Lake Balaton Rankings (Sept. 8)

Five points if you can guess what country Lake Balaton is in?

For the record, I'd have scored a zero.

Anyway, here are the rankings. One team is on a surge and has shot up, up, up the rankings. They're not in a playoff position yet but I'd take them to beat all the teams from 6-14 without question, at least at home.

1. Columbus (13-6-4). Impressive takedown of Revolution, even if Revs are struggling.
2. Houston (10-5-8). Kei Kamara might be this year's Joseph Ngwenya, struggling forward who comes in, finds his way and helps club in playoffs.
3. Chicago (11-7-5). No Blanco, no problem as Fire dispatch former coach with a shutout win.
4. New England (11-7-5). Went from Supporters Shield favorites to a third-place spot in East in no time.
5. San Jose (7-9-7). 4-0-1 in last five games, more than two months without a loss... still can't believe all this is from expansion team.
6. DC United (10-11-2). Last week wasn't all that bad - after all, they did win a cup.
7. New York (8-7-8). No goals in last two road games as overall road record (1-6-5) is still abysmal.
8. Chivas USA (8-9-6). Won game despite no Kljestan, Harris, Marsch, Suarez, Thomas, Talley, Vaughn, Galindo.
9. Real Salt Lake (8-8-7). Were 22 minutes away from massive step forward.
10. Colorado (9-12-3). Don't give 'em up for dead yet... even though I did a week ago.
11. FC Dallas (6-9-8). Awful result for FC Dallas.
12. Los Angeles (6-9-8). So this team can score without Becks and LD.
13. Kansas City (6-9-8). Only Kevin Hartman is keeping this team from losing 5-0 every week.
14. Toronto FC (7-10-6). With or without its internationals, this team just isn't very good.