2010 Major League Soccer season

The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with Seattle Sounders FC defeating the expansion Philadelphia Union, 2–0. The 2010 MLS All-Star Game was played at Reliant Stadium, hosted by the Houston Dynamo on July 28 as the MLS XI fell 5–2 to visiting Manchester United. The regular season concluded on October 24, with Los Angeles Galaxy winning the Supporters' Shield by one point over Real Salt Lake. Upon the completion of the regular season the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs culminated on November 21 with a 2–1 victory by the Colorado Rapids over FC Dallas at Toronto's BMO Field. It was the first time the MLS Cup final was played outside the United States.^[3]

The expiration of and failure to sign a new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players' union threatened the season. Negotiations resulted in a new contract being agreed to on March 20, 2010.

Changes from 2009

• The players' union and league passed a new collective bargaining agreement that adjusted the players' contracts.^[4]
• The Philadelphia Union joined the league as its 16th club and is playing in the Eastern Conference.^[5] Their first two home games of the season – against D.C. United April 10 and FC Dallas on May 15 – were played at Lincoln Financial Field while their permanent home, PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, opened with a game against Seattle Sounders FC on June 27.^[6]
• A natural grass field replaces the FieldTurf surface at Toronto FC's BMO Field.^[5]
• The New York Red Bulls began play in their new stadium Red Bull Arena, defeating the Chicago Fire in the first MLS match played there on March 27 by the score of 1–0.^[7]
• Adidas is providing their Jabulani match ball with MLS colors of blue and green for the season, as well as new referee kits – the same ones that were used in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• New Designated Player Rules were agreed upon early in the season:^[8]
  • Teams can sign two Designated Players, up from one under the previous rules, and pay a "luxury tax" of $250,000 for the right to sign a third Designated Player. The $250,000 would be distributed evenly to all MLS teams that have not signed a third Designated Player in the form of allocation money.
  • Each Designated Player counts as $335,000 for the salary cap, down from $415,000 under the previous agreement, and only counts as half that amount if the player is signed during the middle of the season. Teams can use allocation money to reduce the salary cap value of a Designated Player.
  • Teams are no longer allowed to trade for additional Designated Player spots, so the New York Red Bulls will receive $70,000 of allocation money in exchange for effectively nullifying their earlier trade with Chivas USA for a second Designated Player spot.
  • Teams who have a Designated Player transfer out of the country during the MLS season will recoup a portion of the money spent on the Designated Player.
  • Landon Donovan is no longer grandfathered into the agreement, and must be counted as a Designated Player.
  • Unlike the previous Designated Player agreement, which was set to expire after three seasons, this agreement has no set expiration date.
  • The new Designated Player rule resulted in an explosion of DP signings in 2010, with the league boasting 13 Designated Players at the conclusion of the regular season (Omar Bravo signed with Kansas City in the summer of 2010 but remained with his previous club Guadalajara for the remainder of the season).^[9][10]

Managerial Changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment	Table
Philadelphia Union	Expansion Team				Piotr Nowak	May 29, 2009	Pre-season
New York Red Bulls	Richie Williams	Caretaker	August 21, 2009	7th East ('09)	Hans Backe	January 7, 2010	Pre-season
Toronto FC	Chris Cummins	Contract expiration	October 27, 2009	5th East ('09)	Preki	November 18, 2009	Pre-season
D.C. United	Tom Soehn	Resigned	November 3, 2009	4th East ('09)	Curt Onalfo	December 28, 2009	Pre-season
Chivas USA	Preki	Mutual consent	November 12, 2009	4th West ('09)	Martin Vasquez	December 2, 2009	Pre-season
Chicago Fire	Denis Hamlett	Fired	November 24, 2009	2nd East ('09)	Carlos de los Cobos	January 11, 2010	Pre-season
D.C. United	Curt Onalfo	Fired	August 4, 2010	8th East	Ben Olsen	August 4, 2010	8th East
Toronto FC	Preki	Fired	September 14, 2010	3rd East	Nick Dasovic	September 14, 2010	3rd East

