{"id":4738,"date":"2011-05-14T18:15:08","date_gmt":"2011-05-14T22:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4738"},"modified":"2011-05-14T18:16:03","modified_gmt":"2011-05-14T22:16:03","slug":"mls-rankings-week-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=4738","title":{"rendered":"MLS Rankings: Week 8"},"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> \u2013 New York Red Bulls<\/strong> (4-1-3, 15 points) \u2013 A draw to L.A. in the so-called Match of the Season (so far) may have been a letdown, but the Red Bulls still look strong. (Brian \u2013 1) \u2026 Getting a point on the road against Los Angeles in a back and forth affair is enough to keep New York on top. (Sean \u2013 1)<\/p>\n

2 <\/strong>– Real Salt Lake <\/strong>(5-1-0, 15 points) \u2013 Squeak by Chivas, but lose Javier Morales in the process. When it rains, it pours, even in Salt Lake City. (Brian \u2013 2) \u2026 Quickly back to their winning ways, but how will they handle the loss of Morales? The league\u2019s deepest team will be tested again. (Sean \u2013 2)<\/p>\n

3<\/strong> – Los Angeles Galaxy<\/strong> (4-2-5, 17 points) \u2013 Go head to head with New York and get a point in the process. However, they\u2019ll have to widen their goal differential to keep their spot in the top 5. (Brian \u2013 3) \u2026 Winless in their last three, LA needs to start victories if they are to have any hope of holding off Salt Lake at the top of the conference.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong> (-1) \u2013 Philadelphia Union<\/strong> (4-2-2, 14 points) \u2013 Their defending has been outstanding. Their attack? Not so much. Philly\u2019s gotta find a way to score some goals if they harbor any hopes of getting to the top of the conference. \u00a0(Brian \u2013 4) \u2026 It\u2019s amazing that the team with league\u2019s worst offense statistically has been as successful as they have. (Sean \u2013 4)<\/p>\n

5 <\/strong>\u2013 Colorado Rapids<\/strong> (4-3-2, 14 points) \u2013 Beat Houston and blank the Revs on the road. Goodbye April, hello May. (Brian – 5) \u2026 Seem to be getting back to form, but still only one win in their last six matches. (Sean \u2013 5)<\/p>\n

6<\/strong> (+1) \u2013 Columbus Crew <\/strong>(3-1-4, 13 points) \u2013 Draw to Seattle extends Columbus\u2019 unbeaten streak to seven as they leapfrog the Dynamo in the standing. (Brian \u2013 6) \u2026 You\u2019d expect more from Columbus than a home draw with how they\u2019ve been playing, but the Crew have still been one of the surprises of the young season so far.<\/p>\n

T7<\/strong> (-1) \u2013 Houston Dynamo<\/strong> (3-3-3, 12 points) \u2013 Devastating back to back losses \u2013 including one to Toronto \u2013 has the Houston tipping its hat out of the Top 5. (Brian \u2013 7) \u2026 Houston are beginning to look like the dreadful team of last season. (Sean \u2013 9)<\/p>\n

T7 <\/strong>(+3) \u2013 Portland Timbers<\/strong> (4-3-1, 13 points) \u2013 Remain unbeaten at home with a solid 1-0 win over Philly. They\u2019ve come a long way since the start of the season. (Brian \u2013 8 ) \u2026 Four wins in their last five games, but still haven\u2019t shown they can succeed on the road. (Sean \u2013 8 )<\/p>\n

T7 <\/strong>(+1) \u2013 FC Dallas<\/strong> (4-3-2, 14 points) \u2013 Settle for 0-0 draw to D.C. in a game in which clearly nothing was working for FCD. (Brian \u2013 9) \u2026 Expected more against D.C., but Dallas pulled off a victory at Toronto and is now unbeaten in four games. (Sean \u2013 7)<\/p>\n

10<\/strong> (-2) \u2013 Seattle Sounders<\/strong> (3-3-4, 13 points) \u00a0\u2013 Claiming a road point to a resurgent C-bus is another point in the right direction for the Sounders, but it\u2019s obvious they\u2019re not firing on all cylinders. (Brian \u2013 10) \u2026 Good result after losing Zakauni. Should be interesting to see if they can be successful without him as the season goes. (Sean -10)<\/p>\n

11<\/strong> (-1) \u2013 D.C. United<\/strong> (3-4-2, 11 points) \u2013 Another week, another inconsistent performance. Silver lining was the fact that they didn\u2019t allow a goal. (Brian \u2013 11) \u2026 Still struggling to find their identity this season. (Sean \u2013 11)<\/p>\n

12<\/strong> (+1) \u2013 New England Revolution<\/strong> (2-3-4, 10 points) \u2013 Midfield plays miles better against Colorado, but the goals are nowhere to be found. They need Marko Perovic back ASAP. (Brian – 12) \u2026 Shutout in four of the last five games, New England needs some serious work on offense. (Sean \u2013 12)<\/p>\n

T13 <\/strong>(+1) \u2013 Toronto FC <\/strong>(2-4-4, 10 points) \u2013 Took a surprising victory over Houston thanks to Joao Plata. They still need more consistency on the attack. (Brian \u2013 13) \u2026 Pulled out a victory over the weekend, but returned to form with a loss to Dallas on Wednesday. (Sean \u2013 14)<\/p>\n

T13<\/strong> (-1) \u2013 Chivas USA <\/strong>(2-3-3, 9 points) – Loss to Salt Lake darkened further by Marcos Mondaini\u2019s tackle on Morales, which probably kept it as close as it was. (Brian \u2013 14) \u2026 Picked up an expected loss to Salt Lake, but have been unbeaten in the four games prior. (Sean \u2013 13)<\/p>\n

15 <\/strong>(-1) – Chicago Fire<\/strong> (1-3-4, 7 points) \u2013 When will Chicago realize its potential? Another week, another wasted opportunity to collect three points. (Brian \u2013 15) \u2026 Here is where stats can be deceiving; Chicago is unbeaten in their last three games, but more importantly winless in their last six. Chicago\u2019s getting closer, but can\u2019t find a way to get three points. (Sean \u2013 15)<\/p>\n

16 <\/strong>\u2013 Vancouver Whitecaps<\/strong> (1-4-5, 8 points) \u2013 Get its first road point at Chicago, but were fortunate that the Fire were unlucky all night. (Brian \u2013 16) \u2026 Two consecutive ties for the Whitecaps, whose defense is finally clicking, but the offense has now disappeared. (Sean \u2013 16)<\/p>\n

17 <\/strong>\u2013 San Jose Earthquakes<\/strong> (1-4-3, 6 points) \u2013 Things like the attack and overreliance on Chris Wondolowski need to change for the better if San Jose hopes to turn it around. (Brian \u2013 17) \u2026 Got a road draw at Vancouver, but it\u2019s not enough to move them up the rankings. (Sean \u2013 17)<\/p>\n

18<\/strong> \u2013 Sporting Kansas Cit<\/strong>y (1-4-1, 4 points) \u2013 Idle last week. Hey, at least they didn\u2019t lose! (Brian \u2013 18) \u2026 They have plenty of games in hand and hopefully some time off will have done them good. (Sean \u2013 18)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"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. 1 \u2013 New York Red Bulls (4-1-3, 15 […]<\/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\/4738"}],"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=4738"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4740,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4738\/revisions\/4740"}],"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=4738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}