MLS Power Rankings: Week 5
April 30th, 2008 . By: Parrish GloverWhen the season started, the Power Rankings staff had the Dynamo and Chivas in the top two spots. I’m not going to say that the mighty have fallen, but I can’t deny that the mighty-appearing have nosedived straight to the bottom. Nosedove, nosediven? Whatev, Houston sucks and I’ve got the numbers to prove it.
In the preseason rankings, I said that Houston deserved the respect of the rest of the league until somebody could prove otherwise. That somebody has turned out to be everybody. The Orange have a true pillow fight this weekend, at home nonetheless. It’s a perfect opportunity for one of the two teams to get off the schneid. I’m predicting a tie. The first full week under the new system gives us an opportunity to see how the Rankomatic 130 works under race conditions. Four place swings for the Galaxy, RSL, and United seem reasonable given the quality of performance that each team put on the pitch. But for Toronto and Kansas City to move four spots following a fairly run-of-the-mill result? Given how tight things are in the middle of the pack, this sort of shuffling is likely to recur until folks can sort themselves out. Chicago and Columbus are the only teams to have separated themselves. The Fire’s quality is no surprise, though I’m not sure even the most ardent Blanco fan would have predicted the dedication he’s shown to the league. Columbus, on the other hand, is the story of the year. Sigi Schmid was probably right behind Clavijo on the list of coaches most likely to be fired by the All-Star break, and now he’s on the top of the table. I’ve yet to believe in the Wizards, and yet another road match against yet another team on a roll is likely to give me less reason to do so. Speaking of teams on a roll, Toronto has racked up three wins thus far in 2008. By the time that had happened last year, it was June. If you think looking at the regular league standings makes MLS appear a bit lopsided, the power rankings tell the story more starkly. Only one team of the top six is in the Western Conference, while the bottom four is devoid of eastern clubs. Granted, we are essentially only one month into the season, but the contrast is shocking. 4 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Interesting note about the East vs. West. If that trend holds true does that make Dallas the favorite to represent the West in the cup final? hmmmmmmm
I’ve seen most of the Columbus games, situated as I am in the Land of Cleve. They have an interesting team, led by Schelotto, Moreno, Padula, Moffat and HeyDude. But the Argentines and specifically Schelotto are the heart and soul of it all. They aren’t really that good, and they are a little old, but their skill level has gone up a ton in the past year. The addition of the PHP style stage has crammed the die-hards into the corner - a much louder place now. Schelotto is the guy bringing the emotion though - he is fun to watch, very clever.
Every Western Conference team has already lost to an Eastern Conference team.
Every Eastern Conference team has already beaten a Western Conference team.
The Interconference Record for the West is 3w, 11l, 2t.
Pretty ugly.
Interestingly, 5 of our 8 power points are from the two weakest teams at the moment, Houston and Chivas. Luckily FCD faced them before anyone had uncovered their weakness. Personally, I think FCD’s ranking is more puff than power.