Personnel

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	de los Cobos, CarlosCarlos de los Cobos	McBride, BrianBrian McBride	Adidas	Best Buy
Chivas USA	Vasquez, MartinMartin Vasquez	Bornstein, JonathanJonathan Bornstein	Adidas	Comex
Colorado Rapids	Smith, GaryGary Smith	Mastroeni, PabloPablo Mastroeni	Adidas
Columbus Crew	Warzycha, RobertRobert Warzycha	Hejduk, FrankieFrankie Hejduk	Adidas	Glidden
D.C. United	Olsen, BenBen Olsen	Moreno, JaimeJaime Moreno	Adidas	Volkswagen
FC Dallas	Hyndman, SchellasSchellas Hyndman	Hernandez, DanielDaniel Hernández	Adidas
Houston Dynamo	Kinnear, DominicDominic Kinnear	Ching, BrianBrian Ching	Adidas	Amigo Energy
Kansas City Wizards	Vermes, PeterPeter Vermes	Arnaud, DavyDavy Arnaud	Adidas
L.A. Galaxy	Arena, BruceBruce Arena	Donovan, LandonLandon Donovan	Adidas	Herbalife
New England Revolution	Nicol, SteveSteve Nicol	Joseph, ShalrieShalrie Joseph	Adidas
New York Red Bulls	Backe, HansHans Backe	Angel, Juan PabloJuan Pablo Ángel	Adidas	Red Bull
Philadelphia Union	Nowak, PiotrPiotr Nowak	Califf, DannyDanny Califf	Adidas
Real Salt Lake	Kreis, JasonJason Kreis	Beckerman, KyleKyle Beckerman	Adidas	XanGo
San Jose Earthquakes	Yallop, FrankFrank Yallop	Corrales, RamiroRamiro Corrales	Adidas	Amway Global
Seattle Sounders FC	Schmid, SigiSigi Schmid	Keller, KaseyKasey Keller	Adidas	Xbox LIVE
Toronto FC	Dasovic, NickNick Dasovic	De Rosario, DwayneDwayne De Rosario	Adidas	BMO

Collective Bargaining Agreement

After two extensions to facilitate additional talks, the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players' union expired February 25, 2010. The league had said that it would not lockout the players.^[11] The union had voted in favor of a strike if a new deal was not reached before the beginning of the season.^[12] Players were seeking free-agent rights and more guaranteed contracts from the league.^[13] On March 20, 2010, MLS and the Players' Union agreed on a new, 5-year collective bargaining agreement that allowed the season to start on time.^[14]

Competition format

The format for the 2010 season will be as follows:^[15]

• The season began on March 25 and will end on November 21 with MLS Cup 2010.
• The 16 teams were split evenly into two conferences. The Eastern Conference has eight teams with the addition of the Philadelphia Union, and the Western Conference also has eight teams. For the first time in league history, the season will have a balanced schedule where each team will play every other team in the league once at home and once away for a total of 30 games.
• Games were not played during the group stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The last MLS game prior to the World Cup was played on June 10, with no games scheduled until after the group stage concluded on June 25.
• The two teams in each conference with the most points will qualify for the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs. In addition, the next four highest ranked teams, regardless of conference, will also qualify. Teams will be bracketed by conference, with the lowest ranked teams crossing over to the other conference if necessary. In the Conference Semifinals, aggregate goals over two matches will determine the winners. The Conference Finals will be played as single matches, and the winners will advance to MLS Cup 2010. After the completion of any round, ties will be broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by a penalty kick shootout if necessary. The away goals rule will not be used in any round.
• The team with the most points in the regular season wins the MLS Supporters' Shield and will qualify directly into the Group Stage of the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League. The MLS Cup Winner also qualifies for the Champions League Group Stage. The MLS Cup Runners-Up and the 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Winners qualify for the Preliminary Round of the Champions League. If a team qualifies for multiple berths into the Champions League, then additional berths will be awarded to the highest-placed team(s) in the 2010 MLS regular season's overall standings that have not already qualified.
• The four teams with the most points, regardless of conference, who have not qualified for the Champions League will qualify for the SuperLiga 2011.
• The six U.S.-based teams with the most points, regardless of conference, will qualify for the Third round of the 2011 U.S. Open Cup. The remaining U.S.-based MLS teams will have to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.
• As a Canadian-based team, Toronto FC cannot qualify for the Champions League through MLS, and cannot enter the U.S. Open Cup. In either case, any berth in the Champions League or U.S. Open Cup that it would have earned by its league position is awarded to the highest-placed team in the overall standings which has not already qualified. TFC may instead qualify for the Champions League through the Canadian Championship.

