Major League Soccer Power Rankings: Houston still #1, Columbus surging
The standings in both conferences are beginning to change as Houston has caught Chivas USA to take over the West and DC United has passed Chicago in the East. Other teams such as Columbus are back in the playoff picture after a weak start while Dallas, San Jose, and New York remain the worst teams. Overall the eastern conference has 5 teams within 3 points of each other so the playoff race is far from over. In the Western Conference its much more open with Houston and Chivas at 27 points, Seattle at 20, and Colorado at 17. San Jose and FC Dallas remain in last with 9 and 10 points. In the Eastern Conference New York is the only team that is more than 6 points back from DC United.
Here’s the latest power rankings through Tuesday June 16, 2009.
- Houston Dynamo – They’ve tooken over 1st place in the West and are one of the clear cut favorites to win the MLS Cup. Can they keep it up or have they peaked too early?
- DC United – United have taken the lead in the East with a win against 2nd place Chicago. Even while playing in RFK Stadium, Saturday’s game had over 18,000 people. Will they ever get their own stadium?
- Seattle Sounders FC – A strong performance at home and this team seems to have gotten out of their slump. Steve Zakuani is pushing for the MLS Rookie of the Year award with his play this season.
- Columbus Crew – It wasn’t that long ago that Columbus was near the bottom in the standings and these rankings but they’ve put things together. Schelotto seems ready to win another MVP trophy.
- Chivas USA – A bad week for Chivas who seem to have hit a wall recently. It was inevitable they would struggle at some point and have enough points to still be tied with Houston in the West. Will they hold onto Sacha Kljestan this summer?
- Chicago Fire – The Fire 21 goals this season, 2nd most in the league, only to concede 19. Can someone find a defense for this team?
- Toronto FC – A nice home win against NY and Toronto remains near the top of the East. If they can consistently keep their good home form they should be in the playoffs for the first time.
- Kansas City Wizards – A solid victory against the Revolution and KC is 3rd in the Eastern Conference. Claudio Lopez is finally starting to live up to the hype.
- New England Revolution – The Revolution have a -9 goal differential on the road. Their home form has generally be good but they need to pick up their away record.
- Colorado Rapids – A bye week for the Rapids who have a chance to move up with 3 games in 10 days coming up.
- Real Salt Lake – Finally they were able to get a road win, but then again it was against the Galaxy. Anyways they only 5 points back of Seattle for 3rd.
- Los Angeles Galaxy – Just when you thought this team might be putting it together they disappoint like usual. Does anyone really think they will make the playoffs? Or maybe make a late run and give everyone false hope?
- FC Dallas – There’s not much left to say about FC Dallas and how bad they’ve been this season. Does Kenny Cooper really want to stick around this summer or head to Europe?
- San Jose Earthquakes – The team fought hard against Seattle and had a few chances but routinely makes key defensive mistakes and can’t score goals when needed.
- New York Red Bulls – They have 13 goals scored and conceded 24. That’s pretty much all you need to know about why they are in last place.
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