The LA Galaxy Still On Top! Major League Soccer Power Rankings, Week 12, 6/7/11

The LA Galaxy Maintain the Top Spot for the 3rd Week in a ROW!

I write this as I'm watching the US Men's National Team play their CONCACAF Gold Cup opener versus Canada. (2-0 USMNT in the 74th minute).

The top three in my rankings (LA Galaxy, FC Dallas and Philadelphia Union) stay the same as last week, while the Galaxy maintain the top spot for the third week in a row. The CONCACAF Gold Cup started to have an impact this week on many Major League Soccer teams. It will be interesting to see what the impact will be over duration of the tournament.

Biggest jumps up this week? San Jose and Real Salt Lake each moved up three spots.

Biggest drop? The Portland Timbers dropped four spots.

My Week 12 Major League Soccer Power Rankings (wins-losses-draws) UP or DOWN from last week:

1)   LA Galaxy, Western Conference (8-2-6) 30 points

2)   FC Dallas, Western Conference (7-3-4) 25 points

3)   Philadelphia Union, Eastern Conference (6-3-3) 21 points

4)   San Jose Earthquakes, Western Conference (4-4-4) 16 points UP

5)   Seattle Sounders FC, Western Conference (5-4-6) 21 points DOWN

6)   D.C. United, Eastern Conference (4-4-4) 16 points

7)   Real Salt Lake, Western Conference (6-2-2) 20 points UP

8)   Chivas USA, Western Conference (4-4-5) 17 points UP

9)   Portland Timbers, Western Conference (5-5-2) 17 points DOWN

10)  Colorado Rapids, Western Conference (4-3-7) 19 points DOWN

11)   New York Red Bulls, Eastern Conference (4-2-7) 19 points UP

12)  Columbus Crew, Eastern Conference (3-3-6) 15 points DOWN

13)  Houston Dynamo, Eastern Conference (3-5-6) 15 points

14)  New England Revolution, Eastern Conference (3-6-4) 13 points UP

15)  Chicago Fire, Eastern Conference (1-4-7) 10 points UP

16)  Toronto FC, Eastern Conference (2-5-7) 13 points DOWN

17)  Vancouver Whitecaps, Western Conference (1-6-7) 10 points

18)  Sporting Kansas City, Eastern Conference (1-6-3) 6 points

Columbus Crew Steal a Point at Red Bull Arena! 6/4/11

Rich Balchan Celebrates His Goal!

I usually only post my Crew game recaps if I actually attend the match, but I was pretty excited about last night's draw with the New York Red Bulls.

Briefly:

The Red Bulls fielded a relatively weak line-up against The Crew, with several of their starters out on National Team duties. The Crew were missing Robbie Rodgers who was called in to the US Men's National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and yesterday's friendly versus Spain.

Side note: Robbie started against Spain last night and played the first half. Spain drubbed the US Men's team 4-0.

The Crew/Red Bulls match was a back and forth affair, with The Crew giving up a goal in the 9th minute to Mehdi Ballouchy. The Red Bulls had the better of the first half possession, but The Crew recovered in the second half and created several scoring opportunities for themselves in the second half. Andres Mendoza, who I thought had righted himself with his two goals last week against Chivas USA, right-footed a cross from his right wide of the goal and 8 minutes later headed a open-netter wide left. Back to his old form.

Justin Meram entered the match for The Crew in the 74th minute, and in extra-time received the ball on the left, crossed the ball on the ground into the box, which fellow rookie and Big Ten alumnus Rick Balchan finished to earn the draw.

Demoralizing for the Red Bulls, but just maybe the type of result that The Crew can build on.
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$1 Beers and Good Weather! Columbus Crew 3, Chivas USA 3, May 28, 2011

Finally! The weather was great for a home match at Crew Stadium last night.

And The Crew had $1 Bud and Bud Light drafts!

And The Crew scored a first half goal!

The only thing missing was a Crew victory.

The match won't be mistaken for the quality of soccer that I saw this morning watching the DVR'ed UEFA Champions League Final. But six goals (three scored by The Crew), a red card and a back and forth tempo made the match very entertaining. And the $1 drafts made the crowd in section 132 very entertaining too. (Big drunk dude trying to pick up on a girl who kept telling him she was gay.)

The Columbus Crew's Andres Mendoza

On the field The Crew's defense looked very disorganized and ultimately very porous. Keeper William Hesmer and the back four didn't seem like they were on the same page for the first 60 minutes of the match. Interesting as last night's starting four of Sebastian Miranda, Julius James, Chad Marshall and Rich Balchan have started almost every match this year, yet have given up seven goals in their last 3 matches, as opposed to six goals in the first 8 matches of the season.

Andres Mendoza scored two goals last night, finally showing that he deserves the DP status (and corresponding salary) the Crew have given him. Emmanuel Ekpo also scored his first goal of the year.

So The Crew is now showing some offensive punch, but their defense is not looking good at all. With their next two matches against the New York Red Bulls away and Real Salt Lake at home they are going to have a tough time getting results. Luckily they are catching both clubs at a time when they are losing several players due to CONCACF Gold Cup call-ups, not to mention that that they are both on current runs of poor form. (New York Red Bulls 0 wins in their last 5 matches, Real Salt Lake a loss and 2 draws in their last 3 matches.)