Sound in Seattle, Chivas is strong

Sensational Seattle is 2-0, but the expansion Sounders hit the road this week. Corky Trewin/MLS via Getty Images

Our weekly dose of Major League Soccer quick takes, plotlines to watch and Power Rankings.

At your (national team) service

Four players -- Frankie Hedjuk (Columbus), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Brian Ching (Houston) and Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado) -- missed their team's games last weekend while playing for the U.S. national team against El Salvador. (Landon Donovan also made the trip, but his Los Angeles Galaxy were idle.) Impressively, the four squads went 2-1-1. It speaks to the growing depth of the league that key elements from multiple teams can miss matches for international duty and the respective clubs still can hold serve.

Sounding off

The Seattle Sounders, who faced a stiffer opponent last weekend against Real Salt Lake, still walked away with a 2-0 victory. Nate Jaqua opened his 2009 account and Fredy Montero scored a brilliant strike to ice the game in the 77th minute. The defense held Clint Mathis and crew in check for most of the match. Now it's time to see how Sigi Schmid's squad travels as it heads to Toronto this weekend for a match in one of the league's toughest venues. By Monday morning, we'll know much more about the expansion team.

Crew by committee

In the span of four days, Columbus plays at RSL and Chivas USA in possibly the toughest stretch any team will face all year. The Crew, one of the league's deeper teams, will need all that talent to succeed in both matches. Robbie Rogers was held out of last weekend's draw with Toronto, and Hedjuk likely will be unavailable on Thursday after starting for the U.S. on Wednesday against Trinidad and Tobago. This is trial by fire time for the team's reserves.

Week 3 Power Rankings   New Rank Previous Rank Team 1 4 Chivas USA (2-0-0) Eduardo Lillingston, Bojan Stepanovic filled in for Kljestan, helping the club start the season 2-0 for the first time ever. 2 7 Seattle Sounders FC (2-0-0) Chivas gets the nod for the top spot due to an away win, but MLS' newest club looks unstoppable at home. 3 1 Chicago Fire (1-0-1) A patchwork defense held together while a strike from Patrick Nyarko helped Chicago salvage an undeserved away point. 4 2 Columbus Crew (0-0-2) For 84 minutes, the Crew were on the road to victory in their home opener, but a Gino Padula own-goal derailed those plans. 5 5 Toronto FC (1-0-1) Despite managing only two shots on net, Dwayne De Rosario & Co. forced a late mistake and escaped the Midwest with a point. 6 10 Colorado Rapids (1-1-0) The Mastroeni-less home side showed excellent resolve in netting the game-winner after K.C. tied the match in the 69th minute. 7 14 San Jose Earthquakes (1-1-0) The Quakes survived the season's most exciting quarter-hour, scoring three to Houston's two between minutes 30 and 44. 8 8 New England Revolution (1-0-1) Shalrie Joseph is putting this young team on his shoulders and it shouldn't complain about getting four points from two road games. 9 3 Houston Dynamo (0-1-1) In a wide-open match, Houston was probably unlucky not to score a late equalizer in San Jose. 10 11 D.C. United (0-0-2) Luciano Emilio got his side on the board early, but it couldn't hold on for the victory on a sloppy pitch in the nation's capital. 11 6 Real Salt Lake (0-1-0) RSL put up more of a fight than the Red Bulls did last week in the Pacific Northwest, but offensive struggles could plague the team. 12 13 New York Red Bulls (0-1-1) Juan Carlos Osorio's men still don't look great, but the draw was a vast improvement over the previous week. 13 9 Kansas City Wizards (0-2-0) Kevin Hartman becoming MLS' all-time saves leader has been one of the few bright spots so far this season for the Wiz. 14 14 Los Angeles Galaxy (0-0-1) Bruce Arena's team escapes the bottom slot despite the off-week more due to FC Dallas' incompetence than anything positive in L.A. 15 12 FC Dallas (0-2-0) With a loss to Chivas USA, the Texas squad falls to 0-2 for the first time in its 14-year history.