kellyn Acosta, but five minutes after replacing goalscorer Carlos Gruezo he drilled the winning goal from distance. Brandt Bronico iced the victory with his first MLS goal in the final minutes.
3. NEW YORK CITY FC (12-4-4), 6. Two shutouts against conference rivals improved NYCFC’s home record to a league-best 10-0-1. Jonathan Lewis broke open the Crew SC game by intercepting a poor clearance and latching onto the rebound of his own shot to slot a pass Jesus Medina converted. Against Montreal Lewis and Medina scored 16 minutes apart with Ronald Matarrita netting in-between.
4. ATLANTA (12-4-5), 3. The league record book opened once again to add a single-game attendance of 72,243. Said folks witnesses a fierce battle in which AUFC rallied with Josef Martinez’s league-high 19th goal to grab a point.
5. LAFC (10-4-5), 4. LAFC ran its league unbeaten streak to six games though it was blanked after scoring 15 goals in the previous five matches. Carlos Vela took four shots and created three chances in his first start since returning from World Cup duty.
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6. NY RED BULLS (11-5-2), 6. A see-saw game ended in the Red Bulls’ favor. Chris Armas is just barely into his tenure as head coach, but his call for sub Marc Rzatkowski produced the tying and winning goals.
7. LA GALAXY (8-7-4), 9. An equalizer and stoppage-time winner made it a very good day for Chris Pontius and the Galaxy, which trailed, 2-1, as regulation time expired but got goals by Dave Romney and Pontius (both set up by Roman Alessandrini) to up their take in the last six matches to a dozen points. Zlatan Ibrahimovic stayed home to avoid playing on turf.
8. NEW ENGLAND (7-5-7), 5. The Revs went down a man in the 23rd minute (Cristian Penilla straight red card) but got goals by Diego Fagundez and Luis Caicedo to take a lead they couldn’t hang onto. The unbeaten streak ended at seven games.
9. HOUSTON (7-6-5), 8. The Dynamo posted a second straight shutout for the first time this season and has a modest yet valuable haul of five points from the past three games.
10. MONTREAL (9-12-0), 14. Getting well at home against the Quakes is no great shakes, yet the Impact did just that to post its fifth win in the last six games. Saphir Taider struck in the eighth minute and Ignacio Piatti bagged his 10th goal of the season near the end.
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11. SPORTING KC (9-5-6), 10. SKC did the spadework by digging out of a 1-0 hole with goals by Johnny Russell and Roger Espinoza, then slid back into the pit by conceding twice within seven minutes. That’s 11 goals conceded in the last four games, none of them victories.
12. REAL SALT LAKE (9-9-2), 12. A late rally with two Joao Plata goals didn’t affect the result and head coach Mike Petke went ballistic in postgame comments. He apologized the next day for swearing but not for his comments regarding the referees.
13. COLUMBUS (8-7-6), 11. Is a fourth loss in five games simply the type of poor run that befalls most teams, or is Crew SC really on the skids long-term? They have Orlando City at home this weekend to answer the questions presented in recent weeks.
14. VANCOUVER (7-8-5), 13. A great goal by Alphonso Davies well into stoppage time was all the caps had to show for a long road trip for a stadium unveiling. They’ve lost three of the last four.
15. SEATTLE (4-9-5), 16. The Sounders rode out the final 27 minutes a man down (Jordan McCrary, second caution) thanks to a dogged effort and a couple of big saves by Stefan Frei.
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16. D.C. UNITED (3-7-5), 17. New stadium (Audi Field) and new star player (Wayne Rooney) got the pre-game buildup; attacker Paul Arriola got the three points by scoring twice.
17. MINNESOTA UNITED (7-11-1), 18. The Loons ran up a 3-0 lead with all the goals scored during a 17-minute span, then held on to win their second game in the last three. The hat trick hero of last week, Darwin Quintero scored again, as did Miguel Ibarra, whose double-block in the first half kept the game goalless.
18. PHILADELPHIA (7-9-3), 20. Ex-Fire attacker David Accam picked the perfect moment to score his first Philly goal: against his former team with the score 3-3 in stoppage time, and just a minute after the Fire had equalized. Corey Burke bagged two more goals and with four in very limited duty looks like the starter up front for the time being.
19. COLORADO (4-11-4), 21. Keeper Tim Howard and defender Kortne Ford led the way to a shutout but the offense couldn’t measure up while generating just 10 shots (three on target).
20. CHICAGO (6-10-5), 15. In stoppage time Bastian Schweinsteiger scored the third of three equalizers and a minute late the Fire watched Accam fire home the winner. The club announced it had bought up the loan of Aleksandar Katai, who scored its second goal, earlier in the day.
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21. ORLANDO CITY (7-11-5), 23. The Lions brought new head coach James O’Connor his first MLS win by toppling the champion. Dom Dwyer nailed a shot that caused a rebound for Chris Schuler to bang into the net, and with another blast from distance notched the game-winner himself. Changes included the benching of Joe Bendik and Justin Meram. Nine-game losing streak? Over.
22. TORONTO FC (4-11-4), 19. TFC trailed, 2-0, early in the second half and didn’t score until Nick Hagglund’s goal well into stoppage time. A bobble by keeper Alex Bono resulted in OCSC’s first goal. In losing four of the last five, TFC has conceded 11 goals.
23. SAN JOSE (2-11-6), 22. Head coach Mikael Stahre replaced Anibal Godoy (who had been cautioned, again) before halftime and then also subbed out substitute Fatai Alashe, reportedly for an injury. The Quakes completed 87 percent of their passes but seldom threatened while chasing an early goal they conceded.
