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Welcome to Season 21, ladies and gentlemen! It's great to have Major League Soccer back running another year, and we're pleased to be back with another slate of weekly power rankings that hope to sort out who's hot and who's not in the MLS table. MLS kicked off the season last Sunday with all 20 teams in action, and with several games playing at the same time (thank you, MLS Live multiplayer), of course the first week's games isn't enough to really determine who the power teams are in the league and who are the minnows. Still, we attempt to rank them this week as a foundation for the season yet to come.
One thing you can take away from this week: goals. 36 of them, to be exact. The action in all the games, whether it was the first half, second half or stoppage time, was excellent and made for a remarkable kickoff to the new year. Some teams took serious hits or were trying to gel with retooled lineups. In the end, if Week 1 was a precursor for what we can expect all season, then we can count on a ton of goals, a lot of great play and plenty of games that you can take to your casual soccer watching friends and even those MLS haters as proof that this league can bring it like any in Europe.
Now, to the rankings. FC Dallas takes the pole position this year, while the Philadelphia Union draw the short straw and reside at the back of the pack. Our beloved Black & Red start the rankings at 15th. That doesn't mean much for the first week, but this is the point from which we launch the Power Rankings ship. Now, it's your turn. Who did you think was the best team from Week 1? Who was the team that made you want to cancel your MLS Live subscription? Who do you think is built for the fast start to Season 21? As always, hit up the comments and let us hear your hottest of takes.
|
Rank |
Team |
LW |
Points |
GP |
Comment |
|
1 |
FC Dallas |
-- |
3 |
1 |
I thought they looked good against the Union and probably looked the best of the 20 teams. |
|
2 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
Giovinco is back and TFC looked good. |
|
|
3 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
Mike Magee is the only reason they’re this high. |
|
|
4 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
Solid victory in a MLS Cup rematch. |
|
|
5 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
They need to work on defense but their attack sans Drogba was awesome. |
|
|
6 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
Squeaked out a victory in Seattle. |
|
|
7 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
Prediction: they’re going to put points on the board this season. |
|
|
8 |
-- |
3 |
1 |
Played pretty well but against a short-staffed Colorado team. |
|
|
9 |
-- |
1 |
1 |
Their scoring is good, but their defense was porous. |
|
|
10 |
-- |
1 |
1 |
Had the victory in their hands and let it get away. |
|
|
11 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
The Sounders will have some nights with no offense without Martins to bail them out. |
|
|
12 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
They played pretty decently, but it wasn’t enough against Montreal. |
|
|
13 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
They let that game get away from them and they showed they may not be as strong as they were a year ago. |
|
|
14 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
This was tough to put them there, but Portland at times looked much better. |
|
|
15 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
The Black and Red looked great in the 1st half, then let Magee torch them in the 2nd. |
|
|
16 |
-- |
1 |
1 |
Should have won but let Orlando inexplicably tie. |
|
|
17 |
-- |
1 |
1 |
Incredible finish aside, they should have lost. |
|
|
18 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
They actually put up a good fight, but I’m not ready to say they’re better. Yet. |
|
|
19 |
-- |
0 |
1 |
Minus about 20 minutes in the 2nd half, this was the same Rapids team we saw last year. |
|
|
20 |
Philadelphia Union |
-- |
0 |
1 |
Philly probably played the worst of the teams this weekend. Ran up against Dallas and didn’t look good. |