The fifth week is in the books and the league looks like it is divided into three groups.

The top teams are Los Angeles, New York, and Columbus. I don’t know if these teams will stay the elite come October but, for now, these are the top performers in the league.

The second group consists of teams working their way into the top 3. Kansas, Colorado, and Seattle have the talent to finish at the top of their respective conferences. In the first 5 weeks, they’ve been less consistent than the three teams above them. While Colorado is moving up, both Kansas and Seattle have staggered a bit and move down the rankings.

The third group, and the largest group, is composed of everyone else. Each team has a few issues to resolve before they can start moving towards the top of table.

Houston and New England are missing key players due to injury. Their combined injury list is comprised of All Star caliber players: Shalrie Joseph, Taylor Twellman, Matt Reis, Geoff Cameron, and Brian Ching. Accordingly, both teams continue their dissent down the rankings.

The Chicago Fire, DC United, Toronto FC, and Chivas USA are going through the natural struggles associated with change. All four lost key players and brought in new coaches. Chicago and Chivas seem to be adapting a little bit more quickly than Toronto and DC, and are slowly moving up the rankings.

While DC has the talent to turn their season around, Toronto is a one man show at the moment. De Rosario is the only difference maker. The club needs DP de Guzman to prove his worth and the front office needs to look at bringing in some quality players. Even though Toronto earned another victory, I still think they are the worst team in the league. DC, probably the better team on paper, keeps the bottom spot and will stay there until they earn a win.

San Jose and Dallas are underachieving at the moment. San Jose had a promising preseason and some penciled them in as real contenders. Although they’ve put in some solid performances, they still aren’t living up to their promise. Dallas was on a tear at the end of last season. Most believed Dallas would carry their form into this season, but their lack of offseason acquisitions foretold their early struggles in the first 5 games. San Jose isn’t punished for their failure to win on the road, but Dallas drops a few spots after earning another tie at home.

The one team that I can’t figure out is Real Salt Lake. Although their surprisingly bad start to the season isn’t unprecedented, both Columbus and Houston struggled after winning their MLS Cup, RSL aren’t getting played off the park by anyone. It seems like they are just missing something at the moment. RSL stays 8th, and in the top half, despite another loss. The fact that they’ve come up short against the top teams in the league works in their favor.

Finally, the Union is suffering because they are an expansion team. Their inconsistent and, at times, inept performances will continue until the summer time. Hopefully Nowak has some veteran acquisitions in mind. Philly moves down to round out the bottom 3 for week 5.

MLS Power Rankings after Week 5:

1. – (1) Los Angeles Galaxy: Still undefeated.

2. – (2) New York Red Bulls: Another win, but still unconvincing.

3. ↑ (4) Columbus Crew: Beat RSL, still undefeated

4. ↑ (6) Colorado Rapids: Pablo and Mehdi scored . . . weird.

5. ↓ (3) Kansas City: Kei Kamara with the blooper of the year.

6. ↓ (5) Seattle: Result that makes you go hmmm

7. – (7) Houston: Attacking players are dropping like flies.

8. – (8) RSL: MLS Cup hangover.

9. – (9) San Jose: Out classed by Chivas.

10. – (10) NE Revolution: Lose at home without Joseph.

11. ↑ (13) Chicago: Finally turning things around.

12. ↑ (14) Chivas USA: Kljestan scores, Chivas win.

13. ↓ (11) FC Dallas: Dallas can’t get it together.

14. ↓ (12) Phil. Union: Orozco with the requisite F-up of the week.

15. – (15) Toronto FC: Win at home, but Seattle made it easy.

16. – (16) DC United: Bye week to sulk in their misery.

I’m a little bit late with these this week but here are the Green Army’s MLS Power Rankings.

The Galaxy stay on top for another week after defeating Real Salt Lake.  RSL is slowly making its way towards the bottom of the table.  Going in the opposite direction is San Jose. The Earthquakes earned another victory at home this weekend, against New England side without Shalrie Joseph.  Rookie defender Ike Opara scored his second professional goal.  The Revs looked better than anticipated, but still need a healthy Joseph if they want any hope of reaching the playoffs.

In the category of underachievers and overachievers are New York, Kansas City, Seattle, and Dallas.  New York moves up the table, although unconvincingly. The Red Bulls need to clean it up, but I’m sure the franchise is just happy to get points.  Kansas City dominated at home but lost their first game on the road. They didn’t play poorly, but Seattle isn’t the dominating home team of last season.  Speaking of Seattle, where has their offence gone? Their land slide down the table halted this weekend with a victory against Kansas. But this club should be ranked top 3 every week.  Another team underachieving is FC Dallas. Dallas is starting to move away from the bottom of the rankings but their record would argue otherwise. They played better than New York but still managed to cough up a late PK to lose the match.

The Colorado Rapids and Houston are on pace. They aren’t over achieving by any stretch of the imagination but their record indicates that they aren’t underachieving either.  They are winning winnable games and losing some tough matches.  Both sit in playoff spots at the moment, and I expect them to stay there for most of the season.

In the screw up of the week category are Philadelphia goalkeeper Chris Seitz and defender Danny Califf.  Seitz spilled the ball into his own net on De Rosario’s free kick, and Califf made a stupid play and received a red card early in the match.  Way to let your team down boys.

Chivas, Toronto, Chivas, and DC United . . . suck.  Right now I think Toronto is in the worst shape.  While DC has yet to win a game, Toronto doesn’t have the quality on the roster to move up the table.  DC and Chicago both have talented teams but are feeling the repercussions of shake ups and big departures in the offseason.  Chivas just isn’t clicking.  I wonder if coach Vasquez will abandon his attractive soccer mentality and go after results.

MLS Power Rankings after Week 4:

1.     – (1) Los Angeles Galaxy: Edson Buddle is the Galaxy’s “O Rei.”

2.     ↑ (3) New York Red Bulls: Won but didn’t convince.

3.     ↓ (2) Kansas City: Played well but lost away from home

4.     – (4) Columbus Crew: Bye week face Real Salt Lake on Saturday.

5.     ↑ (7) Seattle: Fucito saved them, but where have the goals gone?

6.    ↑ (8) Colorado Rapids: Won a winnable game.

7.     ↑ (9) Houston: Kinnear gets the best out of his players.

8.     ↓ (5) RSL: Valiant against LA, but Buddle is on fire.

9.     ↑ (10) San Jose: Two wins in a row, Opara ROY candidate?

10.   ↓ (6) NE Revolution: They need a healthy Joseph.

11.   ↑ (13) FC Dallas: Not nearly as bad as their record indicates.

12.   ↓ (11) Philadelphia Union: Chris Seitz, are you F-ing kidding me!!

13.   ↑ (14) Chicago: Beat DC United, but who hasn’t.

14.   ↓ (12) Chivas USA: Team will struggle on the road all season.

15.   – (15) Toronto FC:  Won one, lost one.

16.   – (16) DC United: The misery continues.