The Philadelphia Union have overcome injuries to climb atop the Eastern Conference and rise in the latest Goal MLS Power Rankings
Of all the teams that could have been expected to be sitting on top of Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference at the start of May, the Philadelphia Union wouldn't have made many people's lists.
That's where the Union are though, having climbed to the top of the East standings after Wednesday's 2-0 win against FC Cincinnati. Jim Curtin's side recorded its fifth win in seven matches to pull even on points with D.C. United and Montreal, nudging past them both on goal difference.
The Union are the highest-rated East team in the latest Goal MLS Power Rankings, which are topped by five Western Conference teams. The LA powerhouses, Los Angeles FC and the LA Galaxy, continue to stand tall at the top while Seattle's gutsy draw against LAFC allowed the Sounders to retain the third spot.
Rock bottom belongs to the Colorado Rapids, who fired head coach Anthony Hudson after Saturday's 1-0 loss to Atlanta United, and after Hudson ripped the quality of his own roster. Now interim head coach Conor Casey will try to help the league's worst defense, and lone remaining winless team, climb out of the basement.
Here are Goal's MLS Power Rankings after week 9 action:
1Colorado Rapids (0-7-2)The Rapids played for the draw in Atlanta and nearly pulled it off, but suffered another loss that sealed Anthony Hudson's fate as head coach. Actually, it was more likely his post-game rant criticizing the quality of his roster that probably pushed the Rapids to make a change that was needed. Conor Casey takes over and will have a winnable debut at home against Vancouver.Advertisement2Vancouver Whitecaps (1-5-3)The good news for the Whitecaps is their defense continues to show signs of being a top-level unit, particularly with Doneil Henry playing at a Best XI level, but the issue continues to be the Whitecaps' inability to generate goals. A road draw against Philadelphia was a decent result, but the Whitecaps need wins to start climbing up the standings and anything less than a win in Colorado this weekend will be disappointing.3FC Cincinnati (2-6-2)What a difference a month can make. At one point FC Cincinnati was flirting with setting a new expansion record for points to start an inaugural campaign, but Wednesday's loss to the Philadelphia Union has FC Cincinnati mired in a six-match winless slide and there aren't clear signs of a looming turnaround. Head coach Alan Koch could be the next MLS coach to get the boot if Cincinnati doesn't start generating some points.4New England Revolution (2-6-2)It isn't often that a team scores four goals on the road and comes away disappointed, but the Revolution should feel like they wasted a great opportunity in Saturday's 4-4 draw against Sporting Kansas City. The Revs defense surrendered seven goals last week, and must now stay on the road for a pair of matches against Philadelphia and Chicago. The big question is will Brad Friedel survive this road trip?