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

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 recursively until all ties are resolved.^[16]

Locations

Chicago Fire

Chivas USA

Colorado Rapids

Columbus Crew

D.C. United

FC Dallas

Kansas City Wizards

Houston Dynamo

Los Angeles Galaxy

Revolution

Union

NY Red Bulls

Real Salt Lake

San Jose Earthquakes

Seattle Sounders FC

Toronto FC

Locations of teams in the 2010 Major League Soccer

Stadiums

Chicago Fire	Chivas USA	Colorado Rapids	Columbus Crew
Toyota Park	The Home Depot Center	Dick's Sporting Goods Park	Crew Stadium
Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 19,680	Capacity: 20,455

D.C. United	FC Dallas	Kansas City Wizards	Houston Dynamo
RFK Memorial Stadium	Pizza Hut Park	CommunityAmerica Ballpark	Robertson Stadium
Capacity: 45,596	Capacity: 21,193	Capacity: 10,385	Capacity: 32,350

Los Angeles Galaxy	New England Revolution	Philadelphia Union	New York Red Bulls
The Home Depot Center	Gillette Stadium	PPL Park	Red Bull Arena
Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 22,385	Capacity: 18,500	Capacity: 25,189

Real Salt Lake	San Jose Earthquakes	Seattle Sounders FC	Toronto FC
Rio Tinto Stadium	Buck Shaw Stadium	Qwest Field	BMO Field
Capacity: 20,008	Capacity: 10,300	Capacity: 35,700	Capacity: 21,800

Results table

Updated to games played on March 15, 2011
Source: official website
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Standings

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 qualify for an automatic berth into the U.S. Open Cup, the next highest placed team not already qualified will be given a berth. Similarly, they cannot qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS. Rather, they can qualify through the Canadian Soccer Championship. If they qualify for the Champions League through MLS, then the highest placed team not already qualified will qualify.

• ^Note 2 - The winner of the 2010 MLS Supporters' Shield (Los Angeles Galaxy) and the winner of MLS Cup 2010 (Colorado Rapids) qualified for the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage. The runner-up of MLS Cup 2010 (FC Dallas) and the winner of the 2010 U.S. Open Cup (Seattle Sounders) qualified for the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round.
  

• ^Note 3 - 2011 SuperLiga berths are awarded to the top 4 finishing teams from MLS who do not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League.

Playoffs

Statistical leaders

Full article: MLS Golden Boot

Statistics current as of October 24, 2010

Top scorers (Golden Boot) Rank Scorer Club Goals[17] 1 Chris Wondolowski San Jose Earthquakes 18 2 Edson Buddle Los Angeles Galaxy 17 3 Dwayne De Rosario Toronto FC 15 4 Omar Cummings Colorado Rapids 14 Sébastien Le Toux Philadelphia Union 14 6 Juan Pablo Ángel New York Red Bulls 13 Conor Casey Colorado Rapids 13 8 Álvaro Saborío Real Salt Lake 12 9 Jeff Cunningham FC Dallas 11 10 Kei Kamara Kansas City Wizards 10 Fredy Montero Seattle Sounders FC 10 Steve Zakuani Seattle Sounders FC 10

Most assists (Silver Boot) Rank Player Club Assists[17] 1 Landon Donovan Los Angeles Galaxy 16 2 David Ferreira FC Dallas 13 3 Brad Davis Houston Dynamo 12 4 Sébastien Le Toux Philadelphia Union 11 5 Bobby Convey San Jose Earthquakes 10 Fredy Montero Seattle Sounders FC 10 Patrick Nyarko Chicago Fire 10 8 Guillermo Barros Schelotto Columbus Crew 9 Javier Morales Real Salt Lake 9 10 Jamie Smith Colorado Rapids 8 Ryan Johnson San Jose Earthquakes 8 Michael Stephens Los Angeles Galaxy 8

