Major League Soccer: An Introduction

In line with his new weekly MLS column exclusive to Just Football, our North American correspondent Robert Hunter now presents an introduction to Major League Soccer – an idiot’s guide if you will – to bring you fully up to speed with football across the pond:

Despite a regular season champion that rarely wins the title, designated players who make more than the rest of their teammates in salary and, at one time, the atrocity that was dribble up shootouts, Major League Soccer is gradually becoming a league to be taken seriously. The MLS, despite being a fairly new league relative to others around the world, has the potential in both marketing and funding to become a major force in the future. Major League Soccer attracts more renowned players every year and continues to up the standard of the game being played, and as more foreigners look to the league for playing time, this trend looks likely to continue.

The teams

Despite the fact that the United States and Canada are such large countries, at the moment only 16 teams comprise MLS, with another two slated to join in 2011. Fifteen come from America, with teams ranging from the West coast in the Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes, to the midwest with the Chicago Fire, and all the way to the East coast where New York Red Bulls and D.C. United compete. One team, Toronto FC, is from Canada, with another of the planned expansion teams set to begin play in Vancouver next year.

The league is comprised of an Eastern and Western conference, with eight teams in each, which change based on which teams are added, similar to the Blue Square North/South. The Galaxy, Earthquakes, Chivas USA, Houston Dynamo, FC Dallas, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake, and Seattle Sounders make up the Western conference. The Eastern conference includes the Fire, D.C. United, Toronto FC, Red Bull, Kansas City Wizards, Columbus Crew, New England Revolution, and Philadelphia Union.

The format

Each team plays each other twice throughout the season in a home and away format for a total of 30 games, after which the playoffs begin. The winner of the regular season in overall points is awarded the Supporters Shield, and consequently seeded number one in their conference playoffs. The top two teams in each conference automatically qualify, and the next four teams, regardless of conference, comprise the rest of the eight team field.

This means that there is a possibility that only two teams from one conference will make the knockout stages, although usually it is more balanced between the two sides. The conference semi-finals are played over two legs, but the final, and MLS Cup itself, are one-off matches where the winner takes all.

Some of the more successful teams over time in the MLS have been D.C. United, who have won four titles in five final appearances, and Houston Dynamo, who is two for two. New England and LA Galaxy have also enjoyed relative success, with Galaxy winning two titles and the Revolution making the final on four occasions but coming up short each time.

The players

The addition of designated players (DP’s) has also impacted the league, with of course David Beckham the posterchild of the position. Others, such as Freddie Ljungberg, Juan Pablo Angel and Cuahtemoc Blanco, are former national team stars who decided to play out their careers in the MLS with tremendous success.

Another unique aspect of the MLS is the draft, whereby college or high school players are selected by the clubs, with picks seeded based on the club’s performance in the year prior. Players are usually encouraged to go to college at least for some period of time before going into the professional ranks, and therefore most teams are made up primarily of former college players.

The disparity between players’ abilities is a very interesting component of the league to keep an eye on, as players go from playing with multiple sport athletes on their college team to lining up alongside seasoned veterans and future 2010 World Cup participants. Still, such a balance between teams means each year the supporters start out with great hope for their team, and making it into the playoffs is the ultimate goal, as from that point on a team is only four games away from the MLS Cup.

The MLS obviously still has a lot of work to do in order to be on the same level as the Premiership and other European and South American leagues. But with the ever-growing support base and impact of foreign superstars converging on the US game, Major League Soccer is a league with a bright future.

Major League Soccer, USA