Team of the week: Seattle Sounders

Remember a few weeks back when Seattle fell into seventh place and below the red line in the Western Conference?

Sigi Schmid’s men have turned things around quickly as the Sounders have secured 10 points in its last four matches. On Saturday Seattle overpowered first-place Vancouver, 3-0, and moved into fourth place in the West—just one point behind the Whitecaps.

When Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey were out injured, Seattle went from being one of the best teams in MLS to an absolute non-factor. With these stars now back in action, Seattle is once again a force to be reckoned with. Dempsey picked up two assists and Martins registered a goal and an assist against Vancouver.

Player of the week: Ned Grabavoy

Devon Sandoval scored two goals for Real Salt Lake in a surprising home win over the Los Angeles Galaxy and Sebastian Giovinco scored another two goals as he continues to build his case for league MVP.

This week, however, Ned Grabavoy gets the nod thanks to the two goals he scored in New York City FC’s 3-2 win over San Jose. For NYCFC to succeed, it needs other players beyond its designated players to step up. The 32-year-old midfielder from Joliet, Ill., certainly did that.

Goal of the week: Benny Feilhaber

U.S. national team fans—especially those hailing from Kansas—cannot believe that Sporting KC midfielder cannot catch the eye of Jurgen Klinsmann. Given his performances this season, it’s easy to see why.

And given this splendid spot kick, it’s hard to imagine Feilhaber not ranking among the top 35 Americans.

Clunkers of the Week: Portland and L.A.

There was a lot of disappointing and underachieving performances this week. D.C. United continues to fade and lost at home in a big game to Columbus. FC Dallas was outplayed by Kansas City and Vancouver was throttled by Seattle.

But Portland Timbers and the Los Angeles Galaxy were easily the worst teams of the week.

Portland couldn't get anything done at home on Sunday in a 2-0 loss to the Red Bulls. For all the talk about Darlington Nagbe now having his American citizenship, he looks far from being ready to help the national team. There are simply better options at this point in MLS. Sacha Kljestan was solid in the midfield and Sean Davis, who should be in the mix for the U.S. U-23 team, stepped in to fill the void left by the suspended Dax McCarty.

It’s not that the Red Bulls won, it’s that Portland showed so little at home while in the middle of a playoff push that should be of a major concern to Caleb Porter.

“A lot of times I have answers after a game on why this, why that, a lot times it’s easy to say the other team is better,” Porter said. “Sometimes we were poor. Sometimes it was finishing.  Sometimes it’s defending. You know I think this is a combination of things today and I need time look at it and think about it."

Meanwhile, the Galaxy simply have so much talent that whenever it loses it qualifies as a surprise. No one expected the Galaxy to be perfect and some growing pains were expected in learning how to play with an abundance of quality players but the Galaxy's scoreless streak has now reached 279 minutes. Unacceptable.

Young Player of the Weekend: Miazga

Miazga seems to be a weekly contender for this award. He actually turned in a subpar performance in a midweek 2-1 loss to New England but be bounced back nicely on Sunday against the Portland Timbers.

Miazga was dominant in the 2-0 win and looks in terrific shape ahead of the Olympic qualifying tournament that begins October 1.

Save of the Week: Luis Robles

In an absolute no brainer, Luis Robles had the best save of the week and likely a strong MLS Save of the Year candidate. This stunner preserved the Red Bulls 2-0 shutout over Portland.

Yallop axed in Chicago

On Sunday Frank Yallop was given his pink slip by Chicago and the only surprise is that it took so long.

With the worst record in the league and a long list of underperforming players the past two seasons, Chicago had to make this move. In two seasons in the Windy City, Yallop posted a 13-26-24 record. Assistant coaches Clint Mathis and Marc Bircham also lost their jobs.

Nelson Rodriguez will take over as Chicago Fire general manager, leaving his advisory role at U.S. Soccer after less than a year. Chicago Fire Technical Director Brian Bliss will serve as interim head coach.

"I share our fans' frustration and, while we've enjoyed success off the pitch, I'm obviously not happy with the results on it," Fire owner Andrew Hauptman said in a statement. "I felt the need to make changes now in order to better position ourselves for the offseason and beyond. I have tremendous confidence about the future of this Club in Nelson's hands and am beyond thrilled to bring him to Chicago."