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GAA[17]	SV%	GP	MINS	GA	W–L–T	SHO
1	Kevin Hartman	FC Dallas	0.62	0.789	20	1755	12	10–1–8	9
2	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake	0.67	0.78	27	2430	18	15–4–8	14
3	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy	0.90	0.76	29	2610	26	18–7–4	11
4	Bouna Coundoul	New York Red Bulls	1.04	0.784	27	2430	28	14–8–5	11
5	Jon Busch	San Jose Earthquakes	1.06	0.779	18	1620	19	7–6–5	7
6	Matt Pickens	Colorado Rapids	1.12	0.773	29	2610	32	11–8–10	7
7	William Hesmer	Columbus Crew	1.1	0.689	30	2695	33	14–8–8	11
8	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	1.15	0.689	30	2655	34	14–10–5	11

Individual awards

Monthly awards

Month	MLS Player of the Month			MLS W.O.R.K.S. Humanitarian of the Month
	Player	Club	Link	Player	Club	Link
April	Edson Buddle	Los Angeles Galaxy	7G 4–0–1	Sanna Nyassi	Seattle Sounders FC	April Humanitarian
May	Álvaro Saborío	Real Salt Lake	4G 3A 5–0–0	Chris Tierney	New England Revolution	May Humanitarian
June	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake	0G Allowed 1–0–2	Craig Waibel	Houston Dynamo	June Humanitarian
July	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	2G 3A 3–1–1	Jed Zayner	Columbus Crew	July Humanitarian
August	Kevin Hartman	FC Dallas	2G Allowed 2–0–2	Michael Lahoud	Chivas USA	August Humanitarian
September	Omar Cummings	Colorado Rapids	6G 1A 3–1–1	Kei Kamara	Kansas City Wizards	September Humanitarian
October	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	6G 2–2–1	James Riley	Seattle Sounders FC	October Humanitarian

Weekly awards

Week	Player of the Week		AT&T Goal of the Week[18]		NAPA Save of the Week[19]
	Player	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
Week 1[20]	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
Week 2[21]	Kenny Mansally	New England Revolution	Kenny Mansally	New England Revolution	Preston Burpo	New England Revolution
Week 3[22]	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union	Marco Pappa	Chicago Fire	Jason Hernandez	San Jose Earthquakes
Week 4[23]	Edson Buddle	Los Angeles Galaxy	Lovel Palmer	Houston Dynamo	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 5[24]	Dwayne De Rosario	Toronto FC	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	Andrew Dykstra	Chicago Fire
Week 6[25]	Edson Buddle	Los Angeles Galaxy	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes
Week 7[26]	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	Logan Pause	Chicago Fire	Kevin Hartman	FC Dallas
Week 8[27]	Alvaro Saborio	Real Salt Lake	Danny Mwanga	Philadelphia Union	Gino Padula	Columbus Crew
Week 9[28]	Emilio Rentería	Columbus Crew	Dominic Oduro	Houston Dynamo	Jimmy Nielsen	Kansas City Wizards
Week 10[29]	Dwayne De Rosario	Toronto FC	Shea Salinas	Philadelphia Union	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 11[30]	Brek Shea	FC Dallas	Leo González	Seattle Sounders FC	Chris Seitz	Philadelphia Union
Week 12[31]	Chris Pontius	D.C. United	Kei Kamara	Kansas City Wizards	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
Week 13[32]	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	Jimmy Nielsen	Kansas City Wizards
Week 14[33]	Álvaro Saborío	Real Salt Lake	Juninho	Los Angeles Galaxy	Jimmy Nielsen	Kansas City Wizards
Week 15[34]	Justin Braun	Chivas USA	David Ferreira	FC Dallas	Stefan Frei	Toronto FC
Week 16[35]	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union	Roger Levesque	Seattle Sounders FC	Jimmy Nielsen	Kansas City Wizards
Week 17[36]	Steve Zakuani	Seattle Sounders FC	Ned Grabavoy	Real Salt Lake	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 18[37]	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union	Sean Johnson	Chicago Fire
Week 19[38]	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	Sean Johnson	Chicago Fire
Week 20[39]	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
Week 21[40]	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo	Rafael Márquez	New York Red Bulls	Sean Johnson	Chicago Fire
Week 22[41]	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	Dane Richards	New York Red Bulls	Jimmy Nielsen	Kansas City Wizards
Week 23[42]	Omar Cummings	Colorado Rapids	Geovanni	San Jose Earthquakes	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 24[43]	Alan Gordon	Chivas USA	Omar Cummings	Colorado Rapids	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 25[44]	Blaise Nkufo	Seattle Sounders FC	Blaise Nkufo	Seattle Sounders FC	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 26[45]	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	Nat Borchers	Real Salt Lake	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 27[46]	Bouna Coundoul	New York Red Bulls	Steve Zakuani	Seattle Sounders FC	Bouna Coundoul	New York Red Bulls
Week 28[47]	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	Álvaro Fernández	Seattle Sounders FC	Brad Knighton	Philadelphia Union
Week 29[48]	Steve Zakuani	Seattle Sounders FC	Steve Zakuani	Seattle Sounders FC	Fred	Philadelphia Union
Week 30[49]	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	James Riley	Seattle Sounders FC	Eddie Gaven	Columbus Crew

