MLS Power Rankings: Orlando Closer to Top, Minnesota Cracks Top 10

The last week of play in Major League Soccer taught us that no team is invincible, especially in a busy three-game matchweek.

The Seattle Sounders dropped points at home, and the New England Revolution unexpectedly fell on the road to FC Dallas.

Even though their most recent results were not great, the overall form of both sides has been impressive.

Orlando City, Sporting Kansas City and Philadelphia Union have joined the Sounders and Revs in the discussion of the league's elite teams in recent weeks.

Minnesota United is also making a case to be in that conversation. The Loons are on one of the longest unbeaten runs in the league and have cracked the top 10 of our MLS power rankings.

Our power rankings take into account the last four performances from each squad, with the most recent one carrying more weight.

27. Chicago Fire (Previous Ranking: 26)

The Chicago Fire are officially at the bottom of the leaguewide table.

Raphael Wicky's side sputtered against FC Cincinnati in a battle of struggling Eastern Conference sides and then it fought to a 3-3 draw with Philadelphia.

The draw with the Union had some signs of life from the Fire, but they still conceded on three occasions and failed to defend their home field.

Chicago has two vital games left in its homestand against Atlanta United and Orlando City. No points from those contests might result in changes with other teams pulling themselves off the floor in the East.

     

26. Toronto FC (Previous Ranking: 22)

Toronto FC is giving Chicago a run for its money as the worst team in the league.

The Reds have slightly better overall totals with 12 goals scored compared to seven and a goal differential of minus-eight compared to minus-10.

However, the Reds' results from the last week were worse than Chicago's.

Toronto blew a 2-1 lead on the road at Nissan Stadium in a 3-2 loss to Nashville SC, and it fell in a "home game" in Orlando to FC Cincinnati.

The difference between Toronto and Chicago could become clearer on July 24 when the two sides meet.

     

25. Inter Miami (Previous Ranking: 24)

Inter Miami is making a strong case to be included with Toronto and Chicago at the bottom.

Phil Neville's side has one goal in its last four games and suffered a fourth consecutive defeat on Friday to Floridian rival Orlando City.

At least Miami owns a regular-season win over FC Cincinnati, but that is not saying much at this point since Cincinnati's 11th-place spot in the East is held up by six points against Toronto and Chicago.

     

24. Vancouver Whitecaps (Previous Ranking: 25)

The Vancouver Whitecaps were in a position to beat the Seattle Sounders on Saturday.

Marc Dos Santos' side settled for a 2-2 draw at Lumen Field after a Jimmy Medranda 71st-minute equalizer, but that result still has to be viewed as a positive because of who the opponent was.

Vancouver is still on the bottom of the West table, but Saturday's draw could be a turning point within the squad.

The Whitecaps will be the last West team to reach the 10-point mark. They could get there in their next match with FC Dallas, who, despite beating New England on Sunday, has struggled overall this season.

     

23. San Jose Earthquakes (Previous Ranking: 21)

San Jose's three victories at the start of the season feel like years ago.

The Earthquakes are mired in one of the worst runs of form in MLS with one point from their last seven games.

Matias Almeyda's side was thrashed by the Orlando City attack in a rare Tuesday night game and it was broken apart by the LA Galaxy front line on Saturday.

To make matters worse, the Quakes do not play at home again until July 24. A three-game run against Minnesota, Colorado and Sporting KC could produce more lackluster results.

    

22. FC Cincinnati (Previous Ranking: 27)

FC Cincinnati won two games in a week!

Forget that those wins came against Chicago and Toronto for a second and let's just celebrate that massive achievement.

Jaap Stam's side more than doubled its point total in fewer than seven days and could use the two results as a confidence boost moving forward.

FC Cincinnati is still far from perfect, but the players and manager can continue to fix those errors with some positive vibes running through the locker room.

    

21. FC Dallas (Previous Ranking: 23)

FC Dallas finally has something to celebrate as well after its shocking win over New England on Sunday.

Luchi Gonzalez's men bested the top team in the East through a pair of goals from Ricardo Pepi.

The 18-year-old forward doubled his season goal total with the brace that ended a six-game winless run for his club.

20. Austin FC (Previous Ranking: 17)

Austin FC needs goal-scoring help.

The expansion side own the league's worst scoring mark with six tallies over 10 matches.

Sunday's scoreless draw with the Columbus Crew extended Austin's scoreless streak to 334 minutes.

Austin has three straight home games ahead on the schedule, but they come against Portland, LAFC and Seattle, so the goals may still be hard to come by.

     

19. Real Salt Lake (Previous Ranking: 19)

Real Salt Lake has been treading water in the middle of the West standings with their string of draws.

