Goal.com MLS Rankings: Rising in the East

Chicago and Columbus hop up a spot in this week's Goal.com MLS rankings as Seattle slides and Kansas City temporarily falls into the basement after losing 6-0 in Frisco.

1. Houston – Paging, Mr. Cameron. Please report to central defense. (1)

2. Chicago – That's two consecutive wins on the trot at home and zero goals conceded in the past 374 minutes in all venues. The Fire's game-in-hand gives them the edge over Columbus again this week. (3)

3. Columbus – It wasn't the prettiest win in Colorado, but winning soccer games doesn't have to be artistic when your Argentine playmaker is sitting on the sidelines. Another impressively gutsy performance from the Crew in the wake of continued adversity. (4)

4. Seattle – That performance in San Jose stunk well before James Riley got sent off late in the first half. (2)

5. D.C. United – Time to sort out those defensive issues. ASAP, in fact. (5)

6. Los Angeles – Nice free kick against Barcelona, Becks. Care to do that occasionally in MLS? (6)

7. Toronto FC – “It said an awful lot,” TFC captain Jim Brennan said after his 10-men Reds held on for a 1-1 draw at New England. “After the game we came in here and guys were disappointed and had their heads down because with 10 men, we wanted to win that game. I think if we had 11 men on the field, we would have walked away with the three points today. It shows character when you're disappointed with one point today. It shows that everybody is on the right page here and we want to win.” (7)

8. Colorado
– The Rapids are going to end up watching the playoffs if they keep dropping points at home. (8)


9. New England
– Unbeaten in its past four and possessing multiple games in hand, New England looms dangerously for the low-hanging playoff fruit. (10)

10. Real Salt Lake
– Another decent road performance without reward. (9)

11. Chivas USA – Get healthy during these bye weeks, Ante Razov...(11)

12. FC Dallas
– ...or else Jeff Cunningham is going to overhaul you for second place on the all-time MLS goalscoring chart. (13)

13. San Jose
– Isn't it nice to watch a competent pair of central midfielders patrol the center of the park, Quakes fans? (14)

14. New York
– Good news: the Red Bulls didn't lose this week. Bad news: they may still find a way to chuck away those two away goals in the return leg of their CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round tie with W Connection on Wednesday. (15)

15. Kansas City – There is a temporary punishment for losing by six goals in Frisco. This is it. (12)

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 by clicking here.

For more on Major League Soccer, visit Goal.com's MLS page.
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