Weekly Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

*Only reflects matches played through last Sunday (9/20)

1 - New York Red Bulls (14-8-6) - Hard to fault them for losing to red hot New England and then bounced back nicely against Portland to become the first team to clinch a playoff berth this year. And for that, they're our new number one. Last Week: 4
2 - New England Revolution (13-10-7) - Lost for the first time since July 11th when they laid an egg against Montreal, but they're still 7-1-1 in their last nine. Last Week: 3
3 - LA Galaxy (13-9-8) - Remember when the Galaxy were steamrolling everyone? They haven't scored in a month. Last Week: 1
4 - FC Dallas (14-9-5) - Disappointing showing against Sporting as Dallas had their three game winning streak snapped. Last Week: 2
5 - Columbus Crew (13-9-8) - For a brief moment, the Crew sat atop the Eastern Conference. And then the Red Bulls played on Sunday. Since Will Trapp returned to the starting lineup, Columbus is 7-2-2. Last Week: 7
6 - Sporting Kansas City (12-8-8) - With a pair of goals, Benny Feilhaber now has ten on the year tying Dom Dwyer for the team lead. Feilhaber scored only 12 goals in 110 MLS appearances in his four previous MLS seasons. Last Week: 10
7 - DC United (13-11-6) - Clinched their group in Champions League action, but were tripped up by the surging Crew in league play. Last Week: 6
8 - Vancouver Whitecaps (15-11-3) - Disappointing showing against Seattle cost them the Cascadia Cup, but on the plus side, they did pull off a nice win over Olimpia in the Champions League. Last Week: 5
9 - Montreal Impact (10-11-6) - A four point week for the Impact as the Drogba train is rolling. The Impact have yet to lose a game he starts. Last Week: 13
10 - Seattle Sounders (14-13-3) - Timely win against the Caps as they won the Cascadia Cup and took advantage of down weeks for San Jose and Portland. Last Week: 11

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch - Week 29

Khiry Shelton returned to action this week and Seattle's Cristian Roldan tallied his first career MLS assist in what was another relatively quiet week for this year's SuperDraft class. Shelton hadn't appeared in a match for City since May. In other action, Chicago regular Matt Polster missed this week due to yellow card accumulation and San Jose's Fatai Alashe started a pair of matches on the back line. Here's a rundown of all the action:

CCL

13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Sub vs Olimpia, 5 mins
17 - Miguel Aguilar - DC United - Sub vs Árabe Unido, 20 mins

MLS

1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Chicago, 71 mins, 2 shots
2 - Khiry Shelton - New York City FC - Sub vs Toronto FC, 17 mins
4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs Montreal, 90 mins
4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs NYCFC, 90 mins
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Sub vs FC Dallas, 20 mins
16 - Cristian Roldan - Seattle - Sub vs Vancouver, 16 mins, 1 assist
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs Vancouver, 90 mins

Weekly Power Rankings

THE SOCCERSMITH'S MLS POWER RANKINGS

*With the light schedule last week, we skipped the power rankings so this will cover the last two weeks of games. The "last week" notes refer to two weeks ago.

