MLS Kicks Off Tonight! Here's an in-depth guide to this season.

[SKS]

Took this from reddit, it's a really good read. I'm excited to get back into MLS this year and hopefully some of my friends from across the pond get in on the action! http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments ... de_to_mls/

History:

In order to bring the World Cup to the United States, the United States Soccer Federation agreed in 1988 to bring a new professional soccer league to the country. The league began play in 1996 with 10 teams in a season in which D.C. United won the opening title. (Check out these hideous 1990's jerseys). The teams were:

Colorado Rapids
Columbus Crew
D.C. United
Dallas Burn (now F.C. Dallas)
Kansas City Wiz (now Sporting Kansas City)
Los Angeles Galaxy
New England Revolution
NY/NJ Metro Stars (sadly now New York Red Bulls)
San Jose Clash (now San Jose Earthquakes)
Tampa Bay Mutiny (notably owned by the Glazers who now own Man U)

The Chicago Fire joined the league in 1998 alongside the Miami Fusion in a season in which the Chicago newcomers won the MLS Cup as well as the US Open Cup. The following year (1999), Columbus opened their stadium, the first professional soccer-specific stadium in America, at a time when teams were sharing the facilities of other professional sports teams within America.

However, hard times fell on MLS in 2002 when the league was forced to fold Miami and Tampa Bay in order to save money, having lost an estimated $250 million in the league's first five years of existence. Despite this set back, the league continued to grow as Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake entered the league in 2005. In 2006, the San Jose Earthquakes relocated to Houston and were renamed Houston Dynamo.

In 2007, David Beckham shocked the American soccer world by arriving in LA. That same year, Toronto FC became the first Canadian team to enter the league. Their entrance more or less marked the beginning of supporters' culture within the league as the team played to a sold out crowd of passionate adults despite a lackluster performance on the field.

San Jose re-entered the league in 2008, retaining the name and legacy of the previous San Jose Earthquakes. From this point on, MLS began expanding more rapidly into cities with ravenous soccer support. Seattle Sounders entered the league in 2009 and set a new standard for fan support with their legions of supporters. Philadelphia Union joined the following years and helped establish supporter culture on the East Coast through the rowdy supporters' group the Sons of Ben (SoBs). Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps joined in 2011, expanding the new supporters phenomena further while create a fierce rivalry with Seattle (the Cascadia Cup). Montreal Impact immediately followed in 2012.

The arrival of Clint Dempsey in 2013 marked the beginning of a major return of American players that includes Michael Bradley (Toronto), Jozy Altidore (Toronto), Maurice Edu (Philadelphia), Jermaine Jones (New England), DeMarcus Beasley (Houston), and several other national team players have returned to the league, with many in their prime.

In the world of expansions, New York City and Orlando City begin play this year and look set to raise the standards of expansion teams. New York City has brought in David Villa, Frank Lampard, and Mix Diskerud while Orlando has silently brought in a very solid team around playmaker Kaka. City brings unprecedented wealth to the league while Orlando seems set to have a great fan base and a strong Brazilian presence. On the flip side, Chivas USA folded this year after a tumultuous period in MLS.

The Future

As for the future, Atlanta and a new LA team are set to join the league in 2017 while Miami is a likely candidate to join shortly after. Sacramento and Minnesota are battling for the final expansion spot this round after unprecedented success in the lower leagues. San Antonio, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, and Jacksonville look set to battle it out for future expansion spots.

Now is a fantastic time to begin following the league as it continues to grow at an amazing rate.
Current Format:

MLS consists of 34 games run through the months of March to October. There are currently 20 teams that compete within the league (listed in the comments).

While there are several unique elements to MLS, I have highlighted only a couple of the unique elements. Oddities like allocation money, the Superdraft, and re-entry draft have a relative minor impact on games and can be learned about later. I'd rather keep things relatively simple for now.

