Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 7, 5/2/11

Real Salt Lake, #1 for the Third Straight Week!

My Week 7 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (4-1-0) 12 points

Portland is no slouch at home, so even with their loss this week Real Salt Lake maintains the top spot.

2)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (3-2-3) 12 points UP
Hottest team in the MLS. Sounders fans' tribute to Steve Zakuani in the 11th minute of their match this week was outstanding!

3)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (4-1-2) 14 points UP

And now the Red Bulls have a defense!

4)   Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (3-1-3) 12 points UP

A dominant performance against D.C. United.

5)   Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (3-1-3) 12 points UP

Sixth Straight game without a loss this weekend. And their offense showed some punch!

6)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (4-1-1) 13 points DOWN

Won on a late PK, and were a man down for the entire second half. Where to place the Union and the Galaxy were the toughest decisions of the week for me. I decided that the hottest teams would rule the rankings this week.

7)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (4-2-3) 15 points DOWN

8)   FC Dallas, Western Conference (3-3-1) 10 points UP

Big win versus the Galaxy at home. They seem to be finding their form and continue to creep up the rankings.

9)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (3-3-1) 10 points DOWN

Jeld-Wen Field has become a fortress. Portland stays steady at the 8-9 range in the rankings for the third straight week. Beating Real Salt Lake was a signature win.

10) Chivas USA, Western Conference (2-2-3) 9 points UP
Two victories in a row for Chivas.

After Chivas at Number 10, the quality of the teams in the rankings drop significantly. The teams ranked 11-18 have all played very poorly over their last 5 matches:

11) Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (3-3-1) 10 points DOWN

12) D.C. United, Eastern Conference (2-4-1) 7 points UP
D.C. had a horrible showing in Houston.

13) New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (2-3-3) 9 points DOWN
I thought they had their act together after last week's victory, but they followed it up with a poor showing against Chivas.

14) Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (1-3-4) 7 points UP

15) Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-3-3) 6 points UP
Not winning, but at least have had draws in their last two matches.

16) Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-4-3) 6 points UP

17) San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (1-4-2) 5 points DOWN

San Jose hasn't had a positive result in 4 matches. They earned the largest drop in this week's rankings.

18) Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-4-1) 4 points DOWN

Sporting needs a home match!