Power Rankings: Thomas Müller & Vancouver Whitecaps leap forward | OneFootball

By J. Sam Jones

What a week in MLS.

Petar Musa scored, San Jose and LAFC kept a clean sheet, and Zavier Gozo scored a stunning goal. It was truly a week unlike any other. 

As always: The Power Rankings are voted on by, give or take, 15 people associated with MLSsoccer.com. The author does not decide the rankings, but he does get a little rush out of moving your team in particular down a few spots when he can.

WATCH: Every goal from Matchday 6!

1. Los Angeles Football Club

Hopefully, any children in the room were removed before they witnessed what LAFC did to Orlando City on Saturday night. Twenty-eight minutes into the match, LAFC led 4-0 and Denis Bouanga had a hat trick. He’s up to 4g/3a this year.

By the end of the half, LAFC led 5-0 and Son Heung-Min had four assists. He’s up to a league-high seven assists. LAFC are up to league-best 16 points. Oh, and they still haven’t allowed a goal.

They also have a real chance to prove they’re the best team on the continent. This week, they'll meet Cruz Azul in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals.

Player of the Matchday 6: Denis Bouanga

Previous: 6-0 win vs. ORL | Next: 4/11 at POR

2. Vancouver Whitecaps FC · 2▲

These guys don’t ever go away quietly, huh?

Down 2-1 in stoppage time, the Whitecaps tied things up with a Thomas Müller penalty. Then, Sebastian Berhalter went ahead and won the thing.

That's five wins on the season and a goal differential of +13 through six games. Their lone loss came against a San Jose side that appears to be a contender. And now they don’t have to worry about CCC commitments. 

Previous: 3-2 win vs. POR | Next: 4/11 vs. NYC

3. San Jose Earthquakes · 4▲

It’s official. The Quakes are for real.

Going into the weekend, we knew that San Diego FC would present another major litmus test for San Jose. They went ahead and put in their best performance of the year anyway.

Niko Tsakiris bagged a first-half brace, and the Quakes entered halftime up 3-0 on their previously undefeated opponent. They cruised the rest of the way and are now sitting third in the league through six games. They’ve allowed just one goal all year, and it feels like a new contributor steps up in attack each week (see: Timo Werner was out injured). 

After beating Vancouver and San Diego in back-to-back matches, no one will question whether the Quakes can hang with the league’s best.

Previous: 3-0 win vs. SD | Next: 4/11 at SKC

4. Nashville SC · 2▼

Nashville finally looked mortal for a night. After allowing a goal 17 seconds in, they couldn’t get anything going in their 1-0 defeat at Chicago. 

It’s their first loss of the season across all competitions. Maybe their minds were wandering to their impending CCC quarterfinal series with Club América.

Previous: 1-0 loss at CHI | Next: 4/11 at CLT

5. Seattle Sounders FC · 1▲

Paul “Literally Paul Rothrock” Rothrock. Again.

Going to Houston and coming away with three points is rarely straightforward. But the Sounders did enough to keep things tied until Rothrock permanently tilted the scales in their favor. Rothrock has three goals on the year and is the only Sounder with more than one goal in MLS play.

He’s got two more in Concacaf Champions Cup, where the Rave Green have a juicy quarterfinal matchup with LIGA MX powerhouse Tigres UANL.

Previous: 1-0 win at HOU | Next: 4/18 vs. STL

6. Inter Miami CF · 3▼

Nu Stadium looked great, but Inter Miami didn’t quite meet the moment. A 2-2 draw with Austin dulled the big unveiling of the Herons’ new home.

To be fair, Miami came agonizingly close to another moment of magic. A late Lionel Messi free kick missed by about an inch and clanged off the woodwork, then Luis Suárez was offside on his follow-up attempt. 

The majority of the second half featured Miami piling on shot after shot. They couldn’t quite find a breakthrough.

HIGHLIGHTS: Inter Miami CF vs. Austin FC | April 4, 2026

Previous: 2-2 draw vs. ATX | Next: 4/11 vs. RBNY

7. Real Salt Lake · 2▲

Sit back and enjoy.

Man, at this point, do you just throw Gozo on the USMNT's World Cup roster and see what happens? He’s rapidly turning into an elite MLS prospect, and it’s clear big matches are on the way for him. If he’s not at this World Cup, there’s an increasing chance he’ll be at a couple more after that.

The 19-year-old homegrown has two goals and three assists so far this year. Both goals have been worldies.

