Week 24 Power Rankings

There was a bit of minor movement in the rankings this time around. The biggest drop didn’t include a change in numeric rankings though, as we saw ne team switch tiers.

The Good

1) DC United (49 pts, 25 games, 1.96 ppg)—Barely beating RSL isn’t the best way to keep the top spot, but their only challenger managed to tie the Rapids … Playing the Fire on Sunday should be a good game, and will help cement DCU’s top spot with a win (or really push up the Fire if they pull off the upset).

2) Chivas USA (44 pts, 24 games, 1.83 ppg)—The lopsided result over LA made a case for them pulling ahead of DCU in my power rankings, but that ugly draw in Colorado (and up a man as well) keeps them stuck in second. The goats need to prove that they can win on the road.

3) New England Revolution (45 pts, 25 games, 1.80 ppg)—New England’s win over Dallas was a lot more convincing than Houston’s over LA. I’m putting these two teams into a tie for 3rd.

3) Houston Dynamo (45 points, 26 games, 1.73 ppg)—See above. On the other hand, Houston is getting sme players back and a week off. Hopefully they can come back strong.

The Fair

5) FC Dallas (39 pts, 24 games, 1.62 ppg)—The bad news is that their loss at New England drops them out of the upper tier, the good news is that they’re now the best team in the middle of the pack.

6) New York Red Bulls (37 points, 25 games, 1.48 ppg)—Pulling out a draw in Chicago pushes them into a draw. These are two teams that are looking pretty good right now.

6) Chicago Fire (30 points, 24 games, 1.25 ppg)—Looking ahead, the Fire can really gain some ground with a win at Dallas on Thursday, but Sunday is going to be a tough game at home. Four points would be a big statement.

8) Kansas City Wizards (36 points, 25 games, 1.44 ppg)—They beat the Crew, but didn’t look great doing it. I’m pretty the Wizards will make the playoffs, but I don’t think they’ll get much past that.

9) Colorado Rapids (29 pts, 25 games, 1.16 ppg)—They tied a Chivas team with road performance issues, that’s enough to keep them out of the lower tier and to move the Rapids above the Crew, but neither team really looks very good.

10) Columbus Crew (28 pts, 25 games, 1.12 ppg)—Yuck. Giving up the game in stoppage time like that looks like something that one of the the cellar dwellars below would do. If Columbus wants tomake the playoffs they need to play harder (and keep their fingers crossed), a Saturday game against TFC should help.

The Bad

11) Real Salt Lake (19 pts, 24 games, .79 ppg)—I’m keeping them ahead of TFC, only because a) they’ve scored recently and b) they managed to pull out a draw after almost 80 minutes of play while a man down. RSL can take 6 points this week, but given the way they’ve played anything from there on down to 0 would be unsurprising.

12) Toronto FC (21 pts, 24 games, .87 ppg)—Will TFC finally score against Columbus this week? A win is probably asking too much.

13) Los Angeles Galaxy (17 pts, 22 games, .77 ppg)—the RSL game might be almost fair (both teams reek of unmet promise, RSL will be without Espindola, LA will be playing at altitude). I don’t think there’s any question that the Galaxy are the league doormat right now.