1 - LA Galaxy (13-8-8) - Held scoreless by Montreal after losing to San Jose, but come on, does anyone believe these guys aren't still the favorites to win it all? Last Week: 1
2 - FC Dallas (14-8-5) - With 20 year-old Jesse Gonzalez in net, FC Dallas has won three in a row and look like a team that could challenge the Galaxy in the West. Last Week: 4
3 - New England Revolution (12-9-7) - Lee Nguyen has four assists in New England's last two matches and the Revs are winners of five in a row and are unbeaten in their last seven. Feels like last year, doesn't it? Last Week: 5
4 - New York Red Bulls (13-7-6) - Showed a lot of heart rallying from a 2-0 deficit to knock off the pesky Fire 3-2. Sacha Kljestan has an assist in five straight matches and in six of his last seven. Last Week: 2
5 - Vancouver Whitecaps (15-10-3) - They don't always look pretty, but the Caps can proudly claim they're the first team in MLS to 15 wins this season. Last Week: 3
6 - DC United (13-10-6) - United is winless in their last four after a three game winning streak. They've been outscored 9-2 during this latest stretch of games with Bill Hamid twice conceding three goals. Last Week: 6
7 - Columbus Crew (12-9-8) - Bounced back from a bad loss against Dallas to knock off the Union 2-1. Kei Kamara is the 16th player in league history to score 20 goals in a season. Last Week: 7
8 - Portland Timbers (11-9-8) - Adam Kwarasey leads MLS with 12 shutouts this season, but the better news - for U.S. fans at least - is that Darlington Nagbe is now eligible to play for the National Team. Last Week: 11
9 - San Jose Earthquakes (11-11-6) - No question San Jose's defense is much improved with the addition of Anibal Godoy, but the blown lead against Seattle could really come back to haunt them. Last Week: 9
10 - Sporting Kansas City (11-8-8) - Rough week saw Sporting pick up just one point out of a possible six and Sporting is now winless in their last five and now they'll lose Dom Dwyer to a suspension. Sporting fell apart last season around this point too. Last Week: 10

Weekly Top Tens

MLS LEADING SCORERS

1. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Columbus Crew - 20 goals, 7 assists
2. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 17 goals, 13 assists
3. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 15 goals, 7 assists
3. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 15 goals, 7 assists
5. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red bulls - 14 goals, 7 assists
6. Chris Wondolowski (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 13 goals
7. Obafemi Martins (Nigeria) - Seattle Sounders - 12 goals, 4 assists
8. Cyle Larin (Canada) - Orlando City SC - 11 goals
9. Octavio Rivero (Uruguay) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 10 goals, 3 assists
10. Fanendo Adi (Nigeria) - Portland Timbers - 10 goals, 2 assists
10. Will Bruin (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 10 goals, 2 assists

GAME WINNING GOALS

1. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone - Columbus - 6
2. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red Bulls - 5
2. Chris Rolfe (USA) - DC United - 5
2. Octavio Rivero (Uruguay) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 5
2. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 5
2. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 5
7. Clint Dempsey (USA) - Seattle Sounders - 4
7. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 4
7. Diego Fagúndez (Uruguay) - New England Revolution - 4
7. Kevin Doyle (Ireland) - Colorado Rapids - 4
7. Krisztián Németh (Hungary) - Sporting Kansas City - 4

ASSISTS

1. Benny Feilhaber (USA) - Sporting Kansas City - 14
1. Cristian Maidana (Argentina) - Philadelphia Union - 14
3. Ethan Finlay (USA) - Columbus Crew - 13
3. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 13
5. Javier Morales (Argentina) - Real Salt Lake - 10
5. Lee Nguyen (USA) - New England Revolution - 10
5. Sacha Kljestan (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 10
8. Brad Davis (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 8
9. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red Bulls - 7
9. Clint Dempsey (USA) - Seattle Sounders - 7
9. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 7
9. Federico Higuaín (Argentina) - Columbus Crew - 7
9. Harry Shipp (USA) - Chicago Fire - 7
9. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Columbus Crew - 7
9. Kwadwo Poku (Ghana) - New York City FC - 7
9. Matías Pérez García (Argentina) - San Jose Earthquakes - 7
9. Mike Grella (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 7
9. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 7

SAVES

1. Josh Saunders (Puerto Rico) - New York City FC - 97
2. David Bingham (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 92
2. Stefan Frei (Switzerland) - Seattle Sounders - 92
4. Steve Clark (USA) - Columbus Crew - 91
5. Bill Hamid (USA) - DC United - 81
5. Clint Irwin (USA) - Colorado Rapids - 81
7. David Ousted (Denmark) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 79
8. Evan Bush (USA) - Montreal Impact - 76
9. Tyler Deric (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 70
10. Adam Kwarasey (Ghana) - Portland Timbers - 65

