2008 Major League Soccer season

Wikinews has news related to: 2008 Major League Soccer season

The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.^[2]

Changes from the 2007 season

• The San Jose Earthquakes returned to play as an expansion franchise in the Western Conference.
• The top three teams from each conference qualified automatically for the playoffs (up from two). In addition the two highest remaining point totals, regardless of conference, also qualified (down from four).
• Following the 2008 season, qualification for the SuperLiga was limited to the top four overall finishers not already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League, after problems related to fixture congestion during the 2008 season. This applied retroactively to the 2008 season, and thus qualification for MLS teams to SuperLiga 2009.
• Automatic qualification for the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was awarded to the top six overall finishers, as opposed to the top three finishers in each conference.
• Three teams signed new shirt sponsorship deals:
  • Best Buy became the shirt sponsor of the Chicago Fire.
  • Glidden became the shirt sponsor of the Columbus Crew.
  • Volkswagen became the shirt sponsor of D.C. United.
• Bruce Arena's contract was not renewed by the New York Red Bulls, and Juan Carlos Osorio was hired from the Chicago Fire as a replacement.
• The Chicago Fire promoted assistant coach Denis Hamlett to head coach.
• Frank Yallop was traded by the Los Angeles Galaxy to the San Jose Earthquakes. 1987 Ballon d'Or and Euro 88 winner Ruud Gullit was hired as his replacement.
• John Carver became the head coach of Toronto FC. Mo Johnston remains as manager, but has also taken a front office role as team's director of soccer.^[3]
• Bruce Arena replaced Ruud Gullit, who resigned from his role as head coach, and Alexi Lalas, who was fired from his role as president, as both head coach and general manager of the Los Angeles Galaxy.
• Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah opened in October as the home of Real Salt Lake.
• The Kansas City Wizards moved to the Kansas side of the metropolitan area, occupying CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City. This was intended to be a temporary move to the Ballpark, and is scheduled to end in 2011 with the opening of the Livestrong Sporting Park nearby.

Competition format

The format for the 2008 season was as follows:

• The season ran from March 29 to November 23.
• The 14 teams were split into two seven-team conferences. Each team played 30 games that were evenly divided between home and away games. Each team played every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 26 games. The remaining four games were played against four regional rivals, two at home and two away.
• The three teams from each conference with the most points qualified for the playoffs. In addition, the next two highest point totals, regardless of conference, also qualified. In the first round aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners. The conference finals were played as a single match, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup 2008. In all rounds, draws were broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.
• The team with the most points in the regular season won the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10. The MLS Cup winner also qualified for the Champions League 2009–10. The MLS Cup runner-up qualified for the Champions League 2009–10. An additional berth in the Champions League was also awarded to the winner of the 2008 U.S. Open Cup. If a team qualified for multiple berths into the Champions League, then additional berths were awarded to the highest overall finishing MLS team(s) not already qualified. Also, Toronto FC, as a Canadian-based team, cannot qualify through MLS for the Champions League, and must instead qualify through the Canadian Championship.
• The four teams with the most points in the regular season, regardless of conference, who have not qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League qualified for SuperLiga 2009.
• The six teams, regardless of conference, with the most points also qualified for berths into the 2009 U.S. Open Cup. The rest of the U.S.-based MLS teams have to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.

Tiebreakers

1. Head-to-Head (Points-per-match average)
2. Overall Goal Differential
3. Overall Total Goals Scored
4. Tiebreakers 1-3 applied only to matches on the road
5. Tiebreakers 1-3 applied only to matches at home
6. Fewest team disciplinary points in the League Fair Play table
7. Coin toss

NOTE: If more than two clubs are tied, once a club advances through any step, the process reverts to Tiebreaker 1 among the remaining tied clubs.

MLS Tiebreakers

Results table

Standings

For an explanation of the playoff qualifications, see Competition format.

Conference standings

Overall standings

• ^Note 1 - Toronto FC cannot qualify for the U.S. Open Cup, as it is a Canadian-based team.
  If they had qualified for an automatic berth into the U.S. Open Cup, the next highest placed team not already qualified would have qualified.

• ^Note 2 - Toronto FC cannot qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS. Rather, they can qualify through the Canadian Soccer Championship.
  If they had qualified for the Champions League through MLS, then the highest placed team not already qualified would have qualified.

• ^Note 3 - The winner of the 2008 MLS Supporters' Shield (Columbus Crew) qualified for the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage. As they also won MLS 2008, the 2008 MLS Supporters' Shield runner-up (Houston Dynamo) also entered the Group Stage. The runner-up of MLS Cup 2008 (New York Red Bulls) and the winner of the 2008 U.S. Open Cup (D.C. United) qualified for the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round.

2008 MLS Cup Playoffs

¹ The New York Red Bulls earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Western Conference qualified for the playoffs.

