A lot has changed from the beginning of September. Some players are performing as expected, while others are playing in great form. Here are this month's Club and Player Power Rankings. For the club teams, I will take into account the clubs place in the league standings, the level of competition in the league, and success in international and domestic tournaments. Click to continue reading...

[I was tempted, sorely tempted, to drop a couple of "actual" playoff sides out of the Playoff Pack (I'm looking at you, Revs and Red Bulls, but seeing as how the playoff field has been decided, I've chosen to leave them in the top eight for this season-ending Dogpile. Next week, the Dogpile and Table Talk will give way to MLS Playoff Prattle. Click to continue reading...

[Nine become five as the playoff field shrinks to a more manageable number after an exciting weekend of fixtures that saw meaningful late goals (and a few curious goals as well). Once again, we'll have five from the East and three from the West, but who will grab the final three spots on offer? . . . Click to continue reading...

[The West was starting to look ascendant, but a hatful of road draws this weekend sees the East reclaiming a little of its former glory. Once again, we're back to that old 5/3 playoff split in favor of the East, but with everybody still in with a shot at the postseason, that split may just reverse itself in the weeks to come. Click to continue reading...

[It wasn't that long ago that we were all maligning the sorry state of the Western Conference. But after yet another solid week, the Dogpile now has just one Western side sitting in the bottom five (pretty easy to guess who that is, huh?). Will the trends continue next week? And will someone please, please, please bring the Crew crashing back down to planet Earth? Click to continue reading...

[What are the chances that the West would do it two weeks in a row? Were they pacing themselves? Whatever the case, the West went 3-1-1 against the East this week, resulting in the conferences drawing level with four sides each residing in the playoff spots. But it's still those Hard Hats that are looking unbeatable at the moment, even without their talisman . Click to continue reading...

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Just when thought the playoff race was easy enough to track, now 13 of 14 teams have put themselves in position to try and qualify with just a month to go in the season.

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In a new Yanked Around installment, we're going to start doing some Player Power Rankings of guys in US pool.  These will probably happen bi-monthly and come from careful analysis of both club and country play.  So without further Freddy Adu, let's see where the guys stand. 1. Landon Donovan A hat trick against DC United this [. Click to continue reading...

[Holy crap! What is it about the Western Conference? They just meander along, getting slugged repeatedly by the teams from the East, and then, every once in a while, they wake up from their drunken stupor to sock the East a good one right in the kisser. 2-0-1 this week for the boys from the West, with a couple of real smackdowns to the tune of 5-2 and 4-1. Click to continue reading...

[A somewhat stagnant week in MLS this time around, as the Fire's slight dip and the Wiz' decent climb mark the only significant movement on offer in the table. Things are about to get a whole lot more difficult for DC United and the Houston Dynamo as their respective six-week jaunts through the Champions' League get underway. Click to continue reading...

For a few teams in Major League Soccer, their chances of reaching the playoffs this season are rapidly fading away. Other clubs have little or not doubt that they are in and a few are actually battling things out here in the final stages of the season. Just as mentioned in the Power Rankings this morning, [. Click to continue reading...

Finally, after 24 weeks of play we are finally seeing some groups take form in Major League Soccer. In the past, by mid-summer you would typically see a group that was out in front ahead of everyone, a middle pack and a couple of a few teams that were total crap. For a while we didn't [...] Click to continue reading...

[No doubts about who gets to claim the top spot on the Pile today, is there? Sigi's men planted their yellow flag and seem intent on denying all challengers to their lofty peak. And while the Red Bulls' solid run hit a red speed-bump, the Quakes and Dynamo continue to build momentum and punish the net. Click to continue reading...

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As we head into September the shift in MLS has gone from building teams to preparing for the stretch drive and securing playoff positions. The New York Red Bulls and D.

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Not a whole lot of change this week in the WVH Power Rankings. The Labor Day weekend saw the Crew go on top of the standing and the Rapids fall to the bottom of the standings. In regards to the standings here on WVH, it is pretty much the same on top as it is [...] Click to continue reading...

Here are this month's Club and Player Power Rankings. For the club teams, I will take into account the clubs place in the league standings, the level of competition in the league, and success in international and domestic tournaments. For the players, I will judge to form in which the player is in by the amount of goals, assists and key plays made. Click to continue reading...

