Upsets are to be expected in a wild league like Major League Soccer, especially in the early stages of the 2016 season. Therefore, the power rankings have undergone a drastic swing this week.

Every team has played two matches thus far in 2016, so the criteria used to grade each club will be as follows:

Here is how every team stands after Week 2. 

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The tremendous attacking displays witnessed in Major League Soccer in the opening week of play carried over to Week 2 as only five teams recorded clean sheets—two of which were in one game. 

Due to the terrific start by the attack-minded players across the United States and Canada, the majority of the players on the list of the league's 20 best in-form stars are strikers. 

As expected, we saw a good amount of early-season movement in the top 20. Only a few of the standout performers from Week 1 were able to keep high positions in our weekly MLS Player Rankings. 

Our player rankings are a cumulative list that take into account play over a specific time span. Until the second month of the season begins, we'll base our current list off matches from March only. 

Continue reading to see which 20 players were named to the Week 2 edition of the MLS Player Rankings.

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The second week of action in Major League Soccer exemplified all the qualities that make the league so unique. 

Saturday's wacky line of results featured a 5-0 thumping by the Houston Dynamo over rival FC Dallas, Philadelphia's first-ever victory in Columbus and Colorado's late win over the LA Galaxy.

The trend continued on Sunday as the San Jose Earthquakes downed 2015 MLS Cup champion Portland at Avaya Stadium to close out the 10-game weekend slate. 

It comes as no surprise that the majority of the players who feature in our MLS Team of the Week were involved in the Week 2 upsets. 

From a trio of two-goal scorers to a pair of a surprising performances from two unlikely defenders, our best XI has it all this week. 

Continue reading to see which 11 players were named in our MLS Team of the Week.

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The first big rivalry match of the season in Major League Soccer takes place on Saturday night when the Houston Dynamo host FC Dallas in the first Texas Derby of 2016. 

While the passion has been there over the last three years, the results haven't shown up for the Dynamo. Since the start of 2013, FC Dallas have won five straight league matches against Houston and an additional two in the 2013 and 2014 U.S. Open Cups. 

Earning a big result in the second week of the season means more to Houston than FC Dallas. The Dynamo come into Saturday's showdown at BBVA Compass Stadium off a 3-3 draw with the New England Revolution in which they let three points slip away in second-half stoppage time. 

Not only would a victory in Week 2 help the Dynamo rebound from their Week 1 heartbreak, but it will give fans of the club hope that Season 2 under manager Owen Coyle will see progress. The pieces are there for the Dynamo to improve, but to do so they must win at home against the difficult competition in the Western Conference. 

A win on the road would help Oscar Pareja's side earn some early separation from the pack of contenders in the West. Only five clubs from the West recorded three points in Week 1, and at least one of those teams will fall in Week 2 when Portland visits San Jose in the final match of the weekend. 

Houston can still brag about its 6-3-3 record at home in the Texas Derby, but a loss or draw on Saturday would hand FC Dallas an eight-game unbeaten run in the rivalry across all competitions. That would not sit well with Dynamo supporters, especially with just under three months between the Week 2 meeting and the second contest between the rivals on June 2 at Toyota Stadium. 

The Texas Derby isn't the only matchup in Week 2 that has been lopsided recently. Six other clubs enter the second weekend of the 2016 campaign with some sort of extended unbeaten run against their opponents. 

Real Salt Lake comes into their Saturday home opener against the Seattle Sounders with wins in each of their last four home contests versus Sigi Schmid's club. The last time Seattle left Rio Tinto Stadium with a win was May 28, 2011. 

The New York Red Bulls have won four of their last six matches with the Montreal Impact. Montreal's last victory against the Red Bulls came on March 23, 2013 at Olympic Stadium. Since then, the Red Bulls have four wins and two draws against their Eastern Conference foes from Quebec. In each game between the two sides last season, the Impact had a defender sent off. 

It shouldn't be a big surprise that the LA Galaxy and Columbus Crew have large streaks from their recent meetings with the Colorado Rapids and Philadelphia Union. LA heads to Dick's Sporting Goods Park with a four-game unbeaten streak against Colorado, and Columbus has not lost at home against the Union in seven all-time meetings at Mapfre Stadium. 

Vancouver will try to break its bad luck against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night. The Whitecaps have only beaten Sporting KC once and do not have a victory in Kansas City. Portland comes into its Sunday showdown at Avaya Stadium with a five-game unbeaten run against the San Jose Earthquakes.

But since this is MLS, where we're used to seeing the unexpected occur, don't be surprised if some of these streaks come to an end in Week 2. 

