Previous ranking: 1
It’s no surprise that the Sounders were able to capably handle the St. Louis press. They are, after all, one of the best teams on the ball in the league. What was eye-opening is how many second balls they won, showing off a pace and physicality that, combined with their skill on the ball, makes Seattle truly exceptional. The Sounders dismantled a good City side 3-0.
Previous ranking: 2
Denis Bouanga is living up to the designated player tag and then some, scoring a hat trick to beat Austin and push his goal total to six on the season. Last season’s finishing struggles are but a speck in the rearview mirror now.
Previous ranking: 3
The Garys showed, once again, they have the ability to grind out a win in beating Philly 1-0, but the attack still hasn’t found its footing and now Luciano Acosta is going to be out for a bit with a shoulder injury. They’ve needed only one goal to win each of their past three, at least.
Previous ranking: 6
How do you cope without Cucho Hernandez? By having Christian Ramirez as your backup. Oh, and Lucas Zelarayan behind him. Plus Darlington Nagbe in midfield. And Aidan Morris already playing like one of the best No. 6s in MLS. Wilfried Nancy is one hell of a coach, and he’s got a lot of toys to play with, as D.C. found out this week.
Previous ranking: 4
The schedule cranked up, the team had to play opponents that were well suited to handling the press and St. Louis took back-to-back losses. Last week it was Minnesota, this week Seattle. Plan A may work against most teams in the league, but what happens against the sides that can pass and exploit space? Now we’ll see how the team evolves, and what Plan B is.
Previous ranking: 5
What happens when Nashville isn’t afforded chances on the counter? That’s a question we continue to have about this team and what separates it from the very top sides in the league. But not being able to get much going and still walking away with a point against a solid TFC side is also proof of the very high floor this team has.
Previous ranking: 7
The Five Stripes played the last half hour with 10 men after Franco Ibarra’s red card and probably still deserved to walk away with the win over NYCFC. They’ll take the point, though.
Previous ranking: 8
Stop if you’ve heard this one before: Dallas was playing really well and should have been up multiple goals, but it led by just one and had to hang on for dear life late. Fortunately for Dallas, VAR did it a solid so it didn’t concede a 98th-minute penalty and left Miami with a win.
Previous ranking: 10
The Revs were this week’s beneficiary of the CF Montreal Bump™, in which whoever plays CFM comes out of the weekend with a giant bump in analytics, as well as three points.
Previous ranking: 9
The loss had to come eventually, but you wouldn’t have expected it to come because of the breakdowns at the back the team experienced in Chicago.
Previous ranking: 11
The Lions got the week off before heading to Minnesota next week.
Previous ranking: 12
The Quakes drew RBNY, but the match was beset by a Red Bull player allegedly uttering a racial slur. Make time to listen to Jeremy Ebobisse’s comments afterward.
Previous ranking: 14
At some point TFC will have to turn these draws into wins, but it should be content with its scoreless tussle against Nashville. Toronto showed the ability to not just keep the ball, but also dictate where on the pitch the game would be played without exposing itself to the counters that Nashville usually obliterates teams with. It was an overall mature showing from a Reds side that is still growing.
Previous ranking: 19
For the second week in a row, the Caps turned that good play in the first two thirds into a little something in the final third. With two straight wins, the latest over Portland, Vancouver’s place in the table is starting to look more like the pretty good team the analytics have been saying it is. The question now is what happens when the schedule toughens up?
