MLS Player Power Rankings After Weekend of October 3-5
It should come as no surprise to anyone that five of the top six players in the MLS Player Power Rankings come from the two best teams in the league.
Add in three players near the bottom of the list, and you have a combined eight players recognized from the Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy.
All of these players are deserving of the recognition, and all of the stars in terrific form for both teams will get a chance to share a pitch during the final two weeks of the season.
While we keep dreaming about how good those two clashes will be, let's take a look at who else claimed a spot in the list of the top-20 players in MLS.
On the Way out
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Three players were forced out of the list this week due to an injury, and a few on-fire players in the thick of the playoff race.
Players Dropped Out of Rankings:
Robbie Rogers (LA; Previous Ranking: 17)
Luis Silva (D.C.; 19)
Wil Trapp (Columbus; 20)
20. Matias Laba
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Previous Ranking: Not Ranked
To be honest, we have not shown Matias Laba enough respect on this list throughout the season.
Laba has been a model of consistency in the middle of the park for the Whitecaps, and he is now coming back into the spotlight thanks to the playoff push made by the club.
The defensive midfielder is the top tackler in the league with 141 tackles, which equates to 4.9 per game for Vancouver.
19. Omar Gonzalez
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Previous Ranking: 16
Omar Gonzalez did nothing bad to deserve a demotion in the rankings this week, but there are a few attackers that had better weeks than he did.
The center-back, who is in the United States camp for the Friday game against Ecuador, was a part of a defensive unit that held Toronto FC to one shot on target in the 3-0 win at StubHub Center.
Gonzalez has a game against FC Dallas Sunday before he will face the biggest test of the season in the form of a season-ending home-and-home series with Seattle.
18. Lamar Neagle
4 of 21
Previous Ranking: Not Ranked
If you thought the Seattle attack was just Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins, allow us to introduce you to Lamar Neagle.
With his assist in the 4-1 win over Colorado, Neagle extended his streak of being involved in a goal to six games.
Since the start of September, Neagle has scored three goals and notched four assists for the Sounders.
17. Osvaldo Alonso
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Previous Ranking: 18
Week after week we praise Osvaldo Alonso for his defensive work rate, which was once again strong for the Sounders, but he caught our eye with what almost became an instant "Goal of the Year" candidate.
In the 77th minute against the Rapids, Alonso sent a laser of a chip toward goal to try and catch Clint Irwin off guard.
The play almost worked for the midfielder, but Irwin was able to get a touch on the shot by Alonso, who completed 96 percent of his 55 passes in Seattle's 19th win of the season.
16. Michael Bradley
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Previous Ranking: 15
Michael Bradley delivered a solid showing in midfield despite Toronto suffering a three-goal loss at the hands of the Galaxy.
The United States international, who is also expected to play against Honduras in Florida on October 14, completed 87 percent of his 76 passes in a game the Reds were expected to lose.
Bradley now faces a crucial week in the Eastern Conference playoff race with games against Houston and New York over a span of four days.
15. Jermaine Jones
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Previous Ranking: Not Ranked
Jermaine Jones was signed by the Revolution to bring stability to the defensive part of midfield.
He has done that, and then some in the last two matches for the second-place team in the Eastern Conference.
Jones has delivered a game-winning goal in each of the last two New England matches to give Jay Heaps' club an outside chance of beating out D.C. United for first place.
14. Joao Plata
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Previous Ranking: 14
It came as a shock to basically everyone around the league that Joao Plata was shut down by the Chivas USA defense Sunday.
If you are failing to come to terms with reading that statement, you are not hallucinating, the Ecuadorian actually failed to take a single shot in Real Salt Lake's 1-0 loss at StubHub Center.
The loss was a setback for the Claret and Cobalt, but they should still finish third in the Western Conference.
13. Federico Higuain
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Previous Ranking: 13
We can focus all we want on Federico Higuain's numbers in the offensive-stat categories, but his biggest impact on the Crew may come with him out of the lineup.
Higuain was booked in the 90th minute of the Crew's 2-1 loss to New England, which means he will be forced to sit out the critical match against Philadelphia in Week 31. That match at PPL Park will play a big role in deciding who earns the fifth playoff spot in the East.
Three of the eight yellow cards earned by the scorer of 11 goals have come against the Revolution.
12. Diego Valeri
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Previous Ranking: 9
Diego Valeri missed his first game of the season Saturday due to a yellow-card suspension.
Valeri will return to the Portland lineup for the final three games of the season against San Jose, Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas.
