Ranking this week’s MLS games from best to worst.
Montreal at Portland, 11 p.m. Saturday. This may be the best game this weekend. The Impact, which looked the league's worst team early in the season, have won five of six and six of eight. The Timbers are unbeaten in 12.
Dallas at Houston, 9 p.m. Saturday. The West is becoming very interesting. Dallas can make it less so with a win in this game. It has a three-point lead atop the West, while Houston trails the Galaxy by two points for the final playoff spot. Houston is always tough at home (6-2-1), though.
D.C. United at Atlanta United, 3:30 p.m. Saturday. D.C. United looked very good last week in the debut of Audi Field and Wayne Rooney. Atlanta United didn't look as sharp in a draw with Seattle. If D.C. United actually tries to play, something Seattle didn't, this game could be fun.
L.A. Galaxy at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. Saturday. The Union are in the sixth in the East, three points behind sixth-place Montreal. When it can score, it wins. The problem is it rarely scores, with just 25 goals this season. The Galaxy are sneakily climbing up the Western table because they are unbeaten in six consecutive, and eight of nine.
New England at New York Red Bulls, 7 p.m. Saturday. The Red Bulls have three games in hand on Atlanta United and trail them by .01 in points per game. Three points against New England will definitely make the East a three-horse race for the top seed.
Orlando at Columbus, 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Here's an odd stat: D.C. United, last in the East with 14 points, has scored two more goals than Columbus, which has 30 points and is in fourth. This will be Lions coach James O'Connor's first real test. His first game at LAFC happened too soon. Beating Toronto, his second game in charge, is not that tough.
New England at Minnesota, 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Revs are in fifth in the East, two points behind fourth-place Columbus and five ahead of eighth-place Chicago. The Loons are six points behind sixth-place L.A. Galaxy in the West. Three points is a must for either team.
LAFC at Minnesota, 7 p.m. Sunday. The Loons can be a tough out at home, but LAFC is unbeaten in six. I don't see Minnesota being able to keep up.
Vancouver at Seattle, 4 p.m. Saturday. The Sounders have little chance of making the playoffs, especially with the cynical tactics it is using. Vancouver must unleash Alphonso Davies. What does that mean? I don't know, but he needs to be given the ball as often as possible to try to help the Whitecaps climb higher than its current spot of eighth in the West.
Toronto at Chicago, 7 p.m. Saturday. Toronto is done. I'm not sure I've seen a team, other than Derby County when it was in the Premier League years ago, look so consistently disinterested. Chicago is four points out of sixth. It needs a win.
Colorado at Real Salt Lake, 10 p.m. Saturday. RSL is 8-1-1 at home. This one should be a demolition.
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