Salary Cap:

The Salary Cap is one of the most unique elements of American soccer. Compared to European sports where teams can spend relatively freely, this cap provides a maximum spending limit for teams ($3.1 million a year). The main reason this was put in place was to prevent the collapse of another American soccer league. Part of the downfall of the downfall of the North American Soccer League came teams drastically raising their spending on players to the point of financial collapse. With a cap in place, the league was able to ensure teams spend within their limits to ensure financial survival while also keeping down the price of player salaries.

In order to allow teams to grow and attract better talent, MLS passed the "Beckham Rule" in which teams can sign up to three designated players who contracts each exceed $350,000. This allows us to bring in big talent. There is the option for "young designated players" who are 23 or under.

The Players' Union and MLS are currently under negotiation for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement which will likely see a significant increase in the cap starting this year.

Parity:

The other major benefit of the salary cap is that it provides a form of parity not found in any of the other major leagues. Spain is primarily a contest between the top two teams with Atletico sneaking in occasionally. The EPL is a contest mostly between five teams. The Bundesliga has now entered an era of dominance by Bayern.

Since MLS was founded in 1996, nine separate teams have won the MLS Cup. Only two teams (LA and D.C.) have won more than two titles. Within MLS, your team has a theoretically equal shot of winning the title as any other team within the league. In comparison to other leagues, you do not have to accept your team being forever midtable. D.C. United is the best example of this parity. In 2013, D.C. finished at the bottom of the table as by far the worst team in the league. The following year, United rebuilt heavily and finished on the top of the Eastern Conference.

Conferences:

In MLS, teams are evenly split between the Eastern and Western conference. In any given season, you play each team from the opposite conference once and teams from your own conference either twice or three times. Due to the difficulties of travel, we do not have a balanced schedule. To put this into context, the distance between Vancouver, Canada and Orlando, Florida (the two furthest teams) is 4228.1 Kilometers. The distance from Dublin, Ireland, to Jerusalem is only 4080.8 Kilometers. A balanced schedule is difficult financially for teams and takes a physical toll on the players.

Playoffs:

In MLS, winning the MLS Cup is seen as more prestigious than finishing first on the table (The Supporter's Shield.) Under the current format, the top 6 teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs. The playoffs can be thought of as an elimination tournament in which teams are still split between conference. The top two teams from each conference receive a "bye" - they are exempt from the first round of play and enter the tournament in the second round.

The first round is a one game knockout round where the losers go home and the winners advance to face the two teams on "bye."

The second round consists of two-legs much like traditional soccer tournaments.

The two winners of the second round advance to the conference championship where they square off over two legs.

The two conference winners then face off in the final for a single elimination match.

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup:

This tournament is named after Lamar Hunt, an owner who co-founded the North American Soccer League, was a charter investor of MLS, owned American sports teams in several leagues, and who founded and owned three MLS teams when the league began. He, also, financed the Columbus Crew's stadium, the first soccer-specific stadium built for professional soccer in America. Without his backing, MLS would never have taken off. In honor of this pioneer for American soccer, the United States Soccer Federation named the tournament and cup after him in 1999.

While MLS is a young league, many would be surprised how long the U.S. Open Cup has been in existence. This year marks the 102 year of existence for this cup. The tournament has seen several generations of American soccer dominance - from Bethlehem Steel (5 titles) in the 1910's to the Philadelphia Ukranians (4 wins) of the 1960's to the Seattle Sounders (4 wins) of the present. The tournament is open to all American teams -whether amateur, semi-pro, or professional- and the winner is guaranteed a spot in the CONCACAF Champion's League.

Note: Canadian teams do not take part in this. They compete in the The Voyageurs Cup.

Trades:

While transfers are the norm in the rest of the world, trades within MLS are far more common. A team may trade a player to another team for a draft pick, another player, a money, an international spot, or other incentives. The player rarely has a choice in a trade.

F.A.Q.

Why is there no relegation/promotion?

Unfortunately, it is not economically feasible at present. The fear is that if a team gets relegated, fans will stop coming to matches, and the owner will fold the team. The average American sports fan is used to supporting the best teams in the world at their sport (NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.). We aren't at a point yet in popularity or financial stability where the risk of promotion/relegation is worth taking. I do hope to see it within a few decades.