11. Lee Nguyen
11 of 21Previous Ranking: 12
Lee Nguyen bumped up his goal total to 14 with a 20th-minute strike against Columbus.
Nguyen gained possession of the ball inside the 45-yard line at Gillette Stadium before finishing a Teal Bunbury cross into the bottom right corner of the net.
Although his terrific form did not earn him a call-up to the United States men's national team for the match against Ecuador, expect Nguyen to be in the national-team picture very soon.
10. Chris Wondolowski
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Previous Ranking: 10
Chris Wondolowski scored his third goal against the Timbers this season in the 56th minute of San Jose's 2-1 loss to the Timbers.
Wondolowski forced his way through a pair of defenders to put home a rebound off his own shot thanks to some uneasy goalkeeping by Donovan Ricketts.
The 31-year-old will get another chance to find the back of the net against Portland Wednesday at Providence Park in the final clash between the two sides this season.
9. Thierry Henry
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Previous Ranking: 11
Thierry Henry was given ample room to cruise into the box to break into double digits in the scoring column.
Henry, who now has four consecutive double-digit goal seasons in MLS, ran into the left side of the box to tap home the lone goal of New York's 1-0 win over Houston.
After this weekend, Henry is one of five players to record over 10 goals and assists this season.
8. Javier Morales
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Previous Ranking: 8
Javier Morales was not rewarded for his hard work rate against Chivas USA Sunday.
Morales made 130 touches, and attempted 94 passes, in the 1-0 loss to the worst team in the Western Conference.
The designated player also had the only shot put on target by Real Salt Lake in the club's eighth loss of 2014.
7. Dom Dwyer
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Previous Ranking: 5
For the third time since the start of August, Dom Dwyer failed to fire a shot on target for Sporting Kansas City.
Dwyer, who still has an outside chance of winning the Golden Boot, will have three games to chase down Bradley Wright-Phillips for the title of top scorer in MLS.
Against his remaining three opponents (Chicago, Philadelphia and New York), Dwyer has scored four goals in six games this season.
6. Gyasi Zardes
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Previous Ranking: 4
For the first time as a starter in 2014, Gyasi Zardes failed to attempt a single shot in LA's win over Toronto.
Zardes, who has been electric in front of goal all season, had fired off at least one shot in 22 consecutive games prior to Saturday's match at StubHub Center.
Although his shot production was off in Week 30, we shouldn't be concerned about Zardes' scoring touch since he has scored four goals since the start of September.
5. Obafemi Martins
17 of 21Previous Ranking: 7
Obafemi Martins recorded his fifth brace of the season in Seattle's road triumph at Dick's Sporting Goods Park Sunday.
The two-goal performance was the second consecutive one for the Nigerian, who also put two past Chivas USA in Week 29.
It was also his third brace in just over a month since he torched Chivas USA on September 3 as well. The other two multiple-goal showings for Martins came against Portland and Chicago.
4. Bradley Wright-Phillips
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Previous Ranking: 3
It is not an exaggeration to say Bradley Wright-Phillips could have scored at least 30 goals already.
Wright-Phillips has created plenty of missed chances for the Red Bulls this season, including his seven-shot performance against Houston.
Of those seven shots, only one was put on target by the Englishman, who now has three games left to tie or break the single-season league scoring record of 27.
3. Clint Dempsey
19 of 21Previous Ranking: 6
Clint Dempsey exerted an enormous amount of skill in his casual backheel pass on Marco Pappa's 33rd-minute goal Sunday.
Twenty-two minutes before he recorded his ninth assist of the season, Dempsey scored from the spot to open the scoring for the Sounders.
Dating back to August 24, the 31-year-old has played a role in 10 of the 22 goals scored by Seattle.
2. Landon Donovan
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Previous Ranking: 2
Landon Donovan became the all-time league leader in assists Saturday night on Robbie Keane's 25th-minute goal.
Donovan's assist was counted as a secondary one, as he played the ball out to the right flank to find A.J. DeLaGarza.
The 19 assists Donovan has earned this season are a career-high, and he has a chance to record his highest goal total since 2008 with three more strikes.
1. Robbie Keane
21 of 21Previous Ranking: 1
Sometimes it's just easier to sit back in awe instead of trying to find ways to describe how good a player is.
A week after delivering us with a sublime chip against New York, Robbie Keane turned in a stellar volleyed effort to secure his fourth brace of the season.
Keane scored his two strikes in a three-minute span to open up a lead on Toronto that was never going to escape a Galaxy team with an improving back four.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
All statistics obtained from MLSSoccer.com and WhoScored.com.