The Claret and Cobalt played to their fourth tie of the campaign and fourth in the last six games at home on Saturday against Houston.

In the last three road draws, RSL found the back of the net at least once, so it has been somewhat productive.

However, the overall product can be better since the club has a 2-1-3 home mark that is among one of the worst in MLS.

     

18. CF Montreal (Previous Ranking: 18)

CF Montreal returned from its break with a pair of draws against D.C. United and Nashville.

The results were not bad in the context of the overall standings since Montreal is still playing home games at Inter Miami's DRV PNK Stadium.

As the summer goes on, Montreal needs to work on its production in the final third. The Canadian side has not scored multiple goals in a match in its last five contests.

    

17. D.C. United (Previous Ranking: 20)

D.C. United's road form is holding it back from being in the top five or six in the East.

The Black and Red picked up a scoreless draw in Florida against CF Montreal and lost to New York City FC at Red Bull Arena on Sunday. Both matches took place at neutral sites away from their opponents' regular home arenas.

D.C. is 1-4-1 on its travels, with its lone win coming at Inter Miami on May 29. A 2-1-1 mark in the last four is why United is up three spots.

Hernan Losada's side has looked much better on the field than the other teams below the playoff line in the East, and there is promise of a playoff berth if the road form improves.

     

16. Houston Dynamo (Previous Ranking: 16)

The Houston Dynamo were the draw kings of June.

Tab Ramos' club picked up a point from matches with LAFC, Portland and Real Salt Lake since returning from the international break.

The string of results kept the Dynamo above the red line in sixth place in the West, and they should feel good about improving their position in the coming weeks.

Houston gets to play FC Cincinnati, Vancouver and San Jose in three of its five July matches.

15. Atlanta United (Previous Ranking: 14)

Atlanta United is not as good as the top teams in the league yet, but it certainly is not among the worst teams in the league.

The Five Stripes have had the feel of a middle-of-the-pack club for most of the season as they try to work out some of their on-field issues.

Atlanta played to its third consecutive home draw on Sunday, a scoreless affair with the New York Red Bulls.

The good news for Atlanta is that Josef Martinez will be back from the Copa America soon, and it has six July games to get things on track before the stretch run of the regular season.

The Five Stripes are only one point off a playoff position, so a run of victories in the next month could put them in better shape.

      

14. Portland Timbers (Previous Ranking: 12)

Portland suffered its second home defeat of the campaign at the hands of the red-hot Minnesota United on Saturday.

The Timbers conceded a second-minute tally and failed to find the equalizer over 88 minutes at the end of a long, hot week.

Portland played to a 2-2 draw in the Texas heat on Wednesday versus the Dynamo and then had to play 90 minutes on short rest in record heat in the Pacific Northwest.

The Timbers have a full week off to rest before heading down to Q2 Stadium to play an Austin team that does not appear to have a quick fix ready in the final third for that contest.

     

13. Los Angeles FC (Previous Ranking: 13)

Los Angeles FC split its results in the last week, which is a fair enough record to keep it in position at No. 13.

LAFC took care of a weaker FC Dallas side at home on Wednesday and then fell on the road to Sporting KC on Saturday.

Both results may have been expected based on the form of the two opponents at opposite ends of the West standings.

The best news of the week for LAFC was Carlos Vela finding the back of the net for the first time in the 2-0 win over FC Dallas.

     

12. Nashville SC (Previous Ranking: 11)

Nashville SC's trademark this season has been coming from behind to steal points.

Gary Smith's side did so with two goals to earn a draw in Atlanta on May 29, and it was back at it again last week.

Luke Haakenson bagged goals in the 83rd and 92nd minutes to earn a 3-2 win over Toronto FC, and Abu Danladi netted a 94th-minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw with CF Montreal .

For Nashville to be considered a true contender in the East, it needs to put in more dominant performances over 90 minutes. It has 24 games to figure that out before the one-and-done games begin.

      

11. New York Red Bulls (Previous Ranking: 9)

The New York Red Bulls were the darlings of our last power rankings for making a 10-position jump.

The Red Bulls let us down a bit with that high boost as they produced one point from two games.

The single point from Wednesday and Sunday will not be celebrated, but it will not raise red flags about the squad.

New York lost in a five-goal affair to the first-place Revolution and earned a valuable point on the road in Atlanta.

10. LA Galaxy (Previous Ranking: 10)

The resurgence of Chicharito has turned into a potential record-chasing scoring season.

The LA Galaxy forward became the first player to reach 10 goals with his tallies in the 11th and 50th minutes in the Cali Clasico win over the Earthquakes.

Chicharito has three multigoal games this season. That is where seven of his league-leading 10 strikes have come from.

