Major League Soccer Power Rankings

It may have been a bold move to put D.C. back to the top of the MLSPR last week but they totally justified my faith with a crushing victory over L.A. With the game being shown as a warmup to the Euro final, United helped show the watching nation that there is top quality soccer in MLS. They broke through the Galaxy defense at will and really should have scored more by the final whistle. Emilio can't stop scoring and, with Ben Olsen now back from injury, D.C. will just continue to get better and better. The rest of the league, you have been warned.

New England bounced back from their loss at RSL with a battling win over Eastern Conference rivals Toronto FC and in the process solidified their position at the top of the league. The win also confirms Steve Nicol and his staff as the coaching team for the MLS All-Star squad — just reward for a coach who has assembled a squad that is so strong, they haven't missed injured star striker Taylor Twellman. Steve Ralston has led this team in the absence of Twellman and his second goal against Toronto was one of the best in the league this year. If he can continue that kind of form, then the Revs are a lock for the regular season crown. As for beyond that? The jury remains out.

While everyone waits for the Columbus bubble to burst, they continue to scrap their way to victories and remain right in the hunt for top spot in the Eastern Conference. The win over Colorado wasn't exactly a classic (and the Rapids aren't exactly a good team), but these are the wins that get you to the playoffs and that is all that Sigi Schmid cares about. While other teams have big-name players like Beckham, Angel and Emilio, Schmid has had to build a team around the likes of Emmanuel Ekpo, which makes the coaching job he has done so far all the more remarkable.

Toronto's clash with New England was always going to be a benchmark to see just how far the second-year franchise has come in its short existence. Despite eventually losing the game, they showed enough promise to suggest that they are not too far behind when it comes to the elite. John Carver switched to a 3-5-2 for this game to match up with the Revs in midfield, but it's not a wise choice to try and beat New England at their own game. Carver knows his side also needs to add a quality striker to inject some energy into an attack that tends to go flat at times. Either way, I can only see good times ahead for a franchise that I expect to be a leader in MLS for many years to come.

At the start of the season, the success of this team depended on their two star strikers, but with Jozy Altidore gone and Juan Pablo Angel struggling, it is the rest of this battling squad that is keeping New York within touching distance of a playoff spot. After a 4-1 loss to D.C., I was ready to write them off, but since then they have gone three unbeaten as Juan Carlos Osorio has got his team working stronger as a unit. New York are now a very difficult side to beat. That kind of team will only get you so far and if they really want to keep pace with the likes of D.C. and New England, Osorio knows a fit Angel is a must.

Chivas USA wasn't exactly impressive in its draw with New York at the HDC. The continued absence of Maykel Galindo was certainly felt as Chivas seemed to lack a killer punch in the final third yet again. Ante Razov did get off the mark with his first goal since April, but I'm not sure the ageing striker has enough left in the tank to fire Chivas into the postseason. If Galindo can come back and quickly recaptures the form of last year, then this team is capable of beating anybody. But if he can't, then another first-round playoff exit is all this average squad can expect.

The Galaxy defense followed up their awful performance against the Crew with an even more inept display against D.C. as Los Angeles fell to an embarrassing defeat on national television last Sunday. This game looked like men against boys at times and, if D.C. really wanted to, I'm sure they could have scored two or three more. It is games like this that will really test the coaching ability of Ruud Gullit as he can't just go out and buy new defenders. He simply has to make what he has perform better as a unit. A good start would be to dump Abel Xavier to the bench because in this form, it's where he belongs.

A trip to struggling Kansas City should have given RSL the perfect opportunity to show the rest of the league that they are a force to be reckoned with, but they blew it with a dull display that led to yet another away defeat. Jason Kreis may claim his team was unlucky to lose to a last-minute goal, but his side never showed enough attacking impetus against a K.C. side that was there for the taking. Ultimately, RSL got exactly what it deserved. A win would have taken Real to the top of the Western Conference, but after this loss, don't expect to see this side hitting those heights this season.

Houston aren't exactly in good form, but Dallas still showed a lot of character in coming from behind to snatch a road-point at Robertson Stadium. Schellas Hyndman has had very little time to work with his squad but there were some positive signs for all Dallas fans, most notably a strong defensive display that kept Dwayne DeRosario in check. Kenny Cooper continues to perform well, but Hyndman knows he has to get more of an attacking output from Toja and Alvarez for this team to climb the conference standings. Either way, the early signs of the Hyndman era are positive for the Dallas faithful.

Football is my life and I could get excited about watching a U-8 AYSO game, but even I couldn't put a positive spin on the performances of Houston over the past few weeks of the season. This Dynamo team has been performing so flat that it makes it difficult to watch their games without finding myself nodding off. Fans of Houston will always tell you that their team will turn it on in the playoffs when it really counts, but on the evidence of their last few performances, I just don't see it happening this year.

When the Fire trounced New York 5-1 a couple of weeks ago, it looked like this side was the team to beat. But since then, Chicago are on a four-game winless streak that has seen them drop to fifth in the Eastern Conference. There is no doubt that the Brian McBride saga has not helped, but there can be no excuses for not picking up all three points at home to first-year franchise San Jose. Cuauhtemoc Blanco is obviously not firing on all cylinders while Chad Barrett isn't exactly in the form of his life either, so Chicago has to find a way to get more goals out of the rest of team or risk missing out on the playoffs.

After a wretched run of form over the past few weeks, K.C. finally ended its barren spell with a lucky win over RSL. Curt Onalfo won't be too worried about the manner of the victory as he knows a slice of luck is sometimes all a team needs to turn a season around. With the news that Josh Wolff is returning to the Wizards, this has turned out to be the best week of the season so far for K.C. fans. This team will finish bottom of the east but at least they are not going to go down without a fight.

San Jose may not be the best team in the league, but they certainly come to compete in every game they play. This was evident at Chicago last week as they scrapped their way to a very impressive road-point. The only problem is this side not having enough quality to perform well on a consistent basis. Because of that they are a certainty to finish bottom of the Western Conference.

How could I ever accuse Colorado of not being consistent? They have certainly rammed my words back down my throat with four consistently bad performances in a row to drop to the bottom of the rankings. In all seriousness, this franchise is in dire need of major changes and I just can't see why those moves aren't being made now. However, as bad as Colorado has been, they are in a wide-open Western Conference and a new coach with fresh ideas could lead this team to the playoffs. If the changes are not made, then expect the Rapids to play their way out of the playoff picture.