Why does MLS run spring to fall?

It's the same reason that Scandinavia runs spring to fall. The northern part of our country gets bombarded with snow in the winter unlike most of Europe. These past two weeks, my state got around 15 inches or so of snow. Even in March, a handful of MLS cities are still covered in snow. This would kill attendance. Plus, we don't want to compete against the NFL, NBA, and NHL (credit to /u/hatetom for this point).

Isn't MLS a retirement league?

Not at all. Some teams rely on signing big named and old players. However, others are quietly bringing in young players. For example, my team (Philadelphia) signed a 23 year old Venezuelan striker on loan from France. Other teams like New England build their team around youth. Very few teams in MLS build around aging has-beens.

The players are going to strike?

Players are seeking a raise in minimum wage ($36,500 a year) and free agency. Under MLS, players do not have the option to freely sign with any team they wish when without a contract. Plus, they can be traded against their will. These are the two major demands from players.

Who plays possession football?

No team necessarily plays the heavy possession found in top European teams. However, Real Salt Lake, Portland, and New England focus on positive soccer that often relies heavily on possession. Off the top of my head, Vancouver, Seattle, and Dallas also play free-flowing soccer that is fun to watch.

Who has the best youth systems?

I would give that to LA, Philadelphia, and Dallas. LA and Dallas have brought along a lot of good talent into their team through their academy. Gyasi Zardes, one of LA's top players, came through the academy and the team. Since Philly is only 6 years old, there has not been enough time to see the academy bear any fruit. However, the team has created proactive steps such as building a high school for their players to allow them to play more often. Plus, Rene Meulensteen was brought on in the short-term to, among other duties, assess the effectiveness of our academy.

Who has the best fan support?

The obvious answer is Seattle with an average attendance of 43,734. However, they do benefit from playing in a football stadium with a capacity of 67,000 and being one of only two major sports teams in Seattle worth watching. Outside of Seattle, Portland, Kansas City, Toronto, and Philadelphia have absolutely fantastic support.

MLS Teams

Chicago Fire:

Despite taking the league by storm in their first year, Chicago has struggled in recent memory. This year, the Fire are lead by veteran manager Frank Yallop and have bolstered their attack with new signings like Shaun Maloney and Kennedy Igboananike, hoping to avoid another disastrous year.

Key Players: Mike Magee, Sean Johnson, Jeff Larentowicz

Colorado Rapids:

Since winning the MLS Cup in 2010, Colorado has found themselves in a constant state of rebuilding.The club is lead by manager and team legend Pablo Mastroeni. The team has some serious youth talent, but they are still looking for a finisher to take them to the next level.

Key Players: Drew Moor, Dillon Powers, DeShorn Brown

Columbus Crew:

With a new logo for this year, the Crew - lead by Greg Berhalter - are seeking to build off a strong last year. They have added a proven MLS goalscorer in Kei Kamara, a real threat in Higuain (yes, he is related), and young talent in players like Wil Trapp. They are a real team to watch.

Key Players: Michael Parkhurst, Kei Kamara, Federico Higuain

D.C. United:

After finishing in last in 2013, D.C. finished at the top of the East in 2014. Led by club legend Ben Olsen, the club relies on experienced professionals and hopes to challenge for the title this year. D.C. wants to end their title drought, having not won the MLS Cup since 2004.

Key Players: Bill Hamid, Bobby Boswell, Perry Kitchen

FC Dallas:

Led by yet another club legend (Oscar Pareja), FC Dallas are in the midst of a major transformation. Under Pareja's tutelage, the team is playing beautiful, open soccer while building through their strong youth system.

Key Player: Mauro Diaz, Fabian Castillo, Matt Hedges

Houston Dynamo:

The 2015 season is a new beginning for La Naranja, having replaced the only manager they have ever had with Owen Coyle. Historically, the Dynamo have always contended in this league through efficient organized soccer. They finished as runners up in two of the past four years. Can FM Wonderkid Erick "Cubo" Torres put them back in the mix?

