2021 MLS Final Eastern Conference Power Rankings

The Nearly Men

8: DC United (14-5-15), 47 points

Ultimately, DC’s poor start doomed their season. United missed out on the playoffs by a single point after losing five of their first seven matches to begin the season.

Looking at our old friend xGD, United finished with the second-best xGD in the East at 14.5. That is an eye-popping +12.5 differential from the two points they finished with. Head coach Hernan Losada and his men found themselves in almost every game but just unable to find a way through many of the times.

Striker Ola Kamara finishes his resurgent season tied for the MLS scoring lead after scoring 19 times. At the same time, youngsters like Kevin Paredes, Donovan Pines, and Moses Nyeman continued their development which will be crucial to future United success.

9: Columbus Crew (13-8-13), 47 points

Just waiting for the official announcement, but it would appear the Crew used this season to film The Hangover 4. If true, Head Coach Caleb Porter has to answer why there wasn’t more Ken Jeong over Erik Hurtado.

A year after seizing the 2020 MLS Cup, Columbus misses out on the playoffs entirely. Injuries to key players like midfielder Arthur, fullback Milton Valenzuela, and forward Gyasi Zardes, to only name a few, prevented this team from finding any rhythm, especially in attack.

10: CF Montréal (12-10-12), 46 points

For Montreal, their rebrand has not led to increased success so far, eh?

Montreal’s season expectations were low, so they probably exceeded them after failing to make the playoffs by just a point.

This season began with a rocky start for Montreal as head coach Thierry Henry suddenly departed two months before the regular season. Under these circumstances, the new coach, Wilfried Nancy, did a quality job leading the Canadian club through the 2021 campaign.