Sorry for the heitus from the rankings its been a busy month.  Here are a few things of note before we get to the rankings:

How many  people ever thought they would see Josh Wolff and Brian McBride leading the goal scorers in MLS in 2009?

The ugly side of parity reared its head this past weekend as 5 of 7 games ended in ties.

Osorio made a comment that some took to be implying that MLS referees are racist.  He quickly clarified his statement by saying it was just his poor English that it sound like something it was not.  So I’m going to say it in my proper English “MLS referees are racist and so are the commentators.”

Without further ado your Green Army MLS Power Rankings:

1. Chivas USA: Preki is really showing that he is one of the elite coaches in the league. I don’t think anyone expected Chivas to come charging out of the gates with 7 wins and a comfortable 8 point lead at the top.  Injuries to 7 starters and the poor play of Sacha Kljestan isn’t even noticeable.  In my book that can be attributed to great coaching, great leadership, and faith in the system.

2. Chicago Fire: Chicago is out playing teams and giving up points at the last minute.  They are the king of ties, but no one can deny their quality.  On any day they are the best team in the league on the field and on paper, but they just can’t finish teams off.

3. Seattle Sounders: Starting to look like a one trick pony.  They looked phenomenal at the start of the season but the rest of the league has figured them out.   I think Sigi needs to tweak some things to get results.  Nyassi being healthy should help boost the attack.  I guess its a positive sign for an expansion team when everyone expects them to win.

4. DC United: No one expected this much from United, at least not this early in the season.  Most predicted that they would dwell in the bottom of the league with the likes of LA and Dallas but now they are rubbing elbows at the top of the table with Chicago. Granted, Chicago’s six ties keeps the entire Eastern Conference alive but DC deserves some credit.  Stellar play by rookies Chris Pontius and Rodney Wallace should be recognized as well as the resurgence of Santino Quaranta.

5. Toronto FC: Unbeaten in the last 6 games (4 in MLS) Toronto finally looked like the team that everyone expected this season.  A tough loss to Chicago at home is going to halt their momentum but they should rebound at home against New England.  Toronto needs to be more consistent.

6. Colorado Rapids: The Rapids are doing everything I was hoping they would do this season.  Mainly playing consistently.  They are winning games at home, tieing games away, and only losing by the smallest of margins. They are undefeated this year at Dick’s and Conor Casey is only a goal off the goal scoring leaders.  Not to mention that Colorado has 2 games in hand.

7. Kansas City: Still too inconsistent to call them real contenders.  Josh Wolff is back to his best which means the Wizards have a reliable goal scorer.  Defensively they are in good shape, shutting out teams in their 4 victories and only allowing 12 goals.  They rank 5th in both goals for and against.   Biggest disappointment for me has been Santiago Hirsig. Great player that has yet to really make an impact.

8. Real Salt Lake: After completely dismantling New England 6-0, Real Salt Lake has plummeted in form.  Losing 3 of the last 4 and tieing LA (just as good as a loss).  Real has only scored 2 goals this month despite the stellar play of Clint Mathis, Javier Morales, and Will Johnson. Their next two games are on the road at DC and San Jose.  Two winnable games but we’ll have to see how team morale looks.

9. Houston: Houston went from being winless to undefeated in the last 4 games. They won 3 games over Colorado, Dallas, and New England before giving up at last minute equalizer to NY this past weekend.  I think we all jumped the gun a little expecting Stuart Holden to pick up where DeRosario left off.  Holden has played fantastic in his own right but is not yet near the calibur of DeRo. Houston finishes this month with Toronto and San Jose, before they have to play Chicago and Chivas back to back.

10. New England: Its been a rough season for New England so far. They had a promising start considering their numerous injuries but have failed to win in their last 5 outings.  Partially due to injured players and partially due to a tough schedule. Things don’t look to be getting any easier as the club faces Toronto, Kansas, and DC before beginning the Super Liga at the end of June. Nicol is praying that his injured players heal up fast.

11. Columbus: Talk about a first to worst turn around. They are scoring goals and Schelotto hasn’t missed a beat with his 5 goals and 1 assist.  The most obvious problem that the Crew is that they’ve led in 6 of their 9 games and given up the lead for a tie. Another problem is that guys like Moreno and Gaven only have 1 goal this season and Robbie Rogers has yet to score.  Finally, Hejduk is one of their key players and he hasn’t been healthy. I think they’ll turn it around, starting with San Jose this weekend.

12. New York: It would be very easy to say that NY sucks, but the truth is that they don’t. They just can’t win.  They have great players in Angel, Kandji, Rojas, Celades, Pacheco, Petke, Richards, and Smith. Osorio is a great coach but he’s struggled to get his team up to speed with the rest of the league.  I guess the big question is “Will Osorio turn the team around late in the season like he did last year?” and, if he does “is that going to be good enough for the guys in the front office?”  A turn around looks likely because the team is clearly under performing, but I doubt the people at Red Bull will be forgiving about a .500 team.

13. Los Angeles: They are looking better and better, which doesn’t say much because they really couldn’t look much worse.  On the positive side, they are playing better defensiviely only allowing 11 goals in 9 games, which is is less goals than any team in the Eastern Conference except Chicago (Chi has 11 goals against).  Without Landon this summer look for LA to struggle offensively. Edson Buddle hasn’t returned to form which means they are going to rely on Jovan Kirovski and Alan Gordan to score goals. . . . ok now that you’ve stopped laughing we may continue. . . . . Luckily for the Galaxy the league is probably going to do them some favors. I’m going to predict Beasley and some type of stimulus package when Beckham doesn’t come back.

14. San Jose: Everyone that predicted the Earthquakes to be a force this year is probably eating some crow right now.  Things don’t look good at the moment as they have to face 4 of their next 5 opponents on the road.  Huckerby, Cochrane, and Hernandez have been huge losses due to injuries.  With those three, especially Huckerby, back in the line up SJ will be a much better squad.  They had this past weekend off after getting their ass kicked by NY 4-1, so they should be rested, regrouped, and ready to go.

15. FC Dallas: They don’t suck quite as bad anymore, but they still really suck. I’m going to go ahead and blame Schellas for the woes in Dallas.  He clearly doesn’t have the players for the system he wants to play but he insists.  Not starting guys like Avila and McCarty, and trading away Pitchkolan is just retarded. The positive is that more than half the team is under 25 and, for the really young guys, they are all current youth national team players.  So Dallas has a good future, but Schellas not so much.

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