Week 2 Schedule (all times ET)

Chicago Fire at Orlando City (Friday, 7 p.m., UniMas) 

D.C. United at New England Revolution (Saturday, 3 p.m., MLS Live) 

Seattle Sounders at Real Salt Lake (Saturday, 4 p.m., MLS Live) 

New York Red Bulls at Montreal Impact (Saturday, 4 p.m., MLS Live) 

LA Galaxy at Colorado Rapids (Saturday, 7 p.m., MLS Live) 

Philadelphia Union at Columbus Crew (Saturday, 7:30 p.m., MLS Live) 

FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo (Saturday, 8:30 p.m., MLS Live) 

Vancouver Whitecaps at Sporting Kansas City (8:30 p.m., MLS Live) 

Toronto FC at New York City FC (Sunday, 5 p.m., ESPN2)

Portland Timbers at San Jose Earthquakes (Sunday, 7 p.m., FS1)

Players to Watch

Antonio Nocerino, CM, Orlando City 

One of the biggest names to enter the league during the offseason could debut for Orlando City in the opening match of the weekend. 

Former AC Milan man Antonio Nocerino is set to play in front of the purple faithful at the Citrus Bowl for a club that needs help in midfield. Kaka did not start in Week 1 due to an injury, and Darwin Ceren is suspended for the match against Chicago due to a red card he picked up in the season opener. 

We don't expect Nocerino to dazzle us every second he's on the pitch on Friday night, but we expect him to bring some much-needed quality to the Lions as they look to get past the rebuilding Fire. 

Felipe, CM, New York Red Bulls

In order to capture their first win of the season, the New York Red Bulls must contain Montreal playmaker Ignacio Piatti. 

Midfield destroyer Felipe will be tasked with keeping the Argentinian quiet while fellow central midfielders Dax McCarty and Sacha Kljestan move forward. 

If Felipe can quiet Piatti's impact during the run of play and on the counter, Montreal will be forced to create through the wings, where the defensive strengths of the Red Bulls lie. 

Andre Blake, GK, Philadelphia Union

Jamaica international Andre Blake was one of the few players who impressed in Philadelphia's Week 1 defeat to FC Dallas. 

If the Union want to secure a point at Mapfre Stadium on Saturday, Blake must continue to shine in between the pipes. 

Since the Philadelphia defense is still working on its chemistry and Maurice Edu is out for at least three months, holes will be exploited by the Crew attack. If Blake makes the saves when called upon, the Union will gain confidence throughout the match and could steal a result late. 

Sebastian Giovinco, FW, Toronto FC 

Sebastian Giovinco returns to Yankee Stadium, where he recorded a nine-minute hat-trick in a wild 4-4 draw against New York City FC on July 12, 2015. 

Given the porous defending from NYCFC in Week 1, Giovinco is poised to give another standout performance for Toronto FC on Sunday. 

Giovinco's movement will also be worth watching. In Week 1 at Red Bull Arena, the Italian was isolated for most of the match before he broke free in the final 10 minutes. The Reds must do a better job of finding their star attacker early in the match in order to keep the NYCFC back four consistently under threat. 

Game of the Week 

Vancouver Whitecaps at Sporting Kansas City 

There are plenty of intriguing matchups in Week 2, but the one that catches our eye the most comes from Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City. 

Sporting KC benefited from strong defending and a red card to Seattle's Oniel Fisher in Week 1 to steal three points from the Sounders. Peter Vermes' side did that without Benny Feilhaber, Brad Davis, Justin Mapp, Seth Sinovic and Paulo Nagamura. 

Sinovic and Davis are expected to be available for selection, according to Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star, but Sporting KC will still be short-handed.

One of Vancouver's biggest strengths is its defense anchored by Costa Rican center back Kendall Waston. How Waston and Tim Parker handle Dom Dwyer will be key to the club's success. 

The Western Conference matchup also provides us with a look at two of the best defensive midfielders in the league. Sporting KC's Soni Mustivar and Vancouver's Matias Laba are expected to wreak all sorts of havoc in this contest. 

Joe Tansey covers MLS for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @JTansey90. 

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Major League Soccer returned in entertaining fashion on Sunday, with a record 36 goals across 10 games.

Now that the league is back, it's time for the first power rankings of the 2016 season. Due to the small sample size of games, the criteria used to grade each team will be as follows:

Here are the MLS power rankings for Week 1.

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The first week of the Major League Soccer season provided us with plenty of talking points as 36 goals were scored across the United States and Canada on Sunday. 

A good amount of the strikes came from the usual suspects like Sebastian Giovinco and Ignacio Piatti, but a few of the standout performances from Week 1 were produced by unexpected heroes. 

The man who stood out the most was LA Galaxy substitute Mike Magee, who was one of two players to record two goals and an assist on Sunday. In total, 11 players contributed to two or more tallies during Sunday's 10-game slate. 