Previous: 3-1 win vs. SKC | Next: 4/18 vs. SD

8. FC Dallas · 3▲

Petar Musa deservedly gets a lot of love. He scored again at the end of FC Dallas’ 4-0 thumping of D.C. United to bring his tally to a co-league-best seven goals on the season. But don’t sleep on Logan Farrington.

With that fantastic touch and finish, Farrington is up to four goals and two assists in five starts. He and Musa are one of the most dangerous duos in the league. And Dallas are a serious threat because of them.

Previous: 4-0 win at DC | Next: 4/11 vs. STL

9. San Diego FC · 4▼

A 32nd-minute red card to center back Manu Duah derailed things, but San Diego were already on the back foot against San Jose. By the end of the half, they were down 3-0 and well on their way to their first loss of the season.

Frankly, it’d be a lot easier to win with 11 men on the pitch. They’ve earned red cards in four of their last five matches across all competitions. Duah has two of those.

Early days, but they’re down to seventh place in a Western Conference that appears to be stacked with good teams.

Previous: 3-0 loss at SJ | Next: 4/11 vs. MIN

10. New York City Football Club · 2▼

They were moments away from a 1-0 win over St. Louis, but an open header in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time left NYCFC with just one point from the weekend.

There’s not a ton to learn there. But there should be plenty to learn this weekend from their visit to Vancouver. If NYCFC want to prove their bona fides as a contender, grabbing a point or three at one of the West’s best would go a long way.

Previous: 1-1 draw vs. STL | Next: 4/11 at VAN

11. Charlotte FC · 1▲

Charlotte weren’t at their best against struggling Philadelphia, but Wilfried Zaha stepped up to save the day with an 80th-minute winner immediately following a Union equalizer. Now they’ll turn their attention to a huge matchup with first-place Nashville this Saturday.

Unfortunately, they’ll head into it without Zaha. He picked up a suspension for yellow card accumulation.

Previous: 2-1 win vs. PHI | Next: 4/11 vs. NSH

12. Chicago Fire FC · 1▲

It took 17 seconds for Philip Zinckernagel to put Chicago up 1-0 on Nashville. Also, Chris Brady did this to help earn all three points:

That booked Nashville’s first loss of the season and the Fire’s best result of 2026. They've won two in a row heading into a very winnable home match against Atlanta.

Previous: 1-0 win vs. NSH | Next: 4/11 vs. ATL

13. Red Bull New York · 5▲

Putting four up on Cincinnati in a 4-2 win is a heckuva way to bounce back from a 6-1 loss at Charlotte. When this young roster is clicking, they’re putting together some of the best performances we’ve seen from a Red Bulls side in a while.

They’ll need a similar performance if they want to keep up with Inter Miami on Saturday. And Julian Hall will need to continue his outstanding start to the season. The 18-year-old homegrown is now the youngest player in MLS history to score five or more goals in their first six matches of a season.

Previous: 4-2 win vs. CIN | Next: 4/11 at MIA

14. Toronto FC · 2▲

It’s still not totally clear if their 3-2 win over Colorado actually happened. It’s entirely possible we all imagined it in an instance of shared psychosis. But if it did actually happen, it was entertaining as hell.

Toronto matched a first-half Colorado red card with one of their own early in the second half, then immediately allowed two goals. They got back in the game thanks to a Richie Laryea goal, followed by an absurd own goal. 

Colorado picked up another red card and, finally, the chaos ended with Josh Sargent’s first goal with his new team and a Toronto win.

Previous: 3-2 win vs. COL | Next: 4/11 vs. CIN

15. Colorado Rapids · 5▼

None of anything made any sense at all in their 3-2 loss at Toronto. There’s incredibly little to learn other than don’t get two red cards and, uh, don’t kick the ball into your own net from 40 yards away?

Previous: 3-2 loss at TOR | Next: 4/11 vs. HOU

16. Minnesota United FC · 5▲

The Loons didn’t dominate in their visit to LA, but they took advantage of two big chances to flip the match in their favor.

Despite facing 20 shots from the Galaxy, they took home all three points in a 2-1 win. It’s their first road win of the year and their second win of the season. This one came without key contributors like Wil Trapp and Michael Boxall.

Previous: 2-1 win at LA | Next: 4/11 at SD

17. Austin FC · 3▲

Austin rolled up and decided to spoil the party.

Guilherme Biro scored the first goal in Nu Stadium history, and Jayden Nelson added a second goal to power Austin to a 2-2 draw.

They did have to hold on for dear life at the end to get it, but a point is a point. This one likely feels better than most given the occasion.

