Power Rankings - Week 9

Here are The MLS Zone's world-famous power rankings for Week 9 (05/28 - 06/03). Last week's position in is parenthesis.

1. (2) New York Red Bulls
Juan Pablo Angel might be on his way to an MVP award in his first season in the league, if he can keep up his torrid pace of one or two goals and one or two assists per game. And yet Colombia didn't even bother to call him up for Copa America.

2. (1) New England Revolution
Eddie Johnson scorched the Revs for the first hat trick of the season last weekend. Defense gave up four goals against K.C. after only giving up 7 in the previous 8 games. This weekend's home game against sluggish Real Salt Lake should help the team get back on track.

3. (4) Kansas City Wizards
Eddie Johnson is on fire. The team is going to really miss him while he's gone this summer. They've done a good job at getting enough points early to still be in touch with the rest of the East by the time he gets back.

4. (3) Colorado Rapids
The referee helped Colorado defeat the Galaxy by hastily sending Kyle Martino off early in last weekend's match. Still, Herculez Gomez continues to draw fouls and score goals and the team keeps gathering points.

5. (6) Chivas USA
Solid win at home against FC Dallas. Maykel Galindo is the perfect complement to Ante Razov - the duo will take this team far, even if nobody is at the Home Depot Center to see it.

6. (7) D.C. United
Continuing to pick up points they lost by their poor play earlier in the season. The defense still needs work and Luciano Emilio needs to start scoring again.

7. (5) Los Angeles Galaxy
Injuries and call-ups continue keep the Galaxy lineup thin. On the bright side, Abel Xavier should be eligible to play in just two more weeks. On the dark side, Landon Donovan will be gone until mid-July at best.

8. (10) Toronto FC
After playing to their first tie in club history, Toronto FC returns home for their next two games. Wednesday's upcoming game against the New York Red Bulls could be very fun to watch as long as the Red Bulls don't get scared off by all those people in the stands.

9. (8) FC Dallas
Will remain intact through the Gold Cup (minus the already absent Carlos Ruiz) and stand a good chance to run up their point total until the rest of the league is at full-strength again.

10. (9) Chicago Fire
With Blanco looking in fine form ahead of his move to the Windy City, the Fire could offer a contract to Marcelo Salas, who is on trial with the club right now. However, some people around the league are already joking about Toyota Park becoming an old-age home. I say the club needs goals from anyone (young or old) to start winning again.

11. (12) Columbus Crew
With Andy Herron scoring two goals in his first game back, Columbus has some offense again. At the same time, their defense has become more porous - instead of playing to 0-0 ties, now they play to 2-2 ties.

12. (11) Houston Dynamo
Could Houston miss the playoffs? Sure. Will AEG allow that? Not likely. I expect the ownership to bring in a big-name playmaker when the transfer window opens up again. It's not that they are such a bad team, but they are ending up on the wrong side of the score too often.

13. (13) Real Salt Lake
Kasey Keller isn't coming because RSL can't muster up enough money for him, or atleast that's the latest word out of Utah. It's probably a good thing because with the money they were willing to spend on Keller, they could go out and get two or three solid players who could help this team start winning.