Just two weeks into the season, and SB Nation soccer's Power Rankings have seen considerably movement. A week ago, the Los Angeles Galaxy were a near-consensus top tier team. Now, they have just five top-tier votes and are solidly in the second tier after Real Salt Lake put a 4-1 whooping on their Western Conference rivals.
MLS Power Rankings, Week 2: Real Salt Lake Knocks LA Galaxy Down A Tier
Overall, the field seems to be as wide open as ever. RSL is the only consensus top-tier team and two voters considered them the only team worthy of the top tier. Meanwhile, the San Jose Earthquakes moved into the second-tier and DC United dropped to the third.
Once again, I asked various editors from around SB Nation to give their opinions on their own voting.
| Playing For The Shield | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Real Salt Lake |  100% (57 out of 57 points) |
 | New York Red Bulls | 91% (52 out of 57 points) |
 | Colorado Rapids | 91% (52 out of 57 points) |
Real Salt Lake showed that it deserved not only a tier one ranking but also the top overall ranking because of their 4-1 shellacking of the Los Angeles Galaxy. Colorado has shown that the reigning MLS champions are still amongst the best in the league, one of the three teams at 2-0-0. Despite lacking what seemed to be half the team due to injuries or international duty, the New York Red Bulls managed a 0-0 draw with the Columbus Crew.
| Enjoy The Playoffs | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 75% (43 out of 57 points) |
 | FC Dallas | 66% (38 out of 57 points) |
 | San Jose Earthquakes | 56% (32 out of 57 points) |
 | Seattle Sounders | 54% (31 out of 57 points) |
 | Philadelphia Union | 54% (31 out of 57 points) |
 | Sporting Kansas City | 50% (29 out of 57 points) |
Based on what we’ve seen to this point, I think it’s fair to say that the second tier is a reasonable place to put the majority of the teams in the league. There’s just not a lot of separation in terms of the performance of what I considered the elite teams coming into the year from the rest of the league. Of course, there is one fairly notable exception. Real Salt Lake look at this point to be at a completely different level from the rest of MLS and though there were some extenuating circumstances, their 4-1 thrashing of LA Galaxy serves to illustrate that. There’s quite obviously still a whole lot of season left to play, but if this is what we can expect to see from RSL week-in and week-out, I don’t see anyone coming close to them in the race for the Supporters Shield.
- Aaron Campeau, SB Nation soccer
| Still Something To Prove | ||
|---|---|---|
 | DC United | 42% (24 out of 57 points) |
 | Chicago Fire | 42% (24 out of 57 points) |
 | Houston Dynamo | 29% (17 out of 57 points) |
 | New England Revolution | 28% (16 out of 57 points) |
 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 22% (13 out of 57 points) |
Based on their performances against the Los Angeles Galaxy and D.C. United, it's obvious that the New England Revolution are not going to be in the basement of the league this season. Despite a number of injuries, they were very competitive against two likely playoff teams in back-to-back weeks. When Rajko Lekic arrives - and it looks like he's going to - their attack will be much more potent. It's too early to tell if the Revs will be a playoff contender, but they've done enough to prove that they will not be the team who gets the second pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft.
- Kevin McCauley, SB Nation soccer
| At Least There's No Relegation | ||
|---|---|---|
 | Chivas USA | 10% (6 out of 57 points) |
 | Portland Timbers | 7% (4 out of 57 points) |
 | Columbus Crew | 7% (4 out of 57 points) |
 | Toronto FC | 3% (2 out of 57 points) |
I like the Portland Timbers. I like their head coach and I love what their organization is doing to market the team. That said, the results of the field still aren’t there and as an expansion team, it’s not the end of the world. I dropped them to the bottom tier of the power rankings because they simply are not good enough...yet. The signs are there that things will improve and finally getting some home games will help, but the defense has struggled in their first two matches and the offense hasn’t really scared anyone yet. It’s not personal, the on-field results just aren’t good enough yet.
How It Works: Each of the 19 participants puts Major League Soccer’s clubs into one of the four tiers. Teams in the top tier get three points. Next tier, two points, then one, then zero. Voters can put as many teams into each tier as they see fit. Though the vote total orders the teams, the clubs are intended to be grouped, not sorted. Although some of the names may indicate otherwise, the point of this is to assess current form and our voters are instructed to place teams in tiers based how those teams will fair in coming weeks.
Who participated: Jeremiah Oshan (SB Nation, soccer); Kevin McCauly (SB Nation, soccer); Aaron Campeau (SB Nation, soccer); Ryan Rosenblatt (SB Nation, soccer); Steve Davis (Daily Soccer Fix); Martin Shatzer (Black and Red United); Scott Kessler (Brotherly Game); Chris “UZ” White (Burgundy Wave); Zach Woosley (Dynamo Theory); Denzel Eslinger (RSL Soapbox); Robert Jonas (Quake, Rattle and Goal); Daniel Robertson (Big D Soccer); Dave Clark (Sounder at Heart); Andy Edwards (The Daily Wiz); Geoff Gibson (Stumptown Footy), Duncan Fletcher (Waking the Red), Steve Stoehr (The Bent Musket); Tweed Thornton (Hot Time in Old Town), Ben Schneider (Once a Metro).
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