SHUTOUTS

1. Adam Kwarasey (Ghana) - Portland Timbers - 12
2. David Ousted (Denmark) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 11
3. David Bingham (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 10
4. Stefan Frei (Switzerland) - Seattle Sounders - 9
5. Bobby Shuttleworth (USA) - New England Revolution - 8
5. Clint Irwin (USA) - Colorado Rapids - 8
5. Luis Robles (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 8
8. Bill Hamid (USA) - DC United - 7
8. Nick Rimando (USA) - Real Salt Lake - 7
8. Tim Melia (USA) - Sporting Kansas City - 7

CONCACAF FIFA RANKINGS (9/3/15)

1. Mexico (26)
2. USA (28)
3. Costa Rica (39)
4. Jamaica (52)
5. Trinidad and Tobago (54)
6. Panama (59)
7. Honduras (81)
8. Haiti (87)
9. Guatemala (98)
10. Canada (102)

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch - Week 28

Fatai Alashe scored his second goal of the season in San Jose's 1-1 draw with Seattle to highlight the rookie class's performance in Week 28. Elsewhere Cyle Larin did double duty starting for both the Canadian National Team in World Cup Qualifying and in Orlando's 3-1 win over Sporting Kansas City, while Saad Abdul-Salaam made a pair of starts for Sporting KC. Here's a rundown of all the action:

World Cup Qualifying

1 - Cyle Larin - Canada - Started vs Belize, 90 mins, 1 shot

MLS

1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City - Started vs Sporting KC, 57 mins, 1 shot
4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs Seattle, 90 mins, 1 shot, 1 goal, yellow card
7 - Matt Polster - Chicago - Started vs NYRB, 90 mins, yellow card
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Started vs Portland, 62 mins, 1 shot
12 - Saad Abdul-Salaam - Sporting KC - Started vs Orlando City, 90 mins
13 - Tim Parker - Vancouver - Started vs Colorado, 90 mins, 1 shot
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs San Jose, 90 mins, yellow card
67 - Dominique Badji - Colorado - Sub vs DC United, 26 mins

MLS Weekly Recap - Week 28

Here's this week's recap:

Vancouver's Uruguayan tandem of Octavio Rivero and Cristian Techera scored a pair of second half goals as the Caps became the first MLS team to 15 wins after knocking off the Rapids 2-0... Sporting Kansas City and Portland battled each other to a 0-0 draw despite Portland outshooting Sporting 18-8. Tim Melia made seven saves for Sporting... The Red Bulls overcame an early 2-0 deficit against their nemesis, the Chicago Fire, and came away with three points and a 3-2 win thanks to goals by Bradley Wright-Phillips, Mike Grella and Sacha Kljestan... Kei Kamara became the first player in MLS to reach 20 goals this season after scoring a pair of goals in Columbus's 2-1 win over Philadelphia... Juan Manuel Martínez made his first MLS start and helped Real Salt Lake to a 3-1 win over the Houston Dynamo. Nick Rimando made four saves and earned the 170th win of his MLS career... Rookie goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez helped FC Dallas to a third straight win as they knocked off Frank Lampard and New York City FC 2-1.  Lampard has now appeared in four matches for City, all of them losses... Steve Birnbaum scored a late equalizer as DC United salvaged a draw with the Colorado Rapids... The Impact hung with the Galaxy as keepers Evan Bush and Donovan Ricketts combined for nine saves in a 0-0 draw... The Quakes finally surrendered a goal with Anibal Godoy on the field as they lost a chance to take three points against the Sounders and ended up settling for a 1-1 draw... Lee Nguyen and Revs continued their tear winning a fifth straight and improving their unbeaten run to seven games. Nguyen has five assists in his last two matches and has 3 goals and 6 assists in his last seven... Orlando City won for the first time since August 1st as Brek Shea returned to action and came off the bench to earn the winning assist on Bryan Róchez's first MLS goal. Adrian Winter added a pair of goals for Orlando City in the win while Sporting saw Dom Dwyer sent off with a straight red late in the second half.