Statistics

Budweiser Golden Boot

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	G	A
1	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	25	20	9
2	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas	30	18	3
3	Edson Buddle	Los Angeles Galaxy	27	15	3
4	Juan Pablo Angel	New York Red Bulls	23	14	3
5	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo	25	13	5
6	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United	27	11	5
7	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	21	11	2
8	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	25	10	10
9	Chad Barrett	Chicago Fire / Toronto FC	29	9	7
	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire	26	9	7

Goalkeeping leaders

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GP	MINS	SHTS	SVS	GA	GAA	W-L-T	SHO
1	Pat Onstad	Houston Dynamo	24	2098	105	76	24	1.03	10-4-9	7
2	Jon Busch	Chicago Fire	30	2700	156	122	33	1.10	13-10-7	10
3	Will Hesmer	Columbus Crew	29	2610	132	97	33	1.14	17-6-6	10
4	Bouna Coundoul	Colorado Rapids	17	1530	77	54	21	1.24	6-8-3	5
5	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes	30	2700	166	124	38	1.27	8-13-9	9

Individual awards

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Club	Week's Statline
Week 1	Terry Cooke	Colorado Rapids	1 G (10') GWG, 2 A (67',80')
Week 2	David Beckham	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 G (9') GWG, 1 A (38')
Week 3	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	1 G (26'), 2 A (35', 71')
Week 4	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	2 G (67', 84') GTG
Week 5	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	3 G (18', 59', 77'), 1 A (84')
Week 6	David Beckham	Los Angeles Galaxy	2 G (36', 40') GTG
Week 7	Robbie Rogers	Columbus Crew	2 G (73', 81')
Week 8	Edson Buddle	Los Angeles Galaxy	3 G (31', 39', 85') GWG
Week 9	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire	1 G (55'), 3 A (8', 48', 60') GWA
Week 10	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake	1 G (48') 1 A (60') GWA
Week 11	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo	2 G (52', 69') GWG, 1 A (46')
Week 12	Edson Buddle	Los Angeles Galaxy	3 G (6', 63', 68') GWG
Week 13	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	2 G (4', 83')
Week 14	Steve Ralston	New England Revolution	2 G (12', 59') GWG
Week 15	Adam Cristman	New England Revolution	2 G (33', 37') GWG
Week 16	John Thorrington	Chicago Fire	1 G (90+2') GWG
Week 17	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	1 G (26') 2 A (33', 38')
Week 18	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas	2 G (15', 17') GWG, 1 A (36')
Week 19	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas	2 G (81', 90+1') GWG
Week 20	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	2 G (27', 50')
Week 21	Ronnie O'Brien	San Jose Earthquakes	2 G (11', 87') GWG, 1 A (71')
Week 22	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	1 G (25') 2 A (15', 55') GWA
Week 23	Fabian Espindola	Real Salt Lake	2 G (23', 59') GWG
Week 24	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	1 G (39') GWG, 2 A (45', 67')
Week 25	Steve Ralston	New England Revolution	1 G (90+2') 2 A (53', 83') GWA
Week 26	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	3 G (23', 35', 90+2') 1 A (81')
Week 27	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	3 G (11', 45', 90') GWG
Week 28	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo	2 G (2', 9') GWG 1 A (19')
Week 29	Brian McBride	Chicago Fire	2 G (13', 79') GTG
Week 30	Claudio López	Kansas City Wizards	1 G (18') 2 A (27', 90+3') GWA
Week 31	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire	3 G (11', 38', 44') 2 A (53', 75') GWG

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Club	Month's Statline
April	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	8 G, 2 A, Galaxy 2-2-1 in April
May	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire	2 G, 4 A, Fire 3-1-0 in May
June	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United	7 G, 1 A, D.C. United 4-0-0 in June
July	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake	3 SHO, Real Salt Lake 2-0-2 in July
August	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	1 G, 6 A, Crew 3-1-0 in August
September	Darren Huckerby	San Jose Earthquakes	3 G, 1 A, Earthquakes 1-1-1 in September
October	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	3 G, 1 A, Red Bulls 1-2-1 in October

Sierra Mist Goal of the Week

Week	Scorer	Club	Goal
Week 1	Sainey Nyassi	New England Revolution	90+3'
Week 2	Geoff Cameron	Houston Dynamo	90+1'
Week 3	Sacha Kljestan	Chivas USA	33'
Week 4	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	67'
Week 5	Marcelo Gallardo	D.C. United	80'
Week 6	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire	29'
Week 7	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire	62'
Week 8	Marcelo Gallardo	D.C. United	30'
Week 9	Tam McManus	Colorado Rapids	80'
Week 10	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake	48'
Week 11	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United	90+3'
Week 12	Clyde Simms	D.C. United	26'
Week 13	Gonzalo Martinez	D.C. United	55'
Week 14	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United	37'
Week 15	Ante Razov	Chivas USA	88'
Week 16	Ante Razov	Chivas USA	15'
Week 17	Juan Pablo Angel	New York Red Bulls	71'
Week 18	Abe Thompson	FC Dallas	89'
Week 19	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	60'
Week 20	Chad Barrett	Toronto FC	44'
Week 21	Brian Carroll	Columbus Crew	62'
Week 22	Joe Vide	D.C. United	45'
Week 23	Fabian Espindola	Real Salt Lake	59'
Week 24	Santino Quaranta	D.C. United	76'
Week 25	Davy Arnaud	Kansas City Wizards	69'
Week 26	Robbie Rogers	Columbus Crew	46'
Week 27	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	70'
Week 28	Andy Williams	Real Salt Lake	73'
Week 29	Brandon McDonald	Los Angeles Galaxy	80'
Week 30	Danny Cepero	New York Red Bulls	83'
Week 31	Brad Evans	Columbus Crew	77'

