Week 12 Power Rankings

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2012 Power Rankings: May 28
 RK (LW)TEAMRECCOMMENT
Real Salt Lake1 (1)Real Salt Lake9-3-2On a night without Kyle Beckerman, Nick Rimando and Javier Morales, RSL found a way to win in a wild 3-2 victory over F.C. Dallas. Now Real will get a deserved three weeks off.
New York Red Bulls2 (2)New York Red Bulls8-3-2New York supporters paid their proper respects to former Red Bull Juan Pablo Angel, but would have preferred the Chivas forward not score in a 1-1 draw. New York's win streak was stopped at five but it remains unbeaten in six.
Kansas City3 (5)Kansas City8-3-1C.J. Sapong and Kei Kamara got the goals, but Graham Zusi's play in midfield was near unstoppable in leading SKC to a 2-1 win over San Jose, which ended Kansas City's four-game winless streak.
DC United4 (6)DC United8-4-3It doesn't seem that long ago that Ben Olsen was an afterthought in terms of United's head coaching position. Now, after Saturday's 3-2 win over New England, he's got them atop the Eastern Conference.
San Jose5 (4)San Jose8-3-3The Quakes overcame their increasingly leaky defense in a dramatic midweek win over L.A., but couldn't do the same against a more formidable Sporting Kansas City side. San Jose has now conceded 11 goals in its last six games.
Seattle Sounders FC6 (3)Seattle Sounders FC7-3-3A home loss to Columbus sent alarm bells ringing in Seattle, especially when Osvaldo Alonso was retroactively suspended. Things improved marginally in a 1-1 road draw with Chivas USA, thanks to David Estrada's second-half equalizer.
Houston7 (9)Houston4-3-4With the help of Brad Davis' set piece magic, the Dynamo recovered from an early deficit to claim all three points against the Galaxy. With seven of its next 10 games at home, now is the time for Houston to make a move up the standings.
Vancouver Whitecaps8 (8)Vancouver Whitecaps5-3-4Vancouver survived a 25-minute rain delay in Portland, and pulled out a draw thanks to Darren Mattocks' razor-sharp finish in the 84th minute. The point keeps the Whitecaps solidly in fifth place in the Western Conference.
Columbus9 (13)Columbus5-4-3Wins over Seattle and Chicago, all while playing with a patchwork defense, only reinforced what was already known: Nobody squeezes more from less than Crew manager Robert Warzycha.
Chicago10 (7)Chicago5-4-3The Fire have been treading water of late, with a midweek win over Dallas followed by a loss at Columbus. The Fire needed all the help they could get against FCD as well, as Marco Pappa's game winner should have been disallowed.
Colorado11 (10)Colorado6-6-1Playing with 10 men for the last half hour, the Rapids dug deep to pull out a win over Montreal. Now the hope is that injured duo of Marvell Wynne and Omar Cummings will be back after the international break.
Montreal Impact12 (11)Montreal Impact3-7-3If it was possible to decline a red card, Montreal manager Jesse Marsch probably would. For the third time in a month, the Impact squandered a man advantage and this time fell to Colorado 3-2.
New England13 (12)New England4-7-1The two set-piece goals allowed against D.C. United cost the Revs in a 3-2 defeat. The Revs have now allowed seven such tallies on the season.
Chivas USA14 (14)Chivas USA4-6-3Juan Agudelo bagged his first goal for the Goats, but it wasn't enough to subdue Seattle. Only Toronto has garnered fewer home points than Chivas.
Portland Timbers15 (15)Portland Timbers3-5-4The Timbers have been playing better in recent weeks, but Saturday's home draw was another instance of leaving points on the table. The denial of what looked to be a clear penalty in the 65th minute only added to manager John Spencer's ire.
Los Angeles16 (16)Los Angeles3-8-2In Saturday's loss to Houston, L.A. blamed the heat. In its midweek meltdown loss to San Jose, fingers were pointed at the referee. At this rate, by season's end the Galaxy will have more excuses than points in the standings.
FC Dallas17 (17)FC Dallas3-8-4After losing to Real Salt Lake, FCD is now winless in nine games, and getting absolutely no breaks. Dallas' only way back is to plug the leaks in its sieve-like defense. A return to health would help, too.
Philadelphia Union18 (18)Philadelphia Union2-7-2Third-string keeper Chris Konopka did his best for the Union, delivering several sharp saves, but Philadelphia was otherwise unimpressive in losing to previously winless Toronto.
Toronto FC19 (19)Toronto FC1-9-0After winning the Canadian Championships and beating Philadelphia for its first league win of the season, perhaps TFC isn't the "worst team in the world," as Danny Koevermans said last week. Lots of work to do still, but at least Aron Winter could smile.