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The Mane Land MLS Power Rankings: Week 18

Published

9 years ago

July 7, 2015

Jeff Milby

You know what I love about the Fourth of July (besides the BBQ, booze, fireworks, Americana, and weather)? The fact that nearly every MLS game has a good crowd that day. Perennially sucky crowds in Dallas and Colorado actually showed up to games this week, and the crowd in LA didn't even leave until the 87th minute. What a day for American soccer.

1. Sporting Kansas City (Last Week: 2)

Kansas City is eight points back of D.C., and is currently in seventh in the Supporter's Shield standings. So why are they first? SKC has games in hand on everyone in front of them, including five on D.C., and is leading the league in points per game.

2. D.C. United (Last Week: 1)

3. Portland Timbers (Last Week: 4)

4. LA Galaxy (Last Week: 5)

Now might be a bad time to shake up the Galaxy lineup. It seems that they are beginning to hit their stride but, with the addition of Steven Gerrard and potentially Giovani dos Santos, they may be shaking things up too much. Bringing in so many strong egos into a team mid-season may just be subtraction by addition.

5. FC Dallas (Last Week: 7)

6. Vancouver Whitecaps (Last Week: 3)

Is it possible for a team that is in such close contention (third place in the Shield standings) to be more forgettable? I don't even think about Vancouver playing every week, and then I'll see their name on MLS Live and think, "Oh yeah, Vancouver is good this year."

7. San Jose Earthquakes (Last Week: 8)

8. Seattle Sounders (Last Week: 9)

Nothing about Seattle’s game with D.C. makes sense to me. Seattle looked like they were reeling in the absence of their two big stars, and D.C. is leading the league. I suppose that goes to show how significant Osvaldo Alonso and that Fabian Espindola red card was to Seattle.

This could potentially have been an MLS Cup Final preview, but I don't think anyone would want to see a Dempsey/Martins/Espindola-less final.

9. Toronto FC (Last Week: 6)

Toronto got smoked by the champs, but this isn’t the real Toronto. With Jozy and Michael Bradley out for the Gold Cup, the burden on Sebastian Giovinco’s tiny little shoulders keeps getting heavier and heavier. However, my Google sources tell me that ants can carry between 10-50 times their own body weight, so Toronto may still be in luck.

10. Orlando City (Last Week: 11)

Orlando goes down a man on the road and comes out with points. Always an impressive feat.

11. Real Salt Lake (Last Week: 13)

12. Columbus Crew SC (Last Week: 14)

Columbus continues to show why they deserve my "Team that could really make noise, but continually fails to do so Award."

13. New York City FC (Last Week: 15)

Sal, the Fictional Sports Fan from the Bronx, on NYCFC’s road victory in Montreal: “Say, the othuh night I was sleepin’ in my reclinuh, and I heard some announcuh on the TV say dat Josh Saunders had saved Noo Yawk from some kinda damage. Did he land his plane in da Hudson rivuh or somethin’? Geez, the news with all this hyperbole.”

Apparently, Sal thought Josh Saunders saved New York the other night, and boy was he correct. Saunders poured a glass of nostalgia and reminded us all why he, not so long ago, was the starting goalkeeper on an MLS Cup winning team.

14. New York Red Bulls (Last Week: 12)

15. New England Revolution (Last Week: 10)

The Revs are the unhappy owners of the worst streak in the league, with four straight losses to their name. One win in 11 is never a good look on anybody, but when six of those 11 are losses, it looks even worse.

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