Power Rankings - Week 8

Here are The MLS Zone's power rankings as of Week 8 (05/21 - 05/27). Last week's position is in parenthesis.

1. (1) New England Revolution
A hard-fought win on the road in Houston means the Revs stay atop the power rankings for another week. The Revs will be in for a rough go during the Gold Cup as they'll lose Taylor Twellman, Michael Parkhurst and Steve Ralston for the tournament. They could come back to Earth a little during this period.

2. (2) New York Red Bulls
No changes in the runner-up spot this week, either. The Red Bulls buried a lax Chicago Fire team early last week and Juan Pablo Angel has looked amazing so far. If Claudio Reyna ever gets healthy - and the chances of that are pretty low - this side could cruise deep into the playoffs. Maybe the most fun team to watch in the league right now.

3. (4) Colorado Rapids
Haven't played a league game since May 13th when they upset the Red Bulls at home. Colorado is trying to keep pace with the top two clubs in the league (NE & NY), but I have a feeling they will fade as the season goes on. Still a decent club at this point and a win over my beloved L.A. Galaxy on Saturday would go a long way to convincing the nay-sayers.

4. (5) Kansas City Wizards
Are they contenders or pretenders? Who knows - nobody in Kansas City is watching. They'll lose Eddie Johnson to the Gold Cup, leaving a lot of the scoring responsibility to rookie Michael Harrington. With a good run during this stretch, Harrington could be well on his way to the Rookie of the Year award.

5. (3) Los Angeles Galaxy
What's that sound? It's the sound of forwards running wild through all of the holes in the Galaxy's defense. The loss of Chris Albright hurts... almost as much as tearing your hamstring completely off the bone. There's still a lot of talent on this team, but Frank Yallop hasn't done so well at bringing the best out in his players (Nate Jaqua, anyone?).

6. (7) Chivas USA
I just couldn't put the Goats ahead of my G's. By not losing in the Super Clasico for only the third time in 11 meetings, this team may be back on the right track. Galindo keeps finding the back of the net and Chivas keeps netting points, even if it is one at a time.

7. (9) D.C. United
Crawling back towards the top of the power rankings. A solid win in hostile Toronto didn't hurt their cause. I'm beginning to wonder if they are keeping Jaime Moreno around just to take penalty kicks (3-for-3 at PK's in his last three games).

8. (11) FC Dallas
Since they keep getting results, I have no choice but to bump them up a few spots this week. They're getting wins at home and on the road. Juan Carlos Toja is a very solid player who fits well with this team. I wonder who they'll get from Columbus in return for Carlos Ruiz?

9. (6) Chicago Fire
Justin Mapp has no goals and just one assist this season. Blech. Maybe getting rid of the team's top two goal-scorers from last year wasn't the best idea? Defense has given up 11 goals in the last three games. Blech. Cuauhtemoc Blanco could kick-start the sputtering offense when he joins the team in about a month, but can he play defense?

10. (10) Toronto FC
Mo Johnston continues tweaking his fantasy team, trading away Alecko Eskandarian for Jeff Cunningham. Despite all of the changes, the club has continued to improve and isn't looking so much like an expansion team anymore.

11. (8) Houston Dynamo
The defending champions have only scored four times in seven games, tied for the lowest total with Columbus. A distracting visit to the White House won't do this team any favors, unless President Bush declares all D.C. United members as enemy combatants and sends them to Guantanamo Bay.

12. (12) Columbus Crew
Same problem as Houston: You have to score goals if you want to win games. Can't wait for the imminent Brian McBride-to-Columbus rumors to heat up again this summer. Only this time, the club needs to make it happen.

13. (13) Real Salt Lake
If New England and New York are the heads of the class, Real Salt Lake is always getting detention. Freddy Adu has made it clear that this will be his last season in MLS before he goes overseas and can you blame him? RSL are already the Keystone Cops of the league and trading away last year's leading goal-scorer is a sad, strange move.


Now it's time for you to plead your case. Which team(s) do I have all wrong?