The Mexican forward is averaging a goal per game, which is right on the record pace set by his countryman Carlos Vela in 2019.

     

9. Columbus Crew (Previous Ranking: 8)

The Columbus Crew did not score in either of their road games on Wednesday or Sunday.

While it looks bad on paper, you can't blame the Crew for a bit of a letdown against Philadelphia and Austin, with those matches coming in between the closing of Historic Crew Stadium and the opening of Lower.com Field.

Columbus opens its new ground on Saturday against the New England Revolution, and it will play two of the three games after that on its new home soil.

     

8. Minnesota United (Previous Ranking: 15)

Minnesota United's six-game unbeaten streak boosted them into fifth place in the West.

Adrian Heath's side put together back-to-back wins over Austin and Portland and recorded a clean sheet in both of the victories.

The Loons have held four of their last six opponents to clean sheets, and they have not allowed multiple goals in a game since the May 8 loss to Colorado.

     

7. Colorado Rapids (Previous Ranking: 4)

Colorado was the last team to beat Minnesota and it sits directly above the Loons in the West standings.

The Rapids fell three positions after suffering a midweek 3-1 loss to Sporting KC.

Robin Fraser's side had the weekend off to regroup from the defeat. It got to rest up for a four-game home stand to start July.

The Rapids welcome Seattle, Minnesota, San Jose and Dallas to Dick's Sporting Goods Park over the next few weeks, as they attempt to catch Seattle, SKC and the Galaxy in the top three positions in the West.

      

6. New York City FC (Previous Ranking: 6)

New York City FC put up six points inside its temporary home of Red Bull Arena in the last week.

NYCFC held Atlanta scoreless and conceded once against D.C. in the two victories that allowed it to jump Columbus and gain ground on Philadelphia and New England in the East table.

NYCFC is not scheduled to return to Yankee Stadium until July 25. It has road games against Montreal and Columbus and a home showdown at Red Bull Arena versus Montreal before then.

The two matches against Montreal should produce an abundance of points that could help NYCFC make up more of its gap to the top three teams in the East.

Previous Ranking: 5 

Philadelphia played in two completely different types of games in the past week.

The Union won a defensive battle at home over the Crew on Wednesday and then got through a back-and-forth match with the Chicago Fire with a 3-3 draw.

All things considered, four points from a home and road match in one week is fairly good in MLS, but an argument can be made that the Union should have picked up a win over the worst team in the East on Saturday.

The third-place team in the East is 6-0-2 in its last eight games, and Saturday marked the start of five road games in the next six, a run that continues in Nashville on Saturday.

Previous Ranking: 2

It turns out the Revolution have some mortal qualities after all.

Bruce Arena's squad fell short on Sunday at the hands of FC Dallas after beating the Red Bulls on Wednesday.

Just like the Union, the Revs' three points from two games can be viewed as a decent week because it defended its home turf. But the road loss looks bad because of where FC Dallas is positioned in the standings.

In another similar vein to Philadelphia, New England will head on the road for a majority of July, with four of the next six away from Gillette Stadium. The first of those clashes could be the toughest as the visitor to Columbus' stadium grand opening.

Previous Ranking: 7

Sporting KC has been consistently humming along all season at home.

The second-place side in the West is 5-0-2 at Children's Mercy Park. It earned six points there in the last few days with wins over Colorado and LAFC.

In each of their five home wins, Sporting KC found the back of the net on multiple occasions.

The impressive home scoring mark pushed Sporting KC two goals above Seattle for the highest tally in MLS.

Sporting KC is two points behind Seattle, and if they improve on their 2-3-0 road mark in the coming weeks, they could make a serious push to dethrone the Sounders.

Previous Ranking: 3 

Orlando City put together a perfect week over the grueling three-game, six-day stretch.

The Lions took care of Toronto, San Jose and Inter Miami to inch within two points of the Revs for first place in the East.

Although it wasn't the hardest schedule for any team to face, Orlando still deserves credit for not dropping points against weaker teams and keeping its current good form.

During the last week, Orlando had the benefit of picking up two road wins in Florida. The first came against Toronto FC, which is using Exploria Stadium as a temporary home, and the second came in Fort Lauderdale versus Inter Miami.

Previous Ranking: 1 

Even though the Sounders suffered a 2-2 draw versus the Whitecaps, they still remain on top of MLS in a handful of categories.

Seattle has the highest points per game at 2.27, the No. 1 goal differential of plus-13 and is tied for the most victories with seven.

The Sounders have a chance to test themselves against some of the top teams in the West throughout July.

Brian Schmetzer's club visits Colorado and Minnesota and welcomes Sporting KC to Lumen Field on July 25 in what could be the game of the season to date.