USMNT Friendly Commentary - Part 1 of 2

So I'm finally getting around to watching the two USMNT friendlies against Peru and Brazil (that's how it goes when you have kids). Here's my thoughts as they happen (on DVR) on both matches.

USMNT vs PERU

0' I'll be honest, I'm a little surprised to see Jozy Altidore wearing the captain's armband, especially given his rough 2015. That said, with Michael Bradley and Clint Dempsey both gone, I don't know who's a better candidate. Brad Guzan? Jermaine Jones? I guess this really isn't a veteran group out there. Hopefully he doesn't run his mouth and get sent off again. Speaking of Jermaine Jones, I still don't know how I feel about him. He definitely brings tenacity and athleticism, but I feel like it also comes with some shaky passing and a high risk of cautions. I guess when you look at the impact he has with his club team - the Revs are substantially better when he plays - it's not hard to draw a correlation to what he can do for the U.S. Anyhow, we're underway from RFK.

MLS SuperDraft Rookie Watch - Week 27

Pretty quiet week for the rookie class with only ten teams in action, but we saw the return of Clément Simonin, the 9th overall pick in the draft, who hadn't played in an MLS match since March 29th. Here's a rundown of all the action:

National Team Duty

1 - Cyle Larin - Orlando City (Canada) - Started vs Belize, 68 mins, 5 shots

MLS

4 - Fatai Alashe - San Jose - Started vs Philadelphia, 90 mins
9 - Clément Simonin - Toronto FC - Started vs Seattle, 81 mins
40 - Oniel Fisher - Seattle - Started vs Toronto, 90 mins

MLS Weekly Recap - Week 27

Here's this week's recap:

Lee Nguyen tallied three assists as the Revs took care of business, even without Jermaine Jones, again Orlando City winning 3-0... Didier Drogba announced his arrival with authority tallying a hat trick in his first MLS start as Montreal rallied from a 3-2 deficit to defeat the Chicago Fire 4-3... Toronto couldn't overcome the absences of Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore and dropped a tight one to the Seattle Sounders, 2-1. Clint Dempsey returned to action for Seattle and notched a goal and an assist in the win... Conor Casey, now 34 years old, and playing just 8 minutes for the Union in the entire month of August (a span of five matches) came off the bench against San Jose and delivered a pair of late goals to give the Union three points against the Quakes... Despite starting three midfielders age 20 of younger (Coy Craft-18, Alejando Zendejas-17 and Kellyn Acosta-20), FC Dallas controlled the match against Columbus and routed the Crew 3-0. 20 year-old keeper Jesse Gonzalez earned his second consecutive shutout win.

Four MLSers Lead Canada to World Cup Qualifying Win over Belize

It wasn't as pretty as Canadian fans might have hoped, but Canada will head into their second leg against Belize with a 3-0 advantage thanks to a pair of goals by Tosaint Ricketts. Ricketts, who plays professionally in Turkey for Boluspor, now has four goals in World Cup Qualifying having also scored twice in Canada's match-up with Dominica back in June. Four MLSers saw action in the win as Will Johnson (Portland), Cyle Larin (Orlando City) and Marcel de Jong (Sporting Kansas City) all started and Vancouver's Russell Teibert coming off the bench adding an assist. The two countries will play their second leg on September 8th in Belize.

In other action, Columbus's Justin Meram scored his first international goal for Iraq in their 5-1 win over Chinese Taipei when he converted a late penalty. Meram has four goals and five assists this year for the Crew. Meanwhile, over in Europe, Robbie Keane continues to drink from the Fountain of Youth as he scored two more goals for Ireland in Euro 2016 Qualifying as the Irish defeated Gibraltar 4-0. Keane has 67 goals for Ireland in 18 years as a member of their National Team.


The U.S. also won their Friday friendly, defeating Peru 2-1, but we'll talk more about that tomorrow.