Related Competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions League

The Columbus Crew continued their CONCACAF Champions League 2009-10 campaign that began during the previous season. They were defeated by Mexican club Toluca in the quarterfinals, 5–4 on aggregate.

Seattle Sounders FC became the first team to qualify for the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League by winning the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Columbus Crew qualified next by winning the 2009 MLS Supporters' Shield. The Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake also qualified by being the two 2009 MLS Cup finalists, while Toronto FC took the Canadian berth by virtue of their Canadian Championship win. Los Angeles, Seattle, and Toronto entered the competition in the preliminary round, while RSL and Columbus were seeded directly into the group stage.

Seattle and Toronto won their preliminary round ties, beating Isidro Metapán of El Salvador and Motagua of Honduras, respectively. Los Angeles crashed out of the preliminary round after losing their home match 4–1 to the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USSF D-2 Pro League and failing to make up the deficit in the away leg.

The group stage was held August 17 – Oct 21. Real Salt Lake won Group A with 13 points over Cruz Azul, Toronto, and Arabe Unido of Panama. Toronto finished in 3rd place with 8 points. Columbus finished 2nd in Group B behind Club Santos Laguna but ahead of C.S.D. Municipal of Guatemala and Joe Public F.C. of Trinidad. Seattle finished 4th in Group C with 3 points behind C.F. Monterrey, C.D. Saprissa of Costa Rica, and C.D. Marathón of Honduras.

On November 1, the draw for the Championship round was held. Real Salt Lake will face Columbus in the quarterfinal in February/March 2011, immediately prior to the 2011 MLS Regular Season.

SuperLiga

As was the case for the 2009 SuperLiga, the top four overall finishers in MLS in 2009 that hadn't already qualified for the Champions League qualified for SuperLiga. This year's competition was contested by the Houston Dynamo, the Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, and the New England Revolution from MLS. The four Mexican teams were Pachuca, Morelia, Puebla, and UNAM.^[50]

New England, Houston, Morelia and Puebla advanced from their groups, with the Revolution beating Puebla on penalties in one semifinal, and Morelia defeating Houston in the other. Morelia defeated New England 2–1 in the final at Gillette Stadium on September 1.

Domestic competitions

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

The top six overall teams from the 2009 MLS season (Columbus, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, Chicago, and Chivas USA) received automatic berths into the Third round of the 2010 U.S. Open Cup, while the eight remaining U.S.-based MLS teams and the expansion Philadelphia Union competed in a single-elimination qualification tournament to determine the MLS's final two official entrants into the competition. Teams were seeded one through nine, with the seventh-place MLS team from 2009 earning the first seed (and would play the winner of the eight v. nine play-in game), while each following team would receive its respective seed. The New York Red Bulls and D.C. United earned the final two MLS spots in the Third round.

For the first time since 2006, the semifinals were contested exclusively by MLS teams, with Seattle beating Chivas USA and Columbus defeating DC United. The final was played October 5 at Qwest Field in Seattle with the defending cup holders, the Sounders, defeating the Crew 2–1. The Sounders became the first MLS team ever to successfully defend the U.S. Open Cup, and the first team from any league to do so since New York Pancyprian-Freedoms in 1983.

Canadian championship

Toronto FC, as a Canadian-based MLS team, is not eligible to compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and instead contested the Canadian Championship with the two Canadian-based teams in the Division-2 Pro League, Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact. Toronto FC won the tournament, claiming the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's entry into the Preliminary Round of the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League.

References

External links

• Official Site of Major League Soccer
• 2010 Major League Soccer season at ESPN