All in all the Red Bulls haven't moved up or down the list much in this week's power rankings. Sure, a win in Kansas City may have shifted things a bit, but the same could be said if they suffered a loss and allowed SKC to pad their Eastern Conference lead. As MLSsoccer.com's Franco Panizo wrote the other day,
the team was happy to see its losing streak on the road come to an end
.
Last week the Red Bulls were locked into the Top 3 across all power rankings. This week looks about the same, minus one adjustment at the hands of MLSsoccer.com, as
they shifted New York from third to fourth
on account of their love for Seattle:
"Get a draw on the road vs. the league's second-best team and drop a spot? Not fair, but that's how good Seattle was — plus it's hard to ignore that RBNY didn't put a single shot on goal. That said, five of their final seven are at home, so if anybody's going to push San Jose, it could be the Red Bulls."
Sports Illustrated didn't see any need to move the Red Bulls down from their No. 3 spot
:
"Book-end blunders for the Red Bulls saw the team concede an early gift while spoiling a late golden chance and squeaking a point out of their match in Kansas City, one they were forced to play without Thierry Henry after the birth of his son this week. Having a rested Henry for a mid-week battle with rival D.C. United will be vital considering the amount of energy expended in the physical slugfest with SKC."
ESPN Soccernet also keeps the Red Bulls third overall
. Despite acknowledging the team's unfortunate start, they also credit the back line's ability to lock down for the remainder of the match:
Things were looking grim early on against Kansas City after conceding an early goal. But the Red Bulls' makeshift back line tightened up and a gift of an own goal from Kei Kamara allowed New York to grind out a valuable road point."
That's the book on power rankings for this week. What do you think?
