Power Rankings (What week is this?)

1. D.C. United - They were held to a draw against Dallas, but not because they weren't trying. Had Dario Sala not decided to play the best game of his short MLS career, D.C. wins. Freddy Adu stepped up big time, burning Greg Vanney time after time. Another solid from Ben Olsen as well. One must wonder how this team's going to do when Olsen is gone. Can Clyde Simms play well in that defensive midfielder spot alongside Brian Carroll?

2. FC Dallas - Dallas got a huge road point against a tough United team. Yes, as mentioned above, Sala bailed them out. However, this team's fighting for one another, something we didn't see last year. They're the best team in the West currently but Houston is nipping at their heels.

3. Kansas City Wizards - Phew! That was close! I almost thought we were seeing a completely different Wizards team then, bang! Reality! A 1-0 victory just one week after a pathetic 2-1 loss to Dallas. All those goals this team was pouring on earlier this season, that dynamic offense everyone spoke of, yeah...what happened to that? It'll be interesting to see what Gansler does now that Wolff and Johnson are gone. However, where most teams would struggle with their two primary strikers out, Kansas City should be fine (if lacking depth) with Scott Sealy and Davy Arnaud.

4. Houston Dynamo - The Chinger will be gone for two months, what's Houston's reaction? What else is new? Kinnear dealt with Ching's lengthy absences last season and guided the team onto a record setting season. This team will be fine as long as Dwayne DeRosario is playing. The question is whether Ronald Cerritos still has it left in him. If he does, watch out.

5. LA Galaxy - What in the world is this team going to look like without Chris Albright and Landon Donovan? Most importantly, Landon. I shudder at the thought.

6. Chicago Fire - This has been a weird season. Teams that looked good one week will look terrible the next. Outside of the top four teams, clubs have been sliding all over the power rankings. Chicago goes from eleventh place just a few weeks ago to six this week. Huh? Well, the Fire played a solid (if unspectacular and boring) game against the Revolution, grinding out a well-earned victory. Sarachan has to be pretty happy with the results so far this season. The Fire have tied two and won one in four road games. Only five more to go. (And was that Thiago goal pretty or what?)

7. New England Revolution - Ugly, ugly loss. At home no less. However, instead of losing both Twellman and Dempsey to the World Cup, they'll only be losing Dempsey (Dorman should fill in admirably). I wonder though, how well Twellman will cope with the World Cup slight.

8. Chivas USA - A draw at home against the weak New York Red Bulls shouldn't be very encouraging to Bob Bradley after a promising start. Losing O'Brien and potentially Suarez until July does not look good either. However, this team should be able to cope, but last week it took some Herculean goalkeeping from Brad Guzan to preserve their 0-0 tie. Bradley needs to motivate his troops quickly, and if he couldn't do it against his old club, what should make us think he can do it against anyone else?

9. New York Red Bulls - They played tough against Chivas and nearly won were it not for Brad Guzan. However, this team still has serious issues and still hasn't won a game this season. Fortunately for them, no one from their squad will be travelling to the World Cup, but their form this season has been seriously troubling. Solid play from Mike Magee is encouraging though.

10. Colorado Rapids - Sigh. Another loss to Houston. Another Brian Ching goal. Can we just say that Colorado is single-handedly responsible for Ching's appearance on Arena's 23 man roster? (I kid, I kid).

11. Columbus Crew - Another loss, both in the standings and on the roster. Hejduk, who they thought was going to be out for the World Cup (which seemed bad enough) tore his ACL and is now gone for the entire season. This team just can't catch a break.

12. Real Salt Lake - At least they scored a couple of goals and it made it tough on the Galaxy, but conceding three goals at home? Now they'll be without Pope and Sequiera because of the World Cup. Ellinger needs to start worrying about his job security, and Steve Pastorino needs to really start looking for a replacement.