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SBI MLS Power Rankings: Week Ten

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That sound you hear is some Western Conference powers starting to awaken.

Before the 2008 season began, the Houston Dynamo and Chivas USA were considered the best teams in the West, with a meeting in the conference final a strong likelihood.

That was before both teams got off to horrendous starts.

Things are changing though. Chivas USA, led by star in the making Jorge Flores, has rattled off three straight wins while the Dynamo is 3-1-1 in its past five matches.

Both squads continued their climbs up the SBI MLS Power Rankings, where the idle Chicago Fire still stand at the top.

Here are this week’s SBI MLS Power Rankings.

SBI MLS Power Rankings

1. (Last week- 1) Chicago Fire (6-2-1)

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Week off comes just as McBride rumors start to heat up.

2. (2) New England Revolution (6-3-2)

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Showed heart in coming back from 2-0 down, but Revs need to start playing better at home.

3. (4) Toronto FC (5-3-2)

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TFC shows that it has one of the deepest benches in MLS. As for Julius James, good luck keeping him out of the lineup Mr. Carver.

4. (7) Chivas USA (4-4-2)

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Goals in three straight wins has Jorge Flores emerging as the league’s newest teen sensation.

5. (3) Columbus Crew (6-3-1)

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An 0-2-1 slide is troubling, but Crew need to figure out how to adjust to teams taking away Robbie Rogers.

6. (5) Los Angeles Galaxy (4-4-2)

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No David Beckham or Landon Donovan equals no chance for Galaxy.

7. (8)  Colorado Rapids (5-5)

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Tom McManus is one of the finds of the season for up and down Rapids.

8. (11) Houston Dynamo (3-3-5)

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Champs show off depth in beating Red Bulls, but can they find consistency?

9. (9) FC Dallas (3-4-4)

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One more loss and still more questions about who should be the team’s new coach.

10. (6) New York Red Bulls (3-3-3)

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Another good defensive effort spoiled by sloppy set-piece defending. As for the offense, Jozy Altidore got no help on Saturday.

11. (10) Kansas City Wizards (3-4-2)

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Another week off? Maybe this one will lead to a goal-scoring spree. The last one sure didn’t.

12. (12) D.C. United (3-7-1)

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First half vs. New England was entertaining, skillful and promising. Second half was more of the same terrible play that has plagued D.C. this season.

13. (14) Real Salt Lake (3-5-2)

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Good at home, awful on the road. Your 2008 Real Salt Lake.

14. (13) San Jose Earthquakes (2-6-1)

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Earthquakes were missing key players, which is death to any expansion team.

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Share your own thought on the rankings below.

Comments

  1. RSL and DC United should be swapped; RSL should certainly get credit for the win vs. a draw, for having more points and for being strong at home. But that’s really nitpicking.

    Otherwise I have no qualms this week, this looks just about on the money.

    Reply
  2. EDB:

    Give it up. The irrational hatred of Bruce Arena is very strong. Just as it means nothing to most of them that Bradley makes Arena seem like a superstar, it also means nothing to them that Osorio’s stripped down version of Arena’s team and his results make Arena look good. You would think Arena was a member of the Bush administration or something.

    Just wait for all of the comments about what a “great” job Bradley did getting us eliminated in the first round of the world cup. Arena fails to do the near impossible and he is the biggest goat ever, but Bradley can barely achieve the mediocre and is a “great” coach. The fact that the standards were lowered so drastically tells you a lot about what Arena did. People were angry that the U.S. was rated so highly, now they’re much more at ease with having no expectations.

    Reply
  3. I’m happy to see TFC move up but I’m sure COL and CLB are not so happy with the ranking. After this weeks internationals I’m thinking the CMNT could outrank the USMNT too. But that ain’t happening.

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  4. William the Terror:

    We in upper management here at the “Jewel of the MLS” are always looking to increase revenue. I like your idea about Bianca rubbing Landon, and I’ll see if I can arrange a public display in time for our upcoming “Faith and Family Night.”

    Reply
  5. Here’s hoping J. Flores keeps developing to be a factor for the US in 2010. Right now, he ‘s looking like he could be a super sub. He could be more two years from now.

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  6. My preseason, early bandwagon pick of Columbus is still looking good, despite the slide. Shutting down Rogers, eh – When is Jason Garey going to see the field this year?

    I going with RSL to make some noise out west, and Sat was one of those home wins that make you wonder why they can’t do it on the road. Not like most MLS stops are all that intimidating.

    Couldn’t agree more that suddenly TFC is looking like one of the league’s deepest teams. Props to Trader Mo, and good thing too, I’d love to see Wynne take Spector’s spot on the Olympic team.

    Reply
  7. Hey, Matt: her name is Bianca Kajilich and she’s on some TV show on CBS. I checked her “official” web site and it says that she just played in some celebrity soccer game. So, I bet she’s better than Alan Gordon. The Galaxy could sign her now, and she could maybe rub Landon’s groin whenever it tightens up during a game. They could probably raise ticket prices for providing this added attraction for patrons.

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  8. Can that picture of Larentowicz getting walloped be made mandatory for every post dealing with the Revolution?

    Or MLS?

    Or Soccer?

    Or Sports?

    Reply
  9. William the Terror:

    Thanks for the bad pictures you put in my head. Judi Dench??

    To bring this back to soccer, er, did she ever play forward? Our national team could use one, and she can’t be that much older than Josh Wolff. She definitely has to be at least as mobile as he is…

    Reply
  10. Hey, Matt: only if it was a hot actress, and only if it wound up on some pirated celebrity video site. I mean, i really don’t want to see Dame Judi Dench or Bea Arthur rubbing it for him. That would be disturbing.

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  11. I’m going to be bold and predict RSL will struggle at their new stadium when it opens at the end of season, similar to how they struggle on the road.

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  12. Hey William the Terror,

    Why would it make you feel better if someone rubbed Landon’s groin?

    Curious minds want to know…

    Reply
  13. Hey Charlatan,

    Tam is phonetic version of Tom in Scotland.

    Get over yourself.

    Ives’ blog is quite possibly the MLS blog out there.

    Reply
  14. hahahahahaahhahaa Ives called him TOM McManus. What a dink.

    It’s TAM, Ives. Maybe if you actually watched the games, and didn’t just read the shite mistake on the Rapids website you would know that.

    Ives proves once again that he just reads box scores, and doesn’t know anything about the game.

    Reply
  15. funny, when i saw the scores for this weekend and the highlights i thought to myself, “well at least no team is going to knock Chicago off Ives “Power List” as number 1….

    fire come back this week well rested playing against a battered and panic-stricken DCU and an underperforming FCD… HOWEVER, i never underestimate DCU and i truely dislike playing against Cooper… could either be a great 2 weeks for the fire or could be disappointing…

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  16. The play of the Red Bulls makes me wonder how we’d be doing if we had used our second DP to sign a playmaking a-mid instead of Reyna under Arena’s tenure.

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  17. At least after the T&T game yesterday, the Galaxy can look forward to Beckham returning. But, with four USA international fixtures in the next 20 days, the presence of Landon Donovan is questionable and could be very troublesome for LA.

    As to Landon’s mysterious “tight groin,” isn’t he married to some hot actress?? Couldn’t he ask her to rub it for him? I know that would make me feel better!!

    Reply

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