{"id":4654,"date":"2011-05-06T19:32:54","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T23:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2011-05-06T19:33:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T23:33:24","slug":"mls-rankings-week-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4654","title":{"rendered":"MLS Rankings: Week 7"},"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 (+1) \u2013 New York Red Bulls <\/strong>(4-1-2, 14 points) \u2013There\u2019s a new sheriff in town! Salt Lake\u2019s CCL hangover has cost them their place at the head of the table as the Red Bulls have charged to the top \u00a0riding a three-game win streak. (Brian \u2013 1) \u2026 Winners of three in a row and both the offense and defense are clicking. (Sean \u2013 1)<\/p>\n

2 (-1) – Real Salt Lake <\/strong>(4-1-0, 12 points) \u2013 Dropped a tough one to the expansion Timbers in the wake of their CCL lost to Monterrey. They\u2019ll be back at the top soon, but they take a bow this week. (Brian \u2013 2) \u2026 Dropped a tough match at Portland, but one can hardly fault RSL for needing some time to recover from their CCL journey. (Sean \u2013 2)<\/p>\n

T3 – Los Angeles Galaxy<\/strong> (4-2-3, 15 points) \u2013 Fall to the David Ferreira-less FC Dallas. Despite the loss, the Galaxy have been much better with Donovan back in the fold. (Brian \u2013 3) \u2026 Would\u2019ve expected better against a weakened FC Dallas side. (Sean \u2013 4)<\/p>\n

T3 (+1) \u2013 Philadelphia Union <\/strong>(4-1-1, 13 points) \u2013 It\u2019s been tough to gauge how good the Union are given how many games they still have in hand. A 1-0 win over a non-stellar side like San Jose doesn\u2019t make it any easier. (Brian \u2013 4) \u2026 Philadelphia are the surprise of the season and they keep getting results. (Sean \u2013 3)<\/p>\n

5 (+1) \u2013 Colorado Rapids<\/strong> (4-3-1, 13points) \u2013 The champs have gone winless in their last four and need to start scoring goals to earn some respect. Until then, the haters will keep on hating. Not that I\u2019m one of them. (Brian \u2013 6) \u2026 Win over Houston on Wednesday gets the Rapids back on track after a rough patch. (Sean \u2013 5)<\/p>\n

6 (-1) \u2013 Houston Dynamo<\/strong> (3-2-3, 12 points) \u2013 Don\u2019t look now, but Dominic Kinnear\u2019s side is suddenly making its way up the Eastern Conference standings. Will Bruin\u2019s been on fire, and it looks as if all the parties in the Dynamo machine are starting to click. (Brian- 5) \u2026 The Dynamo have been quietly sneaking up the standings, that is until the defending MLS Champs gave them a rude awakening on Wednesday. (Sean \u2013 7)<\/p>\n

7 (+2) \u2013 Columbus Cre<\/strong>w (3-1-3, 12 points)\u2013 OK, I admit it: I\u2019ve probably hated on the Crew more than the average MLS pundit. But, now I\u2019m starting to come around: the Crew are legit. Undefeated in its last five, the black and yellow (or should it be yellow and black?) are back. (Brian \u2013 7) \u2026 What\u2019s that? The Crew are unbeaten in five? The team so many wrote off at the start of the season may not be so bad after all. (Sean \u2013 6)<\/p>\n

T8 (+2) \u2013 FC Dallas<\/strong> (3-3-1, 10 points) \u2013 This team is turning a corner. After their 3-0 shocker over Colorado last month, Dallas has finally started to resemble the team that clinched an MLS Cup berth last year. (Brian \u2013 9) \u00a0\u2026 Dallas started the season in shockingly bad form, but wins in their past two and three of their last four has them right back in the thick of things. (Sean \u2013 8 )<\/p>\n

T8 (-2) \u2013 Seattle Sounders<\/strong> (3-3-3, 12 points) \u2013 Impressive 3-0 win over Toronto may indicate the Sounders aren\u2019t as lost without Steve Zakuani as previously thought. Watch out for Seattle this summer. (Brian \u2013 8 ) \u2026 The Sounders look to have been turning things around, but a tough road loss to D.C. sets them back a bit. (Sean \u2013 9)<\/p>\n