Previous: 2-2 draw at MIA | Next: 4/11 vs. LA

18. FC Cincinnati · 4▼

After spending the last three seasons winning more games in three years than any team in MLS history, Cincinnati are floundering. They were overrun in a 4-2 loss at New York over the weekend, their fourth league defeat of the season.

Obviously, there’s still plenty of time to recover. But this defense is struggling right now. They’ve allowed 15 goals, the third-worst mark in the Eastern Conference.

Previous: 4-2 loss at RBNY | Next: 4/11 at TOR

19. New England Revolution · 5▲

It’s tough to know what to make of the Revs. They’ve taken three losses compared to two wins, but they have a positive goal differential after last weekend’s 3-0 win over CF Montréal. It seems like they’re either blowing a team out or receiving a beatdown.

Regardless of what the next few games entail, the Revs have a few very winnable matchups ahead. D.C., Atlanta and Columbus are all on the horizon.

Previous: 3-0 vs. MTL | Next: 4/11 vs. DC

20. Houston Dynamo FC · 5▼

Houston couldn’t get anything going in the attack against Seattle and, eventually, the Sounders broke through. The 1-0 loss is Houston’s third in five matches this season.

Previous: 1-0 loss vs. SEA | Next: 4/11 at COL

21. D.C. United · 4▼

Following a 0-0 draw at Atlanta in which they logged one shot on target, D.C. could at least take solace in how they held up defensively. That didn’t continue in a 4-0 defeat against FC Dallas.

Previous: 4-0 loss vs. DAL | Next: 4/11 at NE

22. St. Louis CITY SC

Brendan McSorley saved the day in New York with a 96th-minute equalizer. St. Louis weren’t the better team against NYCFC, but you take road points however you can. They’re still looking for their second win of the season, though.

Previous: 1-1 draw at NYC | Next: 4/11 at DAL

23. Columbus Crew · 4▲

The Crew looked a lot more like the Crew in a 3-1 win at Atlanta. It’s not clear how much of that came down to Columbus finding themselves or Atlanta's state of affairs, but it still felt like a step in the right direction.

At the very least, striker Wessam Abou Ali continues to look like an outstanding signing. After a brace in this one, he’s up to 8g/2a in his first 10 MLS starts.

Previous: 3-1 win at ATL | Next: 4/12 vs. ORL

24. LA Galaxy · 5▼

The Galaxy outshot Minnesota 20-8, but a pair of poor defensive moments caused a 2-1 defeat. They haven’t won in MLS since late February against Charlotte.

Now, LA have to regroup and face Concacaf Champions Cup favorites Toluca on Wednesday. 

Previous: 2-1 loss vs. MIN | Next: 4/11 at ATX

25. Portland Timbers · 2▼

The Timbers entered stoppage time up 2-1 on the Whitecaps. One Thomas Müller penalty and one Sebastian Berhalter goal later, they left BC Place empty-handed after a 3-2 loss.

Portland have now lost four of their last five. The vibes are less than ideal.

Previous: 3-2 loss at VAN | Next: 4/11 vs. LAFC

26. Atlanta United · 1▼

Immediately after Atlanta scored to cut the Crew’s lead to 2-1, they conceded before the stadium PA even got through announcing Atlanta’s goal. Atlanta fans instantly (and loudly) voiced their displeasure.

They've won one of their first six games of Tata Martino's second stint in charge.

Previous: 3-1 loss vs. CLB | Next: 4/11 at CHI

27. Sporting Kansas City · 1▼

RSL overwhelmed Sporting KC on Saturday in a 3-1 setback. Now, the last-place team in the West has to host a red-hot San Jose side.

Previous: 3-1 loss at RSL | Next: 4/11 vs. SJ

28. CF Montréal · 1▲

The 3-0 scoreline in their loss at New England feels a little harsh, but Montréal were still the lesser team. Only the Union have more losses this season.

Previous: 3-0 loss at NE | Next: 4/11 vs. PHI

29. Orlando City · 1▼

There’s no shame in getting beaten by LAFC, but Orlando were absolutely run out of the building. They were down 4-0 inside of the first 28 minutes of their 6-0 loss.

So far this year, they’ve lost matches by scorelines of 4-2, 5-0, 5-0 and 6-0. 

Previous: 6-0 loss at LAFC | Next: 4/12 at CLB

30. Philadelphia Union

The Union are still the only pointless team in MLS. Not pointless in that they don’t serve a purpose. They literally haven't won any points. Which, in a way, makes their purpose to give other teams points?

If you're looking for a silver lining, it's probably that Cavan Sullivan has his first MLS assist.

Previous: 2-1 loss at CLT | Next: 4/11 at MTL