Since we're only one week into the new campaign, our MLS Player Rankings could only take into account Week 1 performances. As the weeks go on, this will become a cumulative ranking of the top 20 players in MLS. 

Continue reading to see where Magee and the other stars from Week 1 landed in the first MLS Player Rankings of 2016.

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Major League Soccer dove head first into its 21st season with 36 goals across 10 games on a busy Sunday that featured plenty of stellar individual performances. 

With superstars like Kaka and Frank Lampard out of their respective lineups for the early slate of matches, a few players jumped into the spotlight with impressive attacking showings. 

When the day turned into night, defense took over for a small amount of time before a league veteran exploded off the bench to close the night with one of the unlikeliest performances in recent memory. 

Due to all of the scoring across MLS in Week 1, we opted to form our first Team of the Week in a 3-4-3 so we could incorporate as many attackers as possible. 

Continue reading to see which 11 players were named to the first MLS Team of the Week for the 2016 season.

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The LA Galaxy stormed back from a one-goal deficit at halftime to defeat D.C. United 4-1 in the final contest of Sunday's 10-game slate across Major League Soccer. 

Mike Magee was the catalyst of the comeback as he scored twice, earned an assist and set up Robbie Keane's 83rd-minute penalty. 

The win came without major contributions from LA's big-name stars in attack like Steven Gerrard, Giovani dos Santos and Keane. One headliner who was a difference-maker at the StubHub Center was Ashley Cole, who produced a stellar second half. 

United, who went ahead in the fifth minute on a strike from Lamar Neagle, had no answer for the Galaxy once the hosts got going in the second half. 

Here's a look at our winners and losers from LA's season-opening win over D.C. 

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Major League Soccer--StubHub Center, Carson, Calif. 

LA Galaxy 4-1 DC United 

Goals: Lamar Neagle (DC) 5'; Daniel Steres (LA) 54'; Mike Magee (LA) 64', 87'; Robbie Keane (LA) 83' pen

LA Galaxy: Kennedy (Rowe 20'), Rogers, DeLaGarza, Steres, Cole, Zardes, De Jong, Dos Santos (Magee 46'), Gerrard, Lletget (Husidic 80'), Keane 

DC United: Dykstra, Kemp, Boswell, Birnbaum, Franklin, Rolfe (Aguilar 72'), Sarvas, DeLeon, Nyarko (Espindola 46'), Acosta (Buescher 75'), Neagle 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90. 

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Almost three months have passed since the Portland Timbers hoisted the MLS Cup at Mapfre Stadium with a win over the Columbus Crew. 

When the 2016 Major League Soccer season opens on Sunday, the two sides will meet in one of the marquee fixtures of the 10-game slate at Providence Park in Portland. 

During an offseason in which many clubs across the United States and Canada adjusted their rosters in an attempt to make 2016 a more prosperous year than 2015, the two participants from December's final only made minor alterations. 

The most important of those moves came at left-back for Portland as the Timbers brought in Chris Klute through a trade with Columbus to replace Jorge Villafana, who left for Santos Laguna in Liga MX in the days following the MLS Cup.

A month after Klute traded in Columbus gold for Portland green, the Crew sent forward Jack McInerney to the Timbers in a trade. 

Columbus replaced McInerney on the depth chart with Ola Kamara and Conor Casey, both of whom will back up leading scorer Kei Kamara. Corey Ashe, Amro Tarek and Emil Larsen were the three other names brought in by the Crew to join one of the most talented squads in the league. 

Portland also added some minor pieces through a few different mechanisms. Midfielder Ned Grabavoy joined as a free agent, while Zarek Valentin and Jermaine Taylor were acquired through a trade and the Re-Entry Draft respectively. 

We should be in for an entertaining contest on Sunday in Portland, but don't read much into the final score. Week 1 results rarely tell us anything about who will be a contender in November and December. It must be noted Columbus dropped its opener to Houston in 2015, while the Timbers drew at home with Real Salt Lake. 

The title rematch isn't the only must-see contest during Sunday's 10-game schedule that lasts close to 11 hours.

The first match of the season takes place at Red Bull Arena as the New York Red Bulls host Toronto FC. Both teams enter 2016 with a bevy of expectations, and a good performance against a fellow contender would help boost morale in either camp. 

The other two Canadian sides in MLS also come into Sunday looking to get off to a nice start. Vancouver hosts Montreal at 5:30 p.m. ET in a match that will be without Didier Drogba, who fell victim to the turf monster before the season even started, per Doug McIntyre of ESPN FC. 

Seattle and LA, the two big-money clubs in the Western Conference, each have a chance to showcase their squads in primetime after bowing out of the CONCACAF Champions League this week.

