Tampa Bay Rowdies players huddle before a match. | Photos courtesy of Tampa Bay Rowdies/Matt May
Editor Note: Tampa Bay Rowdies remain undefeated on the season, which is amazing! They 100% deserve the top spot in the power rankings! - Ray Samora
Week 11, man, already?!? So the power rankings are out again and where should I start? Is there a rule where only 3 west teams can be in the top 10? Are you telling me that 7 out of the top 10 teams are in the East? Is a Louisville City FC or Nashville SC team who have been relatively underwhelming lately better than Fresno FC?
So, Fresno doesn’t play and goes from 10 to 12 but Portland Timbers 2 goes up 1? Louisville goes scoreless for a draw against Saint Louis FC but goes up 3?? I’d swap Portland 2 with Fresno and maybe slide New York Red Bulls II ahead of them.
The biggest movers going up are Phoenix Rising FC and Ottawa Fury FC, which makes sense. When a team in the west not named New Mexico United wins two in a row, you will move a lot, both in the standings and the power rankings.
Again, I think Ben Wright (@benwright) from Speedway Soccer is a little more accurate than the USL power rankings. I might swap NYRB and New Mexico, who are currently 2 and 3, but it looks pretty fair. Notably different is Fresno at 6, Saint Louis at 8, Portland Timbers 2 at 12, and Louisville at 17.
Orange County SC is sitting at 18th in the USL power rankings, and I do think that is fair. They have only lost once since April, but it has been a mixed bag of draws and wins. OCSC needs to work on getting wins at home. Draws are fine, especially against tough opponents on the road, but if OCSC doesn’t find a better run of form soon, they may start to see teams in the West start to pull away.
OCSC is only a point out of the final playoff spot and a win puts them towards the top of the West, but it seems like we say that a lot. There isn’t much that separates teams currently, but the way New Mexico (and recently Phoenix) has been playing, it should serve as a warning that OC needs to put it together soon or they might find themselves in a hole that is too deep to dig out of.
Check out the full USL Championship power rankings here, and the Speedway Soccer power rankings here.