Power Rankings - Week 11

Here are the world-famous MLS Zone power rankings for Week 11 (06/11 - 06/17). Last week's position is in parenthesis.

1. (2) Kansas City Wizards
Have been off since upsetting the New York Red Bulls 3-2 on June 2nd. New York got pounded by D.C. last weekend so, by default, the idle Wizards move back on top of the power rankings. Will face New York on Saturday, this time on the road, and could make a real statement by downing New York at home without Eddie Johnson in the lineup.

2. (1) New York Red Bulls
The Red Bull defense, or lack thereof, has clipped this team's wings, conceding eight goals in their last three games. Bruce Arena's experiment of moving 33-year-old Markus Schopp from midfield to right-back was absolutely disastrous and Ben Olsen made them pay en route to his first career hat trick. With Todd Dunivant and Hunter Freeman still sidelined with injuries, Saturday's game against the aformentioned Wizards could turn ugly.

3. (3) New England Revolution
New England is also coming off two weeks of rest. They will be without Taylor Twellman and Michael Parkhurst (Gold Cup) when Columbus comes to town on Saturday night.

4. (5) Chivas USA
The first team from the Western Conference to show up on the list, Chivas USA is keeping pace with teams that have two or three more games played to their credit. They boast the best goal differential in their conference (+5) and are coming off of their first road win of 2007 (at Chicago, 1-0). The Goats return home to take on a tired Colorado team in the middle of a stretch that sees the Rapids play five of six games away from home.

5. (6) D.C. United
After such an underwhelming start to the season, D.C. is now playing a higher caliber game - it's back to the level most people expected to see from this team. The defense is still an issue, but Luciano Emilio is scoring goals again and Fred is beginning to look very dangerous. He could be inserted into Jaime Moreno's position when #99 joins Bolivia's national team in preparation for Copa America.

6. (4) Colorado Rapids
As mentioned above, Colorado is in the middle of a road stretch that has seen them travel to Toronto, Houston and now Los Angeles over the course of two weeks. The cross-country trip is taking it's toll on the players - leading to a more sloppy style of football that has seen them drop two in a row.

7. (11) Houston Dynamo
Dwayne who? Houston reeled off three wins in seven days to boost themselves into second place in the West, behind intrastate rivals FC Dallas. When DeRosario returns from the Gold Cup, this team could really do some damage. Joseph Ngwenya has three goals on only 10 shots in six games since joining the club from Columbus.

8. (8) Toronto FC
Played well against New York a week ago but couldn't get the result. Trading Edson Buddle for veteran central defender Tyrone Marshall is the latest in a string of good trades for the club. It's only a matter of time before this team goes on another run and puts pressure on the top three - not bad for an expansion club.

9. (7) Chicago Fire
Just as the Fire started getting hot, Paulo Nagamura doused the team's spirits. Chicago was lacking any offensive creative in front of their first sell-out crowd at Toyota Park - they'll improve in that department once Chris Rolfe gets healthy and Justin Mapp returns from the national team.

10. (10) FC Dallas
Who would have thought that Dallas would be in first place in the West without Carlos Ruiz or Kenny Cooper? I still predict that Dallas will sink into mediocrity as the summer heats up.

11. (9) Los Angeles Galaxy
David Beckham's future team has managed just 82 shots this season, dead-last in the MLS. Nate Jaqua has taken 18 of them without finding the back of the net. Maybe Edson Buddle will have better luck in Los Angeles. At least Abel Xavier will be ready to go this weekend in the place of Tyrone Marshall.

12. (13) Columbus Crew
Andy Herron and Alejandro Moreno could score a lot of goals on feeds from Guillermo Barros Schelotto. Will they? Probably not.

13. (12) Real Salt Lake
There's always next year... of course, there will be no Eddie Pope and no Freddy Adu. So who will RSL look to for leadership next year? Mehdi Ballouchy? Andy Williams? Donny Osmond??? Blech...