The Football Forge Power Rankings: Week 12More big moves
This week’s rankings see New Mexico United take a big leap, but don’t expect that to last. Still, they are not the only team making positive moves as the league moves into the second third of the season and things start to get, well, messy.
| Rank | Team | Previous | Change | Record | Forge Factor | Notes |
| 1 | New Mexico United | 12 | +11 | 5-2-4 | 7.71 | Last Tuesday’s 7-0 pummeling of a depleted Phoenix Rising side gives the team a big boost in the rankings, but the 2-1 win in Indy was a lot luckier, coming thanks to a crazy own goal. A 6-point week is a 6-point week though. |
| 2 | Memphis 901 | 1 | -1 | 8-2-1 | 7.00 | Memphis were on a bye this week. |
| 3 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 3 | 0 | 5-3-4 | 6.03 | Tampa were on a bye this week. |
| 4 | Monterey Bay Union | 5 | +1 | 4-7-0 | 5.90 | Back-to-back wins over conference leaders, both by 2-goal margins. The Union are finally having some success, and look good doing so too. Bottom of the West still, but only 6 points out of the playoffs with games in hand. |
| 5 | The Miami FC | 9 | +4 | 5-4-4 | 4.81 | Sharing points with two strong teams (Detroit and Pittsburgh) and thrashing a weak one (Charleston) will see you rise in the rankings. A trip to Tulsa this week could keep them riding high. |
| 6 | El Paso Locomotive | 13 | +7 | 6-6-2 | 4.77 | El Paso lost striker Luis Solignac just before half time to a second yellow card and had 1 shot on goal all game. That’s all they needed to win in Las Vegas though and the Locomotive continues its climb in the standings. |
| 7 | Rio Grande Valley Toros | 6 | -1 | 5-7-0 | 4.48 | The Toros remain above San Antonio in the rankings despite losing to them, but they made it a tough battle for the visitors. A red card didn’t help their cause, with the teams exchanging goals after that point. |
| 8 | San Antonio | 4 | -4 | 9-2-0 | 4.09 | The Men in Black continue to roll, and this instalment of the Copa Tejas went as expected with a win over RGV. The 3-2 scoreline was tighter than it might have been though, and RGV played down a man for the last 13 minutes and still scored in that stretch. |
| 9 | Detroit City | 10 | +1 | 7-2-3 | 3.98 | Detroit were on a bye this week. |
| 10 | Colorado Springs Switchbacks | 2 | -8 | 8-2-0 | 3.64 | They went to Seaside probably anticipating an easy win. They went home with a shocking 2-4 loss and lost the conference lead to boot. I doubt they are happy. |
| 11 | Orange County | 8 | -3 | 3-3-5 | 3.56 | 13 shots but only 1 very weak attempt actually on goal is not going to get it done. The defending champions are this high only because of a 5-1 rout of Tulsa three weeks ago; expect a precipitous fall when that game drops from the form book. |
| 12 | Oakland Roots | 17 | +5 | 2-4-7 | 3.29 | The Roots are managing to scrape points together every week, but do not look impressive doing so. They needed a PK to tie SacRep at home this week. |
| 13 | Pittsburgh Riverhounds | 11 | -2 | 7-3-2 | 3.15 | The Hounds have stumbled of late. Going down a goal twice in Miami, together with what has to be the poorest shot in the history of PKs and failing to take advantage of their chances in didn’t right the boat. |
| 14 | San Diego Loyal | 15 | +1 | 6-3-3 | 3.12 | The Loyal went up 2 goals in 30 minutes against Los Dos, hit the crossbar on a PK, and then gave up an easy goal and a PK in second half stoppage time to end it 2-2. Just 2 points from their last 3 games now. |
| 15 | Indy Eleven | 7 | -8 | 5-4-2 | 2.73 | Indy probably outplayed New Mexico but a passback howler by Mechack Jerome gave the points away. And he nearly scored a second own goal later on an attempted clearance. |
| 16 | Birmingham Legion | 18 | +2 | 4-4-4 | 2.58 | Not an entirely convincing win over New York, even considering the dubious offside call on one goal. The Legion continue to waste chances at a phenomenal rate. |
| 17 | Sacramento Republic | 14 | -3 | 4-3-4 | 2.42 | SacRep dominated in Oakland but failed to score but once and gave up a PK to split the points in a game that was marked mostly by weak defending and equally weak attacking. |
| 18 | Hartford Athletic | 16 | -2 | 2-7-1 | 2.39 | Hartford had to deal with a Phoenix team that was reeling from two huge losses and went up early only to allow 2 goals in what was a fairly even contest. They are this high in the rankings only because their only wins (over Loudoun and New York) were over the past two weeks. |
| 19 | FC Tulsa | 20 | +1 | 4-8-0 | 1.83 | They took the lead in Louisville, gave it up with a silly PK at the end of the first half, let Cameron Lancaster get the go ahead goal and added to that with an Abuchi Obinwa own goal on the way to a 1-4 loss. That 3-1 win over Detroit is becoming a distant memory. |
| 20 | Louisville City | 23 | +3 | 8-2-3 | 1.26 | Lou City looked like the shock results of the past two weeks were going to continue before they finally woke up and took it to Tulsa 4-1. Being on the road this week in Tampa could change things back again. |
| 21 | Atlanta United 2 | 27 | +6 | 2-8-1 | 0.83 | Twonited can consider themselves a little unlucky not to have won against Orange County. They had the better chances, but both teams failed to capitalize. |
| 22 | Las Vegas Lights | 22 | 0 | 4-5-4 | 0.83 | Just 43% possession against a 10-man team is unusual, as is generating 19 shots from that possession. 6 were on target. None went in. A poor home loss against El Paso. |
| 23 | LA Galaxy II | 19 | -4 | 4-6-3 | 0.43 | Los Dos got very lucky with the 2-2 draw with the Loyal and they are still very much a struggling squad. A trip to RGV could help things this week. |
| 24 | Loudoun United | 25 | +1 | 2-8-2 | 0.40 | Loudoun v. Charleston was not anyone’s pick to entertain, but it did. Still, no one deserved to win this mostly ho-hum 1-1 contest. |
| 25 | New York Red Bulls II | 24 | -1 | 1-10-1 | -0.06 | Another week, another loss. 5 straight defeats is now the league’s longest streak, and the Baby Bulls have just 4 points from 12 games. |
| 26 | Charleston Battery | 26 | 0 | 1-8-2 | -0.17 | A ridiculous slice on a PK was atoned for by a Joe Kuzminsky goal at the death to salvage a point. Still, a team that depends on its keeper to score isn’t going very far. |
| 27 | Phoenix Rising | 21 | -6 | 7-5-0 | -0.28 | A 0-7 loss to New Mexico on the back of a 1-5 loss to the Rowdies will set you back big time, although the team has been beset by injuries and had a major COVID problem. A game in Hartford may be the cure for that, although the 2-1 win was not impressive. |
