Previewing MLS week 20: Minnesota’s stability and power rankings

As MLS has its first weekend slate of matches since the Gold Cup started, we take a look at Minnesota United and rank the entertainment values of MLS teams.

MLS is scheduling games during Gold Cup semifinals. If you’re watching MLS this weekend over those semis, I wholeheartedly commend you. Let’s take a look at the week:

Minnesota stabilized — but nothing more

It’s been a few months since Minnesota United were considered the worst team in MLS. Those 18 goals they allowed in four games are a thing of the past, as should be center-back Vadim Demidov, who started the season as captain but now may soon be on the way out. The Norwegian is a symbol of the old Minnesota, a disappointing step over club.

Things are a bit better now, even if the Loons are still firmly in last place. Their 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 utilizes skillful attackers buzzing around star goalscorer Christian Ramirez, backed up by high-usage No. 8 Ibson and rock-solid No. 6 Sam Cronin. Kevin Molino, a massive offseason investment, has played well this season, with five goals and five assists, and Johan Venegas has parlayed his club success into a role with Costa Rica. Slick-dribbling Miguel Ibarra has carved out a starting role on the wing, even if it hasn’t resulted in high-volume goals and assists.

Keeping balls out of the net has been their biggest improvement of late, though, and that is what has brought them back from the abyss. Since May 1, Minnesota have allowed 17 goals in 11 games, sixth in the Western Conference in the category. In the nine matches before that, they allowed 25 goals.

That has taken away their title of League Doormat — the acquisition of Cronin and right-back Marc Burch in late March helped considerably — but, interestingly enough, it has not made a drastic difference on their place in the standings. They compiled eight points from those first nine games, which put them in ninth in the West. Despite allowing considerably fewer goals, they only have 11 points from their last 11 games.

The obvious difference between those two sets of games is the goals scored, and that is where they’re struggling. They managed 13 goals in their first nine matches, better than seven conference rivals. Since, they have only 12, good for last in the west.

Of their 25 total goals, 15 have been scored by Ramirez or Molino. Nobody beyond those two has more than two goals. That’s where their goalscoring struggles lie: no one outside their top two attackers has proved to be any sort of threat on goal. Ramirez is often left by himself up top, which is why his production has dropped of late, and Molino is the only player willing to move the ball quickly from back-to-front in the midfield.

Ibson, their box-to-box workhorse, is relied on to control the tempo and act as Minnesota’s primary facet of possession. He gets a lot of touches:

That’s fine and great, but Ibson does not connect passes to the forward players enough, and he is not a player who is often willing to push the ball forward.

Many Minnesota games turn out to be slower, muted affairs as a result of their inability to connect attacking lines and move the ball forward consistently. A lot of times, it’s a game of cat and mouse until a better team breaks through and eventually waits out 1-0 or 3-1 results. The Loons are sometimes able to grab one or two of their own and then use their newfound defensive prowess to scratch out draws, but that’s not sustainable, and it rarely results in three points.

Adrian Heath needs to figure out how to get his team more willing push numbers forward and turn midfield possession into chances created. They were able to stabilize defensively; now they have to reach the same level in attack.

He’ll have his first chance on Saturday against the New York Red Bulls. The game’s on ESPN at 4 p.m. ET.

Next: The best under-20 player on every MLS team

MLS Live Power Rankings

Welcome to the first edition of MLS Live Power Rankings, a ranking of every MLS team based on how fun they are to watch and how likely it is their games will be entertaining. Factors like entertaining players, pretty styles of soccer, unique tactics, interesting experimentation, recent storylines and the likelihood of goals are taken into account. This is obviously subjective.

We’ll come back to this in a few months, maybe towards the end of the regular season. Let’s go:

1. Toronto FC: Watching Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco together is a treat. Also, I love 3-5-2s.
2. NYCFC: Patrick Viera is a tactically creative manager, NYC are one of the best teams in the league and they play from the back better than any other team. Yankee Stadium holds them back.
3. Chicago Fire: Dax McCarty and Bastian Schweinsteiger running a possession-happy midfield makes for good soccer. David Accam sprinting past fools and Nemanja Nikolic redefining the MLS poacher helps as well.
4. Atlanta United: No team has more great young attackers. They play a controlled-chaos style filled with pressing, re-pressing and possession, and they rely a ton on speed up top.
5. FC Dallas: The best teams are always fun to watch. FC Dallas like to hold games to lower scores, but also Mauro Diaz is healthy, and he’s one of my favorite players in the league.
6. San Jose Earthquakes: Since Chris Leitch took over as manager, San Jose have switched between a couple of formations (including a three-at-the-back!) and have played young creators Tommy Thompson and Jackson Yueill more.
7. Portland Timbers: They’ve been bad recently, but their attackers really good and their defense is bad, so their games are high-scoring a lot. Diego Valeri is also great.
8. Columbus Crew SC: The Crew have always intrigued me more than other teams. For one, the “3” of their 4-2-3-1 is always filled with entertaining attackers whose styles combine well. And their play-from-the-back-at-all-costs strategy is fun to watch, even if they mess it up and allow dumb goals a lot.
9. Sporting KC: One of the best teams in the league, SKC games don’t often include a lot of goals because Sporting are so good defensively. But good defensive teams can be fun too.
10. Houston Dynamo: If they played at home every week they’d be top-two. But when they play on the road their games end up really boring a lot of the time.
11. Seattle Sounders: Trying to figure out why they struggle with the star attackers they have is interesting. Once they hit their stride here soon they’ll rise.
12. New England Revolution: The first sentence of the Sounders blurb works for the Revs as well. That about sums it up.
13. Real Salt Lake: All their young stars and U-20 sensations are fun. They seem to lead the league in blowout results: so far this season, nine of their games have resulted in what we’ll call a blowout scoreline, whether for or against RSL.
14. LA Galaxy: They’re not a team I’d pick to watch over a lot of the above clubs. But they do have some star power: Gio dos Santos, Romain Alessandrini, Jelle Van Damme, etc. They lead the league in goalkeeper howlers, as well.
15. Orlando City SC: After a long run of Western Conference teams, we’re now into the “average Eastern Conference team” section. Orlando have Cyle Larin and Kaka.
16. Montreal Impact: When Ignacio Piatti’s healthy, he’s one of the better players to watch in the league. The Impact are this low because they bunker too much.
17. New York Red Bulls: It has not been a fun season for the Red Bulls. They still have two of the best attackers in the league, though.
18. Philadelphia Union: CJ Sapong is a fun No. 9, and Oguchi Onyewu always seems to be in the middle of something. Roland Alberg golazos are good too.
19. Vancouver Whitecaps: The Whitecaps have played well this season, but they’re just not all that talented in attack. Once Alphonso Davies plays more and Yordy Reyna really comes back, the Caps will move up.
20. D.C. United: They just don’t score very much. They did jump Minnesota after that crazy 4-3 game in Seattle on Wednesday. Blowing 3-0 leads helps your entertainment value (just ask Philly).
21. Minnesota United: See above. Love you, Minnesota.
22. Colorado Rapids: Pablo Mastroeni has never been one for entertaining games. Their saving grace? Marlon Hairston and Alan Gordon 88th-minute equalizers.