[Strange weekend, eh? The normal order of things is flipped on its head as the West goes 3-1-1 against their counterparts from the East. Despite the weekend's results, all signs still point to five from the East and three from the West for the post-season. So who's climbing the Pile, and who's buried amongst the Mutts? Click to continue reading...

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The SBI MLS Power Rankings are back.

Okay, so maybe you didn't miss the SBI MLS Power Rankings, but at least a few of you noticed their absence in recent weeks.

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A lot can change in one week. You can go from sitting on top of the world to forth or fifth place. It doesn't take much to change you place in line, just ask any Olympian. It's no different in the world of soccer, especially in a parity driven MLS. We've gotten 21 games in the [...] Click to continue reading...

Alpha Dog 1. (+2) Columbus Crew (DWLWW) A second straight win sees Sigi's men draw level at the top of the league in impressive fashion. Could they be the real deal this year? My one big concern would be that they don't have the real predator up top that they might need to claw out playoff results, relying instead upon goals from midfield. Click to continue reading...

Two-third of the way through the season and things are still a complete mess in Major League Soccer. This may be the closest season we have seen in a long time, if ever. Mainly because of parity and because from week to week we just never know what will exactly happen like we think we [...] Click to continue reading...

I've decided to start a monthly power ranking, where I will rank the current top 10 teams in the world, and the top 10 players in the world.  For the club teams, I will take into account the clubs place in the league standings, the level of competition in the league, and success in international and domestic tournaments. Click to continue reading...

Boy things sure are getting tight in the MLS standings. In a year full of parity, some clubs could be staring at no playoffs then to only win a single game and then jump five or six spots up the standings in a given week. We keep seeing that time and time again with how [...] Click to continue reading...

Believe it or not but we are nearly two-thirds the way through this season. Right now we have some movers and shakers to discuss after another interesting week of play in Major League Soccer. Some clubs are wheelin' and dealin' with big payoffs, while others are standing put and doing nothing...and seeing nothing in the [. Click to continue reading...

Hard to believe we are nearly two-thirds the way through this season but man have things flown by here so far. Hell, summer is nearly over (gasp!)! But that shouldn't slow us down here as there is still a lot of soccer to be played and really anything can happen between now and the end [...] Click to continue reading...

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What happens to the SBI MLS Power Rankings when all five MLS matches end in ties? Can there be much of a change? Can there really be any change?

I say there can be. Let's face it, not every tie is the same.

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Another week of only a few games, and a couple of SuperLiga contests for MLS clubs. The thing about this week in league play was the draw. Five games saw five draws. A cool 14 goals overall for the week, not bad for five games but when six of them come from one game and [...] Click to continue reading...

We gathered - or stole from - 12 pundits this week in the weekly cumulative power rankings. Add... Click to continue reading...

The may be one week that we don't see a lot of change in the Major League Soccer power rankings. Most clubs were out of action in league play for the week due to US Open Cup and SuperLiga games on the menu. Still some clubs in action made the most of the spotlight. Some clubs [...] Click to continue reading...

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So who is the hottest team in MLS right now? Yes, we know, it's D.C. United without a doubt. Who falls second in that same category? You might have to say Real Salt Lake.

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The Revs just keep on rolling.

New England maintained its grip on the top spot in the SBI MLS Power Rankings, something not many teams have been able to do this year. Beating Los Angeles cemented their place while also causing the Galaxy to slide further after three matches without a win.

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Round 15 had plenty of hits and misses for each club involved. Some stories were more compelling than others. Some players shine, while others came up short. Some coaches complained their way through a match, while others coached their way to victory or to a come from behind draw. But after 15 weeks a lot still [. Click to continue reading...

Week 14 is down the drain. Due to my lack of time these will be a bit quick this week. 1. New England Revolution (30 pts., same) - No need to move the Revs, their home dominance over Toronto clearly showed that they aren't ready to give up the top spot. Oh yeah, and Taylor Twellman [...] Click to continue reading...

Call it the Curse of the No. 1 spot.

FC Dallas was once No. 1 in the SBI MLS Power Rankings, then the Hoops promptly fell apart. The Columbus Crew had it for a while, but eventually suffered a losing streak. Most recently the Chicago Fire grabbed the top spot and hasn't won a match since.

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The group stage is over and all sixteen teams have played three times.

So what finer moment than now to do our Euro 2008 Power Rankings?

Below are the Euro 2008 teams ranked 1 to 16, with a brief explanation why.

Disagree? Feel free to tear us a new one in the comments. We can take it.

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