Goal.com MLS Rankings: The West Rises

1. Houston – Dominic Kinnear can thank Brian Ching for earning him a late July trip to Salt Lake City as the All-Star Game coach. Ching's 89th header gave Houston a 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake. (1)

2. Chivas USA – A limp performance against Tigres' reserves in SuperLiga on Saturday night won't detract from the Goats' spot here. (2)

3. D.C. United – United keeps third spot for now after a creditable midweek draw in Seattle earned them a mulligan for a shoddy performance in Colorado on Saturday night. (3)

4. Colorado – Watch out for the Rapids. With Pat Noonan now in the fold and eight of the next 11 matches at the DSG, Colorado is poised to make a big move between now and September if it can find a way to persevere through the Gold Cup. (6)

5. Seattle – Fredy Montero has snapped out of a somewhat indifferent stretch and found his form in a big way over the past couple of matches. (7)

6. Columbus – The Crew will feel like it dropped points in Frisco after entering the last quarter of an hour up a goal and left with a loss. The stunning reversal ended a nine-match unbeaten run for the surging Crew. (5)

7. Chicago – The Fire suffers from deflation after missing out on league play this week due to SuperLiga commitments. Too bad that 2-1 win over San Luis doesn't earn them any MLS brownie points. (4)

8. Kansas City – The Wizards should hope that Davy Arnaud gets trimmed for the United States' provisional roster for the Gold Cup. Alternatively, the Wizards can continue to focus on SuperLiga. (8)

9. Toronto FC – TFC deserved the weekend off with a busy week ahead. The Reds face a home date against New York on Wednesday before a trip to Salt Lake City for Saturday night. (9)

10. Real Salt Lake – Encouraging road performances over the past two weekends gloss over yet another shocking bit of indiscipline from Jamison Olave. (11)

11. New England – If only SuperLiga performances counted in these rankings. The Revs dug deep for a 4-2 victory over Santos Laguna in Sunday night SuperLiga action.(10)

12. Los Angeles – Gregg Berhalter needs to say no when opposing forwards ask him to dance. (12)

13. San Jose – Pablo Campos? He's the guy to step up now that Darren Huckerby has returned? Somewhere, Messers. Yallop and Doyle are asking why he waited so long to show himself. (13)

14. FC Dallas – The Hoops can thank Eric Avila for his late show in Saturday's 2-1 win over Columbus. His late injection turned the tide in the final quarter of an hour and magically turned zero points into three. (14)

15. New York – A home draw, even one against a good Seattle team, won't cut it with all of those road trips over the next few weeks. (15)

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSnet.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kylejmccarthy

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