Key Players: Cubo Torres, Giles Barnes, Brad Davis

Los Angeles Galaxy:

The kings of MLS, the Galaxy are without a doubt the best run and most successful team in the league, having won three titles since 2011. Manager Bruce Arena must figure out how to replace recently retired American icon Landon Donovan. Having MLS MVP Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard, and Gyasi Zardes shouldn't hurt.

Key Players: Robbie Keane, Gyasi Zardes, Omar Gonzalez

Montreal Impact:

Led by Frank Klopas, the Impact will hope to forget a poor previous year and a half. The team is rebuilding following the retirement of their aging Italian stars in recent years. A passionate fan base is growing impatient this team.

Key Players: Justin Mapp, Ignacio Piatti, Laurent Ciman

New England Revolution:

Having finished last years as runners up, manager Jay Heaps and the Revs are seeking their elusive first MLS Cup. Star player Lee Nguyen leads a youthful, free-flowing side that is quite a pleasure to watch.

Key Players: Lee Nguyen, Jermaine Jones, Juan Agudelo

New York City:

Man City Jr. will seek big results in their first season having splashed the cash to bring in big manager Jason Kreis as well as Villa and Lampard. However, their defense looks to be a worry going into the season.

Key Players: David Villa, Frank Lampard, Mix Diskerud

New York Red Bulls:

This looks set to be a rough year for the other New York team. New Sporting Director fired fan favorite manager Mike Petke despite the latter having made the playoffs both years under his tenure and having won the team's only ever trophy. Jesse Marsch was brought in for the rough job of rebuilding a post-Henry Red Bulls in which the fans have turned on the team.

Key Players: Sacha Klejstan, Luis Robles, Bradley Wright-Phillips

Orlando City:

The first year team lead by Adrian Heath looks set for a storming opening season. The Lions have built a very strong team of South Americans around Kaka.

Key Players: Kaka, Brek Shea, Amobi Okugo

Philadelphia Union:

Local boy Jim Curtin has silently put together a strong if unheralded team with the additions of Steven Vitoria and Fernando Aristeguieta. The Zolos will need to have a strong year to quiet a passionate fanbase frustrated by only one playoff appearance in five years. Ex-Man U coach Rene Meulensteen has been brought on board to help stabilize both the club.

Key Players: Andrew Wenger, Maurice Edu, Vincent Nogueira

Portland Timbers:

Guru Caleb Porter will want to put an underwhelming year behind him as he seeks to right the course of a Portland team that has quickly become the favorite of neutrals. Expect possession football that will thrill the Timbers' Army.

Key Players: Diego Valeri, Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe

Real Salt Lake:

Consistently punching above their weight, Real has proven a small market team can find success. Jeff Cassar will continue to implement the possession soccer that has provided them with success for years.

Key Players: Kyle Beckerman, Joao Plata, Nick Rimando

San Jose Earthquakes:

Having brought back their former manager Dominic Kinnear, the Quakes will hope he can bring over his long-term success from Houston. Expect physical, efficient, and organized soccer from the Quakes.

Key Players: Chris Wondoloski, Victor Bernardez, Tommy Thompson

Seattle Sounders:

Either you love the Sounders or you hate them. Sigi Schmid and the Sounders have taken the league by storm since entering MLS in 2009. However, they won everything since then but the MLS Cup. Anything but the Cup this year will be seen as a failure.

Key Players: Clint Dempsey, Obafemi Martins, Chad Marshall

Sporting Kansas City

Peter Vermes and Sporting hope to re-find the form that saw them win the 2013 MLS Cup. Since rebranding, the team has been a hit with fans and a consistent league threat.

Key Players: Dom Dwyer, Matt Besler, Graham Zusi

Toronto FC

Toronto has invested big this year with Altidore and Giovinco. For once, this could be Toronto's year. However, don't be surprised if Greg Vanney's boys implode this year and continue Toronto's tradition of having never made the playoffs.

