A packed week of Major League Soccer is in the books, and the World Cup countdown has never felt more real, with the tournament now just two or three matches away for most of the league’s 30 clubs.
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami bounced back from last week’s humiliating upset to Florida rivals Orlando City with a 4–2 win over Toronto FC, which marked the first match with over 43,000 fans at the newly-expanded BMO Field, which will host six World Cup games in Toronto this summer.
Meanwhile, over in the Western Conference, the top of the table clash between the San Jose Earthquakes and Vancouver Whitecaps ended in a 1–1 draw to cap off Saturday night, before the Houston Dynamo thrashed LAFC 4–1 in Sunday Night Soccer—just after James Rodríguez posted his first MLS assists in Minnesota United’s 2–2 draw with Austin FC.
With a thrilling weekend of Matchday 12 action in the books and ahead of a double gameweek for most squads, here’s how teams stack up in Sports Illustrated’s latest MLS Power Rankings, including some massive shifts.
MLS Power Rankings Matchday 12: Clubs 30–11
30. Sporting Kansas City (Previous: 30)
29. Philadelphia Union (Previous: 29)
28. St. Louis CITY SC (Previous: 27)
27. Atlanta United (Previous: 26)
26. Colorado Rapids (Previous: 25)
25. Orlando City (Previous: 24)
24. CF Montréal (Previous: 28)
23. D.C. United (Previous: 24)
22. Toronto FC (Previous: 19)
21. Portland Timbers (Previous: 23)
20. Austin FC (Previous: 18)
19. Red Bull New York (Previous: 17)
18. Columbus Crew (Previous: 15)
17. Houston Dynamo (Previous: 20)
16. San Diego FC (Previous; 13)
15. FC Dallas (Previous: 16)
14. LA Galaxy (Previous: 14)
13. Charlotte FC (Previous: 13)
12. Minnesota United (Previous: 10)
11. New York City FC (Previous: 12)
10. New England Revolution 🆙 (Previous: 21)
We’ve given the New England Revolution one of the most significant bumps this week, as it is truly remarkable the consistency this team has shown over the last while. Under new manager Marko Mitrović, it has consistently felt as though we were waiting for things to revert to mid-table. Still, it’s 11 games into the regular season, and the Revs find themselves sitting pretty, with the best home start in club history at 6-0-0. Might they be an MLS Cup contender, even?
While they weren’t dominant in a 2–1 victory over the struggling Philadelphia Union this weekend, the performance still showed some of their best elements. Carles Gil added his fourth of the season for the 87th-minute winning strike, after setting up Luca Langoni earlier in the match. Between the sticks, potential USMNT World Cup starter Matt Turner made one save, good enough for his side to win.
The Revolution are not a possession-dominant team; they’re not doing it in the prettiest of styles, and they certainly aren’t scoring at an elite clip—15th in the league. However, they’re still delivering elite results and an uplifting spell after finishing 11th and 14th in the Eastern Conference the past two seasons.
9. Chicago Fire 📉 (Previous: 7)
For everything that has gone right for the Chicago Fire this season, things have started to revert to a more mid-table level. This weekend’s 3–1 loss to Red Bull New York was an example of that, with Gregg Berhalter’s men giving RBNY its first win in six games.
This week saw the Fire shift to a 4-2-3-1 out of possession and 4-4-2 on the ball, rather than the 4-3-3 that they have played in for most of 2026. With this shift, Hugo Cuypers had to adjust to playing with a strike partner and often crossed his runs with Maren Haile-Selassie, staying off the scoresheet until the 88th minute.
It’s three losses in a row now for the Fire, and they will look to return to winning ways against D.C United midweek, hoping to turn a corner ahead of the World Cup break.
8. Real Salt Lake 🤝 (Previous: 8)
It wasn’t a week that Real Salt Lake will be too fond of, dropping a 3–1 result to FC Dallas in a game that could prove pivotal in the second tier of teams in the Western Conference.
Yet, it was a clash of tactical approaches and identities that eventually spelled RSL’s demise in this one. FC Dallas absorbed pressure and allowed a Diego Luna-led RSL buildup to maintain 73% possession, while also drawing the visitors into a high defensive line. That opened up space for FC Dallas to exploit, none more so than on Sam Sarver’s exceptional 3–1 goal in second-half stoppage time, where he ran the entire length of the field.
For Luna, his World Cup hopes were likely lofted by the performance, creating three chances and scoring. Still, the Claret and Cobalt will hope their identity finds a winning way against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday.
7. FC Cincinnati 📉 (Previous: 6)
Superb Evander chip 😱
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) May 10, 2026
Cincinnati leads 2-0! pic.twitter.com/rzBrWGprah
A game where Kévin Denkey and Evander both scored? It was a fun, rare occurrence for FC Cincinnati, despite the 2–2 draw on the road against Charlotte FC, who saw elevated performances from Pep Biel and Idan Toklomati.
Evander’s goal, as seen above, should contend for one of the best goals of the season, and the Brazilian midfielder continued his strong spell of productive form, now with six goals in his last five matches. Denkey, meanwhile, has scored five in his last four appearances, his best spell yet since joining the Ohio club ahead of the 2025 campaign.
The Gary Lions are up to sixth in the Eastern Conference now, hitting their stride and will fancy their in-form attack against Inter Miami’s faulty defense in midweek action.
6. Inter Miami 🆙 (Previous: 9)
Bravo, Guillermo Hoyos. After several missteps from defender Maxi Falcón, the interim manager opted to drop the center back from the starting lineup this weekend, leading to a more coherent backline in a 4–2 win against Toronto FC—a result that, if it weren’t for David Ayala’s miskick, should have been even more convincing.