Weekly Top Tens

MLS LEADING SCORERS

1. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Columbus Crew - 18 goals, 7 assists
2. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 17 goals, 13 assists
3. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 15 goals, 7 assists
3. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 15 goals, 7 assists
5. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red bulls - 13 goals, 7 assists
6. Chris Wondolowski (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 12 goals
7. Cyle Larin (Canada) - Orlando City SC - 11 goals
8. Obafemi Martins (Nigeria) - Seattle Sounders - 10 goals, 4 assists
9. Fanendo Adi (Nigeria) - Portland Timbers - 10 goals, 2 assists
9. Will Bruin (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 10 goals, 2 assists

GAME WINNING GOALS

1. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red Bulls - 5
1. Chris Rolfe (USA) - DC United - 5
1. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone - Columbus - 5
1. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 5
1. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 5
6. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 4
6. Kevin Doyle (Ireland) - Colorado Rapids - 4
6. Krisztián Németh (Hungary) - Sporting Kansas City - 4
6. Octavio Rivero (Uruguay) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 4
10. Alan Gordon (USA) - LA Galaxy - 3
10. Blas Pérez (Panama) - FC Dallas - 3
10. Clint Dempsey (USA) - Seattle Sounders - 3
10. Cyle Larin (Canada) - Orlando City SC - 3
10. Fanendo Adi (Nigeria) - Portland Timbers - 3
10. Giles Barnes (Jamaica) - Houston Dynamo - 3
10. Javier Morales (Argentina) - Real Salt Lake - 3
10. Jozy Altidore (USA) - Toronto FC - 3
10. Maximiliano Urruti (Argentina) - Portland Timbers - 3
10. Tesho Akindele (Canada) - FC Dallas - 3
10. Will Bruin (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 3

ASSISTS

1. Cristian Maidana (Argentina) - Philadelphia Union - 14
2. Benny Feilhaber (USA) - Sporting Kansas City - 13
2. Ethan Finlay (USA) - Columbus Crew - 13
2. Sebastian Giovinco (Italy) - Toronto FC - 13
5. Javier Morales (Argentina) - Real Salt Lake - 9
5. Sacha Kljestan (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 9
7. Brad Davis (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 8
8. Bradley Wright-Phillips (England) - New York Red Bulls - 7
8. David Villa (Spain) - New York City FC - 7
8. Federico Higuaín (Argentina) - Columbus Crew - 7
8. Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) - Columbus Crew - 7
8. Kwadwo Poku (Ghana) - New York City FC - 7
8. Mike Grella (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 7
8. Robbie Keane (Ireland) - LA Galaxy - 7

SAVES

1. Josh Saunders (Puerto Rico) - New York City FC - 92
2. David Bingham (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 90
3. Stefan Frei (Switzerland) - Seattle Sounders - 88
4. Steve Clark (USA) - Columbus Crew - 84
5. Clint Irwin (USA) - Colorado Rapids - 77
6. Bill Hamid (USA) - DC United - 76
7. David Ousted (Denmark) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 75
8. Evan Bush (USA) - Montreal Impact - 68
9. Tyler Deric (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 66
10. Adam Kwarasey (Ghana) - Portland Timbers - 63

SHUTOUTS

1. Adam Kwarasey (Ghana) - Portland Timbers - 11
2. David Bingham (USA) - San Jose Earthquakes - 10
2. David Ousted (Denmark) - Vancouver Whitecaps - 10
4. Stefan Frei (Switzerland) - Seattle Sounders - 9
5. Clint Irwin (USA) - Colorado Rapids - 8
5. Luis Robles (USA) - New York Red Bulls - 8
7. Bill Hamid (USA) - DC United - 7
7. Bobby Shuttleworth (USA) - New England Revolution - 7
7. Nick Rimando (USA) - Real Salt Lake - 7
10. Tim Melia (USA) - Sporting Kansas City - 6
10. Tyler Deric (USA) - Houston Dynamo - 6

CONCACAF FIFA RANKINGS (9/3/15)

1. Mexico (26)
2. USA (28)
3. Costa Rica (39)
4. Jamaica (52)
5. Trinidad and Tobago (54)
6. Panama (59)
7. Honduras (81)
8. Haiti (87)
9. Guatemala (98)
10. Canada (102)