Team attendance totals

^[4]

Related competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2008

The Houston Dynamo and D.C. United earned berths in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup by virtue of their MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield wins, respectively. Houston and D.C. were both victorious in their quarterfinal ties and advanced to the semifinals. For the second straight year, however, both lost their respective semifinals, and were eliminated.

SuperLiga 2008

D.C. United, Chivas USA, the New England Revolution, and the Houston Dynamo were MLS's entrants into SuperLiga 2008, based on their top-four finish in the 2007 regular season.

Following the Group Stage, which took place from July 12 to July 20, Houston and New England each won their respective groups to advance to the Semifinals, where they faced 2007 champion Pachuca on July 29 and Atlante on July 30, respectively. D.C. United finished last and Chivas USA finished third in their respective groups and failed to advance.

Both MLS teams were victorious in the Semifinals, setting up a rematch of the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups in the Final on August 5 at Gillette Stadium.

The teams played to a 2-2 draw after extra time. New England eventually defeated Houston 6-5 on penalty kicks.

CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09

The Houston Dynamo (MLS Cup winner), D.C. United (Supporters' Shield Winner), the New England Revolution (U.S. Open Cup winner and MLS Cup runner-up), and Chivas USA (Supporters' Shield runner-up) were the representatives in the rebranded successor to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

New England and Chivas USA entered at the Preliminary Round, and were eliminated over two legs by Joe Public of Trinidad and Tobago and Tauro of Panama, respectively.

D.C. and Houston were seeeded into the Group Stage as the top seeds in Groups A and B, respectively.

D.C. was eliminated from Group A with two games remaining in group play, while Houston qualified for the Championship Round with a 1-0 win in their last match against Luis Ángel Firpo on November 26, which was postponed from Matchday 1 due to Hurricane Ike.

Houston was eliminated in the Quarterfinals over two legs by Atlante.

National competitions

2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

MLS awarded the top three finishers in each conference last season automatic berths into the 2008 U.S. Open Cup's Third Round. D.C. United, the New England Revolution, and the New York Red Bulls qualified from the Eastern Conference while Chivas USA, the Houston Dynamo, and FC Dallas qualified from the Western Conference. The rest of MLS's U.S.-based teams would have to compete for the final two berths into the Third Round via a seven-team playoff. Eventually Chicago Fire and the Kansas City Wizards qualified by beating the Columbus Crew and the Colorado Rapids respectively.

Each of the qualified MLS teams was matched up against the winner of a Second Round game, all of whom came from either one of the USL's three divisions or the USASA, in the Third Round on July 1. Three MLS teams were eliminated by these lower division clubs. Chivas USA was eliminated by USL-1's Seattle Sounders, the New York Red Bulls were upset by Crystal Palace Baltimore of USL-2, and the Houston Dynamo lost a penalty shootout to the USL-1's Charleston Battery.

In the Quarterfinals on July 8, FC Dallas and the Kansas City Wizards were eliminated by the Charleston Battery and the Seattle Sounders, respectively. This meant an MLS team, either D.C. United or the New England Revolution would face a USL-1 team in the final.

In the Semifinals on August 12, D.C. United upset the Open Cup holding Revolution by a score of 3 to 1. This earned United a berth in the final against the USL-1's Charleston Battery on September 3 at RFK Stadium.

In the Final on September 3, D.C. United won their second U.S. Open Cup in a 2-1 win over the Charleston Battery.

2008 Canadian Championship

Due to the fact that none of the Canadian teams playing in the American soccer pyramid can qualify for Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League through their leagues or the U.S. Open Cup, the Canadian Soccer Association was forced to develop a tournament to determine the country's representative in the Champions League. The country's top three teams, MLS's Toronto FC and the USL-1's Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC were entered into the inaugural Canadian Championship. The tournament was played as a double round robin group from May 27 to July 22. The Montreal Impact finished first, claiming the Canadian berth in the Champions League.

All-Star game

The 2008 MLS All-Star Game was held at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, home of Toronto FC, on July 24.^[5] The opponent was West Ham United, of England's Premier League. It was the first time that the game was played outside the United States.

The game was won by the MLS All-Stars by a score of 3-2. Cuauhtemoc Blanco was named MVP of the game after assisting the All-Stars' first goal and scoring their second.

See also

Wikinews has news related to: 2008 Major League Soccer season

Association football portal

• List of transfers for the MLS 2008 Season
• 2007 MLS Expansion Draft

References

External links

• Official Site of Major League Soccer