Rapids move up the power rankings and Omar receives the Player of the Week award

June 24, 12:18 PMColorado Rapids ExaminerDeron White

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The Colorado Rapids are slowly winning over the critics, including the Examiner's MLS writers who have voted the Rapids up to third in this week's MLS Power Rankings.

Rapids fans will know that this team is unchartered waters for the Colorado franchise.  The Rapids are tied for the least losses in the league with two.  The teams near the tops in points per game and goals per game.  As the, Climbing the Ladder blog, noted about the Rapids offense back on June 1st, "If you have a gut feeling that it's unusual to see them scoring so frequently, then you're right."

Up until a two games ago that scoring seemed to have one source, Conor Casey.  But, in the last two games Omar Cummings has stepped in to fill the void. Omar's late equalizer in Real Salt Lake was timely and important for the Rapids, but as a single goal it could have easily been written off as a fluke. 

Omar's performance against D.C. United on Saturday night could not be.  With Casey out Omar was obviously going to be the target for the D.C. defense.  That might have resulted in Omar being choked off from scoring.  Omar rose to the challenge scoring two goals and assisting on the thirds for the Rapids.  His work away from the goal was just as important to the Rapids as he held the ball up with some tricky dribbling, kept the D.C. defense from banging the ball around freely, and ran tirelessly all night.

Omar's performance earned him the Man of the Match honors as well as the MLS, Player of the Week Award.  Omar's performance goes a long way towards convincing the rest of the MLS soccer world that there's more to the Rapids than just Conor Casey on a hot streak.

How I voted

Lot's of bye's last week so several teams were ranked without comment

1. Houston (1) -   Dropped points at home to RSL. 
2. Chivas USA (2) -  Getting some much needed rest.
3. Colorado (4) - The Rapids looked entirely dependent on Casey for goals.  Omar Cummings has risen to the challenge.
4. D.C. United (3) - Two tough road games in four days.  D.C.'s never die attitude got them a point in Seattle, but sapped their energy for a come back in Colorado.
5. Seattle (5) - Letting D.C. back into the game at home makes one wonder if their are cracks forming in their fortress. 
6. Chicago (6) - A bye week that didn't see anyone move up on them.
7. Columbus (7) - Schelotto's great, but they need contribution from the rest of the team.
8. Real Salt Lake (11) - A point on the road isn't glamorous, but getting one in Houston is good work.
9. Kansas City (8) - 
10. Toronto FC (9) - 
11. New England (10)-
12. FC Dallas (13) - I wouldn't have favored Dallas against Columbus even at home.  It's an improvement.
13. San Jose (14) - Starting to show some signs of life, but I'd have favored them at home against the Galaxy in any case.
14. L.A. Galaxy (12) - Filled up their "ties" column early, now they're filling in the "loss" column.
15. New York (15) -