1. Houston (9-3-4): Bounced back from rare loss with a typical defensive win over Kansas City.

2. Chivas USA (8-4-3): Finally returns to league action this weekend against rival Galaxy.

3. D.C. United (5-3-9): Held onto slim East lead with an impressive draw at Columbus.

4. Columbus (5-3-8): Missed out on a chance to vault past D.C. United in the standings.

5. Chicago (6-3-6): Snapped a three-game skid with impressive win at Colorado.

6. Seattle (6-3-7): Quite amazingly, the Sounders only play two league games in July.

7. Colorado (5-4-6): Two straight losses have put Rapids on the playoff bubble.

8. L.A. Galaxy (4-3-9): Two straight shutout wins have the Galaxy on the move in the West.

9. Kansas City (5-6-4): Had chances to upend Houston but couldn't put anything away.

10. Real Salt Lake (5-6-5): Inconsistency once again plagued RSL in an ugly home draw.

11. Toronto FC (6-6-4): For its own sake, hopefully TFC spent week off working on defending.

12. FC Dallas (4-7-5): Creeping up the Western Conference with a three-game unbeaten streak.

13. New England (4-5-4): So much for building some momentum in the SuperLiga.

14. San Jose (3-8-4): Stoppage time own goal denied the Quakes their first road victory.

15. New York (2-13-4): Another road game, another loss for the reeling Red Bulls.

Game of the week: Houston at Seattle

Houston has stormed to the top of the West in the past few months, but expansion Seattle sits only six points behind. The Sounders have aspirations of being a contender in their first year in MLS and a win over the league's best team would be further validation.