{"id":5342,"date":"2011-07-07T21:55:32","date_gmt":"2011-07-08T01:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=5342"},"modified":"2011-07-07T21:55:32","modified_gmt":"2011-07-08T01:55:32","slug":"mls-rankings-week-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=5342","title":{"rendered":"MLS Rankings: Week 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week the New England Soccer Today crew will look beyond the standings to rank each of the 18 Major League Soccer (MLS) teams. This week Brian O\u2019Connell and Sean Donahue contributed rankings. Comments are followed by the ranker\u2019s name and the rank they gave that team.<\/em><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> FC Dallas<\/strong> (10-4-4, 34 points)
\nShutout victory over Columbus is their fourth win in their last five league matches. With Seattle and L.A.\u2019s scoreless draw, Dallas is my pick for the top spot. (Brian \u2013 1) \u2026 On week 3, Dallas was 16th in our rankings. Now, winners of three in a row and holders of the best point per game average in the league, Dallas is back to looking like the MLS Cup Finalists they were last season. (Sean \u2013 1)<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> (-1) Los Angeles Galaxy <\/strong>(9-2-9, 36 points)
\nAnother week, another scoreless tie. Yet, somehow, they\u2019re riding an inexplicable 11-game unbeaten streak. (Brian \u2013 2) \u2026 On their third string keeper and missing Beckham, the Galaxy still had chances to beat Seattle. They don\u2019t look like contenders yet, but then again, no one outside of Dallas does currently. (Sean – 2)<\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> (-2) Seattle Sounders<\/strong> (8-4-8, 32 points)
\nShutout on the road against debutant keeper Brian Perk. Should\u2019ve beaten a sagging Galaxy side. (Brian \u2013 3) \u2026 Blew a golden opportunity to beat a weakened Los Angeles. (Sean \u2013 3)<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> Real Salt Lake <\/strong>(7-3-6, 27 points)
\nValiantly come back to salvage a point against the Revs despite going a man down and staring at an early 2-goal deficit. (Brian \u2013 4) \u2026 Everything went against them early, yet Real Salt Lake outplayed the Revs despite being down a man and deserve a lot of credit for getting a draw. (Sean \u2013 4)<\/p>\n

5.<\/strong> (+3) Sporting Kansas City<\/strong> (5-6-6, 21 points)
\nUndefeated in their last eight, K.C.\u2019s currently the hottest team in a maddeningly mediocre Eastern Conference. (Brian \u2013 5) \u2026 Everyone was questioning K.C.\u2019s decision to play such a tough road schedule while waiting for their new home, but Sporting has already clawed their way back into a battle for a playoff spot and are easily the hottest team in the East currently. (Sean \u2013 6)<\/p>\n

6.<\/strong> (+1) New York Red Bulls <\/strong>(6-3-10, 28 points)
\nJoel Lindpere\u2019s heroics save NY from the loss column last week. But, with a five-game winless streak going, the Red Bulls need to start winning games instead of making excuses. (Brian \u2013 7) \u2026 The pieces are finally starting to fall into place for New York. Can they make a run? (Sean \u2013 5)<\/p>\n

7.<\/strong> (-1) Philadelphia Union<\/strong> (7-4-6, 27 points)
\nCome back against D.C. to salvage a point. But, it appears that Philly\u2019s stout defending is starting to soften. (Brian -6) \u2026 Mediocre June has carried over into July. (Sean \u2013 7)<\/p>\n

T8. San Jose Earthquakes<\/strong> (5-6-6, 21 points)
\nAlmost pull off the victory over NY. Even so, the Quakes are starting to put together the pieces for a run this summer. (Brian \u2013 8 ) \u2026 Great run through May and early June, but the wheels may have fallen off. (Sean \u2013 9)<\/p>\n

T8.<\/strong> (-3) Columbus Crew<\/strong> (7-5-6, 27 points)
\nUndermanned Crew fall 2-0 to Dallas may signal a brief hiccup in Columbus decent run of late. But hey, it\u2019s all good, they\u2019re in the east, and it\u2019s anyone\u2019s conference until September. (Brian \u2013 9) \u2026 Still climbing the table, with a few bumps along the way. (Sean \u2013 8 )<\/p>\n

10. D.C. United<\/strong> (4-5-7, 19 points)
\nOnce again victimized by a late goal, leaving two points on the pitch. If they could learn to hold onto a lead, D.C. might be going places. (Brian \u2013 10) \u2026 Too talented to keep dropping points. (Sean \u2013 10)<\/p>\n

11.<\/strong> (-1) Houston Dynamo<\/strong> (4-6-8, 20 points) \u2013 Tally Hall single-handedly preserves a point for the guests at Commerce City, but the attack is nowhere to be seen. (Brian – 11) \u2026 It wasn\u2019t pretty, but a point in Colorado is a positive for Houston. (Sean \u2013 11)<\/p>\n

12. Colorado Rapids<\/strong> (5-5-9, 24 points)
\nMiss out on an excellent opportunity to send the home fans happy, but fail to capitalize on their chances. Defending champs can’t seem to do much right this year – even at home. (Brian \u2013 12) … Keep blowing opportunities to get back in the win column. What will it take? (Sean \u2013 12)<\/p>\n

T13. Chicago Fire<\/strong> (2-4-12, 18 points)
\n1-1 draw to Chivas means little to big picture as the Fire remain parked in the lower rungs of the East. Draws ain\u2019t gonna cut it, fellas. (Brian – 13) \u2026 That they\u2019ve drawn two-thirds of their games shows they aren\u2019t that far off from being competitive, but at some point you have to wonder if they\u2019ll ever get there. (Sean \u2013 14)<\/p>\n

T13.<\/strong> (+1) Chivas USA<\/strong> (5-7-6, 21 points)
\nOne of the most inconsistent teams in the league. If it’s not the attack, it’s the defense. And vice versa. (Brian \u2013 14) \u00a0\u2026 Chivas is capable of the odd surprise win, but little more it seems. (Sean \u2013 13)<\/p>\n

15.<\/strong> (+1) Portland Timbers<\/strong> (5-8-3, 18 points)
\nRecent winless streak has the Timbers crashing back down to earth. I guess you can only mask a bad defense for so long. (Brian \u2013 15) \u2026 Not much positive you can say about Portland these days, but hey, Nagbe\u2019s goal was impressive! (Sean \u2013 15)<\/p>\n

T16.<\/strong> (-1) Vancouver Whitecaps<\/strong> (2-9-8, 14 points)
\nDrop a lowlight against TFC in a match of two underwhelming clubs. However, they’re not completely out of the picture just yet. (Brian \u2013 16) \u2026 Too much talent on this squad to be struggling as much as they are. (Sean \u2013 17)<\/p>\n

T16.<\/strong> (+1) New England Revolution<\/strong> (3-8-7, 16 points)
\nShowed spark against Salt Lake, but conceding a two-goal lead while a man up? Another week, another way to lose. (Brian \u2013 17) \u2026 Hard to give the Revs much credit on a game in which they should\u2019ve had in the bag in the 16th minute. Still can\u2019t score from the run of play. (Sean \u2013 16)<\/p>\n

18. Toronto FC<\/strong> (3-8-9, 18 points)
\nNick Soolsma\u2019s penalty decides an otherwise abysmal game between the Canadian delegations. (Brian \u2013 18) \u2026 As good as they are, I\u2019m not sure even Frings and Koevermans can save Toronto\u2019s season at this point. (Sean \u2013 18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FC Dallas claim the throne in our latest MLS rankings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/dallasfeature.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5343,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5342\/revisions\/5343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}