Previous ranking: 1
The Black and Gold got a week off for the CONCACAF Champions League.
Previous ranking: 2
The Sounders won’t be particularly happy about leaving Salt Lake with just one point and no goals, but they did record their sixth clean sheet of the season. That’s as many as they had all of last year.
Previous ranking: 4
The Garys’ attack is finally starting to find a little juice and, although they’ve been leaky of late, their defense should be fine. A draw in New England is a solid result and there’s reason to believe Cincy is moving in the right direction.
Previous ranking: 5
Gillette Stadium was rocking and the Revs were probably a little unlucky to have to settle for a draw with Cincy, but Dylan Borrero’s injury could present a very big problem for New England. Fingers crossed it looked worse than it is.
Previous ranking: 8
Score early, choke teams out defensively and get the ball to Mukhtar on the break to put the match away with counterattacks. Atlanta was the latest victim of the Nashville blueprint.
Previous ranking: 3
Saturday’s loss to Portland was its worst performance of the season, but it wasn’t the first time we saw a team concede possession then hit St. Louis with quick, direct play. Teams are starting to adjust to City’s preferred style of play and exploit weaknesses. That was bound to happen eventually and now we’ll wait to see what response Bradley Carnell has.
Previous ranking: 6
The Crew’s bad stretch continued with a loss to a skidding Miami team, but Hernández did return and score. Now it’s time to regain their form.
Previous ranking: 7
The Five Stripes are a good team, but they didn’t look it in Nashville and they remain too dependent on striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, who was out hurt. With attacking midfield dynamo Thiago Almada likely leaving in the summer, they need to find more ways to create chances.
Previous ranking: 9
The Quakes didn’t look particularly good in Austin, but they still managed a point. That’s the type of base-level competence that this team has shown all season and is setting it up to be the club’s best in a decade.
Previous ranking: 10
Go to Minnesota and take a point? Job done. That’s the type of work that has Dallas rightfully fourth in the West.
Previous ranking: 11
What do you make of the Loons? They drew Dallas, but probably should have won. They still haven’t won a match at home this season, but their win in St. Louis is one of the most impressive by any team this season. They can’t break down teams and Emanuel Reynoso would solve that, but the tales of trying to get him back to St. Paul get weirder by the report. Everything about MNUFC makes you think that they could rush up to the top of the league or plummet out of a playoff spot depending on how you frame it. Just a bizarre team thus far.
Previous ranking: 12
The Dynamo got to take the weekend off. Hopefully, they treated themselves to some good food.
Previous ranking: 13
Vancouver carried the play and created chances against Colorado, as they have often this season, but they still didn’t quite make it count enough and that’s why they had to rely on a Yohei Takaoka penalty save to preserve the draw.
Previous ranking: 15
The plan in Orlando was for Facundo Torres, Ercan Kara and Martín Ojeda to spearhead the attack. They finally did that Saturday, and if the win over the Galaxy was a sign of what’s to come, watch out.