Key Players: Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore, Sebastian Giovinco

Vancouver Whitecaps:

Though last on this list, Carl Robinson's team certainly is not last on anyone's mind. Built around young, dynamic talent, the Caps have quietly been a consistent team since entering the league. Is this the year they demand mainstream attention?

Key Players: Pedro Morales, Octavio Rivero, Matias Laba

A Few Team Comparisons:

D.C. United = Man U

D.C. is one of the top MLS teams historically. The team is perhaps too reliant on older, experienced players, but they are still a threat despite this. After some ups and downs in recent years, D.C. is looking to be back on top and reassert themselves as an MLS giant.

Los Angeles Galaxy = Chelsea

Though not always the prettiest team to watch, LA is incredibly efficient and just gets the results they need. Having previously spent a lot of money to bring success, the team is now relying quite a bit more on young players. You never, ever count this team out.

New England = Liverpool

New England plays positive, attacking soccer and builds their team around a strong youth core. They look set for years to come. However, they have been unable to win the big game in their existence and have been the runners up for five times, including a three year stretch from 2005-2007.

New York City = Man City

Duh.

New York Red Bulls = Tottenham

Despite being a successful team with money to spare, the Red Bulls have never been able to win the major trophy. They will always finish near the top but fade away at the end of the season.

Philadelphia Union = Newcastle United

Philly has wonderfully passionate and rowdy fans. A Newcastle fan once punched a horse. Philly Eagles fans once booed Santa and threw snowballs at him. Despite this passion, Philly always has a way of choking and breaking the hearts of fans. Plus, we both love French players.

Real Salt Lake = Everton

Salt Lake has no right being as good as they are. This is a team that really makes the most of its resources to punch above its weight. Like Martinez's lead Everton, Salt Lake plays attractive soccer.

Seattle = Arsenal

Neutrals absolutely love this team, and the average fan hates them. The Sounders are a consistently successful team that can never seen to win the main title.

Toronto = Sunderland

No matter how much money they spend, they can never buy success. This may be the year they finally make the playoffs, but until then, I will continue to list them as the Sunderland of MLS. Plus, Jozy.

Vancouver = Southampton

I'm not quite sure, but I have admired the Whitecaps a lot since they entered the league. They have a strong core of young players with Kekutah Manneh being the brightest prospect. Playmaker Pedro Morales leads this team and is one of the best midfielders in the league. The team attacks with pace and is a real joy to watch despite not being one of the "big teams."

Anyone else excited for the MLS this year? Following along lads? @prophet @romo @porkchop @alpha beast @akydefgoldberg @viazon @chewy @daz

Site Members Allegiances:

SKS - New York City FC
Str8shooter - Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Alpha Beast - New England Revolution
Prophet - undecided
Porkchop - undecided
Slightly James - Houston Dynamo
Romo - Sporting Kansas City

[Str8Shooter]

Vancouver Whitecaps FC all the way!!

[War Daddy]

New Englad baby!

[prophet]

Right I need to pick my team for this. I'm torn on three - LA Galaxy because that's where Stevie G is going and I'm not going to feel comfortable rooting against him, Portland Timbers because they chop wood and give it to whoever scores on the day and that is fucking great annnnnd New England because of the Liverpool comparison you made above.

I'll have a think and report back, great post.

[PorkChop]

Great post. I'll have to have a think about who to support. I'm ruling out Seattle already though because of the "fight... and win!" guy.

I'm not a big fan of the MLS but I'll give it a chance now that Sky have picked up some games. It's a shame that the MLS has such a strange setup - no relegation, really strange player drafts, and other weird goings on) I think if it copied the format of traditional leagues, sport would be a lot more popular in America.

[SlightlyJames]

mfw everyone from the Football threads get tagged but me



Anyway, I can't promise I'll follow too closely but I guess I'll attach myself to Houston Dynamo. DaMarcus Beasley is mah dawg.

EDIT: Oh god Owen Coyle is their manager. WHAT HAVE I DONE

[PorkChop]

DaMarcus Beasley is mah dawg.

Do you remember when he nonchalantly got his knob out and took a piss on the touchline while warming up?