T10 (+1) \u2013 D.C. United<\/strong> (3-4-1, 10 points) \u2013 I still don\u2019t know what to make of D.C. One week, they\u2019re really good. Next week, they\u2019re the worst team in MLS. Ben Olsen needs his boys to ride high longer to make a legitimate case that they should be feared. (Brian \u2013 11) \u00a0\u2026 Inconsistent, but a win over Seattle should give them confidence. (Sean \u2013 10)<\/p>\n

T10 \u00a0(+2) \u2013 Portland Timbers<\/strong> (3-3-1, 10 points) \u2013 Impressive win over RSL, the Timbers have climbed their way up the standings as their defending improves. (Brian \u2013 10) \u2026 Portland is building quite the home field advantage, unfortunately they still can\u2019t get results on the road. (Sean \u2013 11)<\/p>\n

12 (+4) \u2013 Chivas USA<\/strong> (2-2-3, 9 points) \u2013 After the Goats kicked around the Revs Saturday night, Chivas may be the ultimate sleeper this season. Five games unbeaten and an attack that\u2019s finally shown some life may mean big(ger) things poppin\u2019 in SoCal this summer. (Brian \u2013 12) \u2026 I\u2019m still far from sold on Chivas, but they\u2019ve been getting it done lately. (Sean -12)<\/p>\n

13 (-5) \u2013 New England Revolution <\/strong>(2-2-3, 9) \u2013 Humiliated by Chivas thanks to a surprising case of overconfidence (after beating SKC? Really, Revs?), the Revs need to reassert themselves this weekend against the rejuvenated Rapids. (Brian \u2013 13) \u2026 Things were looking up in New England, but a crushing defeat at Chivas USA shows the Revs are far from ready for prime time (Sean \u2013 13)<\/p>\n

T14 \u2013 Chicago Fire<\/strong> (1-3-3, 6 points) \u2013 Speaking of underperforming teams \u2013 what is going on in Chi-town? Two draws kept them out of the loss column, but they\u2019ve got to start winning some ballgames. (Brian \u2013 15) \u2026 A road draw in Colorado is never easy, but the Fire will need more than that to break out of their slump. (Sean \u2013 14)<\/p>\n

T14 (-1) \u2013 Toronto FC<\/strong> (1-3-4, 7 points) \u2013 It\u2019s been awhile since the Reds have found the win column. Conversely, it\u2019ll be awhile until the Reds can honestly consider themselves more than just another underperforming team. (Brian \u2013 14) \u2026 That Toronto is in 15th<\/sup> is a testament to just how atrocious the teams below them have been. With their roster it\u2019s going to be a long season. (Sean \u2013 15)<\/p>\n

16 (+1) \u2013 Vancouver Whitecaps<\/strong> (1-4-3, 6 points) \u2013 Atrocious defending has kept the \u2018Caps from proving that they\u2019re a contender this season. (Brian \u2013 16) \u2026 One point in their last four games and a series of dire performances has sucked the optimism out of Vancouver (Sean \u2013 16)<\/p>\n

17 (+1) \u2013 San Jose Earthquakes <\/strong>(1-4-2, 5 points)\u2013 The season is starting to slide down fast in San Jose. It\u2019s not the defending \u2013 it\u2019s the goal scoring, or lack thereof, that\u2019s the problem. Chris Wondowloswki can\u2019t do it alone, fellas. (Brian \u2013 17) \u2026 Three losses in a row puts San Jose near the bottom. Shocking considering their solid season in 2010. (Sean \u2013 17)<\/p>\n

18 (-4) \u2013 Sporting Kansas City <\/strong>(1-4-1, 4 points) \u2013 The road\u2019s been painfully unkind to Omar Bravo and his barnstormers. Once they settle into the state of the art LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, I fully expect them to rebound. (Brian \u2013 18) \u2026Three losses in a row and one point in the past five games? Weren\u2019t people picking this team to make the playoffs? (Sean – 18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally there’s a change at the top. New York claims the throne. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4657,"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\/2011\/05\/rbnylogo.jpg?fit=490%2C225&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4654"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4659,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4654\/revisions\/4659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}