With the improvements around him and continued strong form from Rodrigo De Paul, Lionel Messi continued to hold up his end, scoring a goal and providing two assists to break the record for the fastest player to reach 100 goal contributions in MLS regular-season history.
There are still plenty of issues with Miami, and Germán Berterame struggled mightily once again, missing gaping goals twice in the performance, but with strong play from Messi, De Paul and Luis Suárez, the Herons have floated to second in the Eastern Conference ahead of the midweek clash against FC Cincinnati.
5. LAFC 📉 (Previous: 4)
LAFC had a challenging week, crashing out of the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals in the second leg against Liga MX’s Deportivo Toluca, before quickly regrouping only to fall 4–1 to the Houston Dynamo in front of home fans.
While the Black and Gold were victims of Jack McGlynn’s potent left-foot strikes and desire to make a last-gasp run towards the USMNT World Cup squad, they also showed gaps in midfield. Houston simply had no issues playing through the midfield triangle of Stephen Eustàquio, Mark Delgado and Son Heung-min, leaving space for Guillherme, Lawrence Enalli and McGlynn to exploit.
As a team, should LAFC worry? Probably not, given they were coming off a gruelling Concacaf run and were without the suspended Denis Bouanga. Yet, productivity is becoming a concern for Son, who now has no goals and seven assists in nine MLS matches this season.
After a week they’ll want to forget, it becomes critical to find a win against St. Louis CITY SC on Wednesday, before a testing game against Nashville SC on Saturday.
4. Seattle Sounders 🤝 (Previous: 4)
The Seattle Sounders are a weird team right now. They dropped points to Sporting Kansas City, a side that lost 6–0 to the Portland Timbers this weekend, and then drew with San Diego FC on home turf.
This week’s draw wasn’t for lack of chances, creating 2.53 xG and putting 26 shots towards San Diego’s goal in the 1–1 finish, but rather the continued search for an outright and potent goalscorer, since each of Jordan Morris, Albert Rusnák and Jesús Ferreira has yet to show they can truly take a game over this season.
Could that answer be Danny Musovski? The North Macedonian international scored 18 goals in 2025 and netted his first of the season after coming in to play in a two-striker setup for 27 minutes with Morris in this match. Don’t be surprised if that’s an approach manager Brian Schmetzer pursues.
At the back, there’s nothing to worry about. The defense has conceded a league-best six goals in 10 games, and sitting fourth in the Western Conference, they have two games in hand on teams around them. Two draws to San Diego and Sporting Kansas City aren’t great, but it’s far from time to worry about the Sounders right now.
3. Nashville SC 🤝 (Previous: 3)
Nashville SC is going to have a tough spell. Not only did they fall short of beating Liga MX’s Tigres UANL in the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals this week, but they also saw Patrick Yazbek and Edvard Tagseth suffer significant injuries, taking out two of their best players this season.
Andy Najar remains one of the most exciting fullbacks in MLS and showed that with his assist in this weekend’s 2–2 draw with D.C. United, and the brace off the bench from Warren Madrigal was also a standout moment of the weekend. Although, without Sam Surridge in the lineup, the Nashville attack misses a finishing touch, and Hany Mukhtar doesn’t quite work as a central attacker.
This week doesn’t get any easier for Nashville. First, it’s a midweek visit to the Revolution, who are unbeaten at home, before hosting LAFC and Denis Bouanga’s return from suspension on the weekend. Good luck!
2. San Jose Earthquakes 🤝 (Previous: 2)
Preston Judd is the breakout player of 2026. The 26-year-old scored just four minutes into this week’s eventual 1–1 draw at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps, netting his eighth goal of the season in just 12 games, eclipsing his previous career-high of seven from last season.
While Judd’s fourth-minute goal stood out, it was an admirable performance considering the Earthquakes’ two best chance creators, Timo Werner and Niko Tsakiris, were sidelined with injuries. Still, they didn’t have many outstanding spells of possession or attacking opportunities in this one, and they didn't hold momentum at any stage of the game beyond the first seven minutes.
Daniel Munie and Reid Roberts had another stellar showing at center back, and the late effort to keep the ball out of high-xG areas stood out, allowing the Earthquakes to grab a point on a night when they were second-best.
After back-to-back draws, the Supporters’ Shield leaders look to return to winning ways against Seattle and FC Dallas this week.
1. Vancouver Whitecaps 🤝 (Previous: 1)
When the Vancouver Whitecaps hit the road for eight straight games due to FIFA taking over operations at BC Place, it was fair to guess that they might slide from form. Two weeks in, it’s two 1–1 draws to the LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes, respectable results without German superstar Thomas Müller in the lineup due to illness.
Saturday’s draw was far better than last week's, though. Making his first start, 21-year-old winger Bruno Caicedo was a consistent threat down the left wing, and 20-year-old left back Tate Johnson bolted forward throughout the performance, while making six tackles. Andrés Cubas also continued to prove his prowess as the best defensive midfielder in MLS.
Sebastian Berhalter, looking to make a final impression in the hunt for a spot on the USMNT’s World Cup squad, scored a skillful trivela for the 1–1 goal, bringing him to four goals and seven assists. He is the cornerstone of Vancouver's transition right now and should be on the World Cup squad as he continues to evolve in the role.
“He has a great belief, and he’s also very optimistic in his play,” Vancouver manager Jesper Sørensen said of Berhalter. “That’s why he ended up in situations where he can also be decisive and score goals, like that run he took in for the goal was not necessarily a run you often take from a No. 6 position.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as MLS Power Rankings: New England Shines at Home, Inter Miami’s Resurgence and More From Matchday 12.