The Sounders no longer have Obafemi Martins, but Jordan Morris and Nelson Valdez—along with a few others—should be able to make up for the Nigerian's production alongside Clint Dempsey.

In LA, there are countless new faces in the Galaxy squad and a rough start could occur against D.C. United as all the new players acclimate themselves to each other. 

Below in our ultimate guide to the MLS weekend, we'll have a closer look at some of Sunday's biggest games and deliver some predictions for the 2016 season. 

Week 1 Schedule (All Matches on Sunday) 

Toronto FC at New York Red Bulls (1:30 p.m. ET, TSN) 

Real Salt Lake at Orlando City (2 p.m. ET, MLS Live) 

New York City FC at Chicago Fire (2 p.m. ET, MLS Live) 

New England Revolution at Houston Dynamo (3 p.m. ET, MLS Live) 

Philadelphia Union at FC Dallas (3 p.m. ET, MLS Live) 

Colorado Rapids at San Jose Earthquakes (3 p.m. ET, MLS Live) 

Columbus Crew at Portland Timbers (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) 

Montreal Impact at Vancouver Whitecaps (5:30 p.m. ET, TSN)

Sporting Kansas City at Seattle Sounders (7 p.m. ET, FS1)

D.C. United at LA Galaxy (10 p.m. ET, UniMas) 

Players to Watch

Gideon Baah, CB, New York Red Bulls

Welcome to MLS, Gideon Baah. Your first defensive assignment is to find a way to stop Sebastian Giovinco. 

The new Red Bulls center-back, who replaces Matt Miazga in the starting lineup, will have his hands full with the Atomic Ant at Red Bull Arena in the season opener. 

Usually defenders can stop an attacker's rhythm by playing physical, but if Baah goes in too hard, he may set his team up for failure since the former Juventus man is one of the best free-kick takers in the league. 

There is no doubt Giovinco will have a few chances over the course of 90 minutes, but the key for Baah is to make sure those opportunities don't affect the final result. 

Joao Plata, FW, Real Salt Lake 

After suffering a heartbreaking defeat in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday night, Real Salt Lake travels to a packed Citrus Bowl to face Orlando City. 

If the Claret and Cobalt want to steal a point from Orlando, Joao Plata must use his abilities to get around the vulnerable Orlando City full-backs.

If Plata, or any other member of the four-pronged RSL front line, find gaps on the wings early in the match, Orlando's defenders on the wings won't be able to move forward in attack much. 

If the RSL threat in the final third is strong from the start, Jeff Cassar's team should be able to lock in on Kaka and Cyle Larin and suffocate the passing lanes through Kyle Beckerman. 

Dom Dwyer, FW, Sporting Kansas City 

The 2016 season should be a fruitful one in front of net for Sporting Kansas City's Dom Dwyer given all the creative midfielders the club has on its roster. 

The former Norwich City youth player, who recorded two goals and two assists in the preseason, will look to get off to a hot start on the road against the Sounders. 

A big day from the Englishman could hand Peter Vermes' side its first win in Seattle since 2009. Since the first-ever meeting between the sides in 2009, the Sounders have three wins at home, and the clubs have drawn twice at CenturyLink Field.  

Luciano Acosta, FW, D.C. United

D.C. enters Sunday's finale at the StubHub Center with a lot less pressure on its shoulders than the Galaxy.

Since the Galaxy will press to find a win, the attackers for the Black and Red should be able to play loose against the reconfigured LA back four. 

The player who should bring a much-needed boost of creativity to the United attack is Luciano Acosta, who joined the club from Boca Juniors on in February. 

If the Argentine is able to break through the gaps in the LA defense, D.C. has a chance to steal three points from a vulnerable Galaxy side in California. 

2016 MLS Predictions

When we revisit these predictions in November, most of them will be wrong, but we're going to have a go anyway. 

Eastern Conference Playoff Teams: New York Red Bulls, Toronto FC, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution, D.C. United, New York City FC 

Western Conference Playoff Teams: Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders, FC Dallas, Portland Timbers, LA Galaxy, Sporting Kansas City 

Eastern Conference Final: New York Red Bulls over Columbus Crew

Western Conference Final: FC Dallas over Seattle Sounders

MLS Cup Final: New York Red Bulls over FC Dallas 

Most Valuable Player: Clint Dempsey, Seattle Sounders

Coach of the Year: Carl Robinson, Vancouver Whitecaps

Goalkeeper of the Year: David Ousted, Vancouver Whitecaps 

Defender of the Year: Michael Parkhurst, Columbus Crew 

Rookie of the Year: Brandon Vincent, Chicago Fire

Newcomer of the Year: Carlos Gruezo, FC Dallas 

Joe Tansey covers MLS for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @JTansey90. 

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