What did our beloved Claret and Cobalt do the evening of March, 10th? They did what they trained for. They did what they most wanted. They did what they are capable of. They “came to score” (The Aggrolites).
—El Güero,
Power Rankings Watch: San Jose ranked #1 for sixth week as RSL slips
Power Rankings Watch: San Jose ranked #1 for sixth week as RSL slips
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Editor's Note: Kreg Asay is back again with his excellent Power Rankings report. The numbers are again interesting, and to see our rankings this week range from 3rd to 7th is fascinating. Read on, enjoy, and soak it all in. There are a lot of numbers here, so be ready.
Week 17 on the Power Ranking Averages. The sites used are:
*Soccer America (socceramerica.com)
*Major League Soccer (MLSSoccer.com)
*Goal (Goal.com)
*Soccer by Ives (soccerbyives.net)
*ESPN (espn.go.com/sports/soccer)
*SB Nation (sbnation.com/section/major-
*NBC Sports (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com)
*Sports Illustrated (sportsillustrated.cnn.com) - no ranking for weeks 12-13 due to FIFA break.
*Bleacher Report (bleacherreport.com) - weeks 1-11 only, they ceased power rankings after that.
Weekly Average Power Ranking The most consistent sites were MLS which had only 4 teams move 2 positions, and SBNation which had 6 teams move 2 positions from the previous week. Soccer by Ives was the most inconsistent for the 2nd week with one team moving 5 places. Firsts and Lasts: RSL and SJE have both been ranked #1 for a total of 6 weeks. SKC was in first for 5 weeks. TFC has been 19th for a total of 10 weeks, Montreal, Dallas and Philly have held last place for 2 weeks each, Chivas was last for 1 week. Season Average Power Ranking W16 - W17 - Team No teams moved up on the table this week, though some gaps continued to close. Columbus moved the least at a mere +.04 points, while Dallas moved the most at -.29. The smallest gap in the season average is .02 between LA and Colorado, the widest is between Colorado and Dallas at 2.47 points; which also could be seen as the cut off point for teams in playoff contention. The gap between Seattle and New York continues to close. Last week the difference was 1.84 points, this week it's been reduced to 1.61. The 2nd big gap between Dallas and Columbus has also shrunk. Last week .97 points separated both teams, now it stands at .64 points. Due to San Jose's current run atop the weekly averages they're gaining on Sporting KC for 2nd, the gap now stands at .69 points. Firsts and Lasts: RSL has held the top spot on the season table for a total of 15 weeks (with week 7 tied with SKC). SKC held #1 for 3 weeks (again with W7 tied with RSL). Toronto has been in 19th place for 9 weeks, with Montreal at 7 weeks. TFC lost a bit of headway against Philly for 19th place, the gap widened from 1.61 to 1.74 points due to the Union's improved form. Trends to watch: If Colorado manages positive results in their 2 games (vs Toronto and RSL), they'll continue to trade places with LA with only 1 game (vs VWC). Either team could pull away with a string of wins. The Seattle / New York gap continues to close slowly, but it will take another run of either positive (NY) or negative (SS) form to change their standings. San Jose continues to gain ground on SKC. Last week I predicted 2-3 weeks for them to take over 2nd, and thus far that is holding true barring any breakdown. As Dallas continues to fall, and Columbus rises the two should change places in 2-4 weeks. The gap between both stands at .64 points.
W16 - W17 - Team - Average - High - Low
1 - 1 - San Jose - 1 - 1 - 1
4 - 2 - Kansas City - 2.25 - 2 - 4
2 - 3 - DC United - 3.13 - 2 - 4
3 - 4 - Salt Lake - 4.13 - 3 - 7
5 - 5 - New York - 5.38 - 5 - 6
7 - 6 - Chicago - 6 - 3 - 8
10 - 7 - Houston - 8 - 7 - 10
8 - 8 - Seattle - 8.13 - 5 - 9
9 - 9 - LA Galaxy - 8.5 - 6 - 10
6 - 9 - Vancouver - 8.5 - 6 - 10
12 - 11 - New England - 12.13 - 11 - 15
11 - 12 - Columbus - 12.5 - 11 - 15
15 - 12 - Philadelphia - 12.5 - 11 - 14
13 - 14 - Colorado - 13.88 - 11 - 15
14 - 15 - Chivas - 14.5 - 13 - 17
18 - 16 - Toronto - 16.5 - 13 - 18
16 - 17 - Montreal - 16.63 - 16 - 19
19 - 18 - Dallas - 17.88 - 17 - 19
17 - 19 - Portland - 18.5 - 16 - 19
Only three teams remained static in the rankings: San Jose in 1st, New York at 5th and LA at 9th. Four teams tied in the positions; LA and Vancouver tied for 9th with an average of 8.5, Columbus and Philly tied for 12th with an average of 12.5. Only San Jose had a unanimous vote across all sites. The teams with the widest variance were Chicago (high 3, low 8), Toronto (high 13, low 18), 7 teams had a variance of 4 positions.
2.23 - 2.33 - Salt Lake
3.29 - 3.23 - Kansas City
4.09 - 3.93 - San Jose
4.62 - 4.79 - Seattle
6.46 - 6.4 - New York
6.96 - 7.03 - Houston
7.12 - 7.2 - Vancouver
7.77 - 7.53 - DC United
9.58 - 9.4 - Chicago
9.73 - 9.93 - Colorado
10.01 - 9.95 - LA Galaxy
12.13 - 12.42 - Dallas
13.1 - 13.06 - Columbus
14.01 - 13.9 - New England
14.6 - 14.59 - Chivas
14.61 - 14.82 - Portland
15.4 - 15.46 - Montreal
16.3 - 16.1 - Philadelphia
17.91 - 17.84 - Toronto
