Europe goes cup-crazy, while Asia's new champions make their case

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As if the soccer calendar weren't crowded enough, we've reached the time of year when national cup competitions kick it into high gear. This past week, competitions like England's Carling Cup, Spain's Copa del Rey and Italy's Coppa Italia stole the midweek headlines with a bevy of upsets and fantastic finishes.

Chief among the thrills and chills was Chelsea going down on penalty kicks to second-division Burnley, while Raúl and Real Madrid battled all the way back to pull even on aggregate with third-division Real Unión, only to see the Basque club get a last-minute equalizer to put it through on away goals. Harsh.

While at their core, these are all-comers competitions where small clubs can go giant-killing, the reality is that the same old faces usually end up hoisting the trophies at their conclusions. That doesn't mean the big clubs aren't willing to throw the tournament away. Some of them see these competitions as so meaningless that they'd rather start their reserves, almost secretly hoping they'll bow out early so they can focus on league play or international competitions like the Champions League.

So that's the conundrum we're faced with in this week's rankings. Do we dock the Real Madrids, Chelseas and Villarreals for starting mostly substitutes and then losing out to lesser competition? How highly do we value the ugliest stepsister tournaments? Is it smart strategy to punt early in order to fry the bigger fish?

If you ask the big clubs, they'll say yes -- why not get the reserves some match experience and focus instead on the bigger picture? But ask the Valencias, Tottenham Hotspurs and AS Romas of the world, and they'll tell you it's often their only chance to win silverware over the course of a difficult season. Then again, maybe it's all spin. Enjoy the rundown.

Note: All rankings, records and statistics are through Nov. 12.

World Soccer Power Rankings 1 Previously: 2 FC Barcelona On top again and it feels so good. Barça reclaims No. 1 for the first time in more than two years and it's pretty inarguable. This club is in great shape in La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, and the goals keep raining down from Pep Guardiola's men. Samuel Eto'o scored four in a 6-0 wipeout of Valladolid last weekend -- all in the first half!   2 Previously: 3 Chelsea What an ugly drop from No. 1. The Blues' form in the EPL has been sensational -- their three-game winning streak (with a total of 10 goals scored) has them even with Liverpool atop the standings. But getting blown out at Roma in the Champions League and then dumped from the Carling Cup by Burnley do little to temper the burn. Chelsea moves up solely thanks to its league form, which features a stunning plus-25 goal differential. By the way, if Nicolas Anelka is suddenly Luiz Felipe Scolari's favorite striker, Chelsea fans could be in for an ulcer or two.   3 Previously: 1 Liverpool This week's sign of the apocalypse? Diego Maradona has asked Javier Mascherano to be captain of his Argentine national team. Holy parrillada mixta. This is the same guy who introduced himself to the English Premier League with a barrage of dirty tackles and bookings. Meanwhile, it's been an ugly November for the 'Pool, whose league win over promoted West Brom last weekend is its only victory in four matches in November.   4 Previously: 4 Villarreal It's difficult to dock the Yellow Submarine for bowing out of the Copa del Rey to a third-division side since the damage was already done in the first leg. In the meantime, Villarreal still is undefeated and just a point off the pace in La Liga, as well as a point from moving on in the Champions League. And is New Jersey-born Italian international Giuseppi Rossi starting to blossom like crazy or what? Bummer, U.S. fans.   5 Previously: 8 Inter Milan They're winning ugly with one-goal victories (and often just the one goal) and José Mourinho has appeared to rub half the team the wrong way. But the Nerazzurri have still regained the top spot in Serie A and look like they'll have no trouble advancing to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Almost by default, Inter gets this spot.   6 Previously: -- Arsenal Even if you hate the Carling Cup, there's no more tangible to way to see just how good a talent evaluator Arsène Wenger is. His Young Gunners are blasting their way through the tournament again, and have been a showcase for teenagers like Jay Simpson and Carlos Vela. Meanwhile, Arsenal has resuscitated itself and sits three points back of the EPL lead thanks to a stunning 2-1 win over Man. United last weekend.   7 Previously: -- Juventus On the surface, Juve sits in sixth in Serie A. But four straight victories have it only three points back of Inter in a logjam atop the table. More impressive has been its fantastic performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League. A clean sweep of the Spaniards has seen Juve book a spot in the knockout rounds with two group-stage games still to play. Meanwhile, 34-year-old Alessandro Del Piero is as ageless as ever, tied for the Champions League lead with four goals.   8 Previously: 5 Manchester United It's been a rather bad month for United, too, which needed a late Ryan Giggs goal to draw Celtic in the Champions League and a late penalty kick from Carlos Tévez to avoid a shocking loss at home against QPR in the Carling Cup. The Arsenal defeat leaves Man U eight points off the pace in league play as well. But we leave the Red Devils here because we all know Sir Alex Ferguson specializes in recovering from midseason blips. In all, this team is in good shape.   9 Previously: 10 São Paulo The Tricolor Paulista can smell it now. With four rounds to go, it's on the precipice of its third straight Brazilian Championship and record sixth overall. Best of all, São Paulo stretched its unbeaten run to 14 matches thanks to an unlikely hero: holding mid Zé Luís, whose header clinched a late win at Portuguesa. I can name dozens of European clubs that may be better, but this show of force from one of the region's powerhouses is impressive this late into the marathon Brazilian season.   10 Previously: -- Gamba Osaka As is our tradition here, we give our annual shoutout to the winners of the Asian Champions League. And it's a Japanese club for the second straight year after Gamba blazed through the latter parts of the tournament, including a 4-2 aggregate beatdown of last year's champs, Urawa Reds, in the semis, and a 5-0 wipeout of Australia's Adelaide United in the finals. Gamba thereby clinches the berth in FIFA's Folly (a.k.a. the Club World Cup), which kicks off next month. Of course, you can't forget that Gamba also won the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship in February over the Houston Dynamo. Oh wait, you did forget.   Honorable mentions: Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Valencia, TSG Hoffenheim, Boca Juniors, Olympique Lyonnais, Ajax Amsterdam, Al-Ahly Cairo, Sporting Lisbon, Celtic, Pumas de UNAM Dropped off: Valencia, Real Madrid, Udinese