[SlightlyJames]

DaMarcus Beasley is mah dawg.

Do you remember when he nonchalantly got his knob out and took a piss on the touchline while warming up?

I don't, actually!

Houston also have an Assistant Manager called Wade Barrett

EDIT: Porky ain't lyin'. At the World Cup no less!

[Romo]

YES i'm super stoked that the season is starting again, I'm a huge sporting KC fan, we've managed to strengthen really well this off season bringing back Roger Espinoza who is already a KC legend, Krisztián Németh who this pre season has been banging in goals for fun, Luis Marín who has looked a brilliant goalkeeper this pre season aswell.

My biggest worry is that we haven't really replaced Aurélien Collin and are really relying on Ike Opera to stay fit alongside Besler, I really think we've got a shot of going all the way again this season, our owner has also been in talks with van der vaart over the last few weeks and seems positive that he can bring him in when his contract runs out this summer which would be a huge signing!

My team for this season is

Marin
Ellis - Opara - Besler - Sinovic
Nagamura
Zusi - Espinoza
Feilhaber
Dwyer - Németh

p.s sick post!

p.p.s mls has some sick fans, it's worth watching some of the game just to seen the fans!

[SKS]

mfw everyone from the Football threads get tagged but me



Anyway, I can't promise I'll follow too closely but I guess I'll attach myself to Houston Dynamo. DaMarcus Beasley is mah dawg.

EDIT: Oh god Owen Coyle is their manager. WHAT HAVE I DONE

Sorry mate, I knew I forgot someone.

Also glad to see you guys interested as well. The post was written by a huge MLS fan on reddit as I mentioned (I feel bad getting his rep but he's not a member so whatever ) but I'm going to try and make my own MLS review posts as much as I can. I would have tried to make this this myself but I'm in the same boat as most casual fans, I don't have much knowledge of the league. While lookin over stats I think he made great comparisons so I added those. I'm gonna try and find links to matches and a schedule to update regularly .

The defending champ LA Galaxy beat the Chicago Fire last night 2-0. Robbie Keane scored a great volley and then he had the funniest celebration I've seen in a while. I'm gonna find the GIF later. He basically flipped off his own crowd while shouting FUCK OFF.

The main gimmick for MLS is Sunday matches. Tomorrow we (NYC) open up at Orlando City in what should be a bonkers atmosphere - over 60,000 tickets sold. The Red Bulls take on Sporting KC, and New England plays Seattle.

[Kyle]

Vancouver is probably going to be my team considering cheering for any Toronto team is pretty hard to do.

[The Legend]

Go Crew!

[AkydefGoldberg]

It's good to see the US league building slowly and it's unique in its set up but won't be replicated by other established league but it's good to be different and strong in that belief.

I have to say, I felt Beckham made a mistake to leave Europe for America in 2007. And tbh, he eventually missed Europe by flirting with Milan (wanting to stay permanently after a loan spell) and having half a season with PSG, playing in the CL.

But positive for US soccer is it helped put it on the map.

Not decided on my team because I doubt I'll watch the football much but see how it goes.

[PorkChop]

Beckham shouldn't have gone to America until like 2011. It stunted his career by going there so early, even if he did make a ton of money from it. I think deep down he regrets going there so early.

[War Daddy]

Go Crew!

Their new logo is sick.

[JDD]

Orlando City SC's stadium is only a half hour from me so ill try to go and watch some games. As for who I will support, New York City duh! Are they starting up this season or next?

[Str8Shooter]

Orlando City SC's stadium is only a half hour from me so ill try to go and watch some games. As for who I will support, New York City duh! Are they starting up this season or next?

If you don't know if the team is playing or not, you might be doing the "supporting" thing wrong

[Romo]

Jozy Altidore got his first Toronto goal!

[blackparade]

Orlando is rocking with excitement for tomorrow's season debut. The Citrus Bowl is sold out and I'm sure the crowd will be nuts! I'll have to go to a game sometime this season and check that off my bucket list.

[Kyle]

Vancouver completely went out of gas after that first half. So many fast players on that team.