The top of the table clash was a stunner.  Not only did we see good attacking play on both sides, but we also saw a lobby for the fifth official with Montero’s first “goal.” I still think Chabala cleared it off the line.   

As part of this series, I will be giving player ratings after each Game of the Week in the preceding MLS Week Preview. Player ratings are something desperately needed in MLS coverage these days. 

For your reference, I will rate a player with a 5 for an average performance, a 3 for a below-average performance, and a 7 for an above-average performance.  It will take an earth-shaking performance for a player to receive a 1 or 10 (or 2 or 9 for that matter).

EDIT: Brandon Rust has also published player ratings for the Sounders. Please check out his article here. 

Houston Dynamo

GK Pat Onstad – 7: Usually the losing goalkeeper should get the lower scores, but the Canadian was bailing his team out with saves of the year in the second half. Nothing he could do about the second goal, and very unlucky on the first.

RB Brian Mulrooney – 4.5: Looked capable but out of place at right back. Especially with Zakuani running at him.

CB Julius James – 4: Anonymous during Seattle’s many chances during the second half.

CB Mike Chabala – 7: Very unlucky on his goal-line block of Montero’s first goal.  Constantly frustrated the Sounder attack, and saved the Dynamo many times in the first half.

LB Craig Waibel – 3: Deserved the yellow card; deserved the boos. He looked slow and frustrated against both Montero and Ljungberg, delivering cheap shots to both.

CDM Ricardo Clark – 6: Strong return from Confederations Cup play for Clark.

RM Brian Mullan – 6: Instrumental in Brad Davis’ first goal, a bright point for the Dynamo offense, beating his Tyson Wahl on the ball more times than Wahl would care to remember.

LM Corey Ashe – 5: The diminutive winger made his speed count in the last third of the game, but couldn’t deliver the ball well at all.

CAM Brad Davis – 7.5: Brilliant playmaking to set up his goal in the 13th. Looked dangerous throughout, and should have seen more support from his strikers.

ST Kei Kamara – 5: Despite some threatening moves, Kamara was known more for his tackles from behind than his finishing this game.

ST Dominic Oduro – 4.5: Mostly anonymous, uninspiring runs on the ball.

Substitutes:

CAM Danny Cruz (54’ for Mullan) – 5: Developed a few chances late, but struggled to make a substantial impact.

CB Eric Ustruck (60’ for Chabala) – 5: Replaced the injured Chabala well and had a goal-saving tackle against Montero.

ST Ade Akinbiyi (62’ for Oduro) – 4: The former Stoke City striker decided to play as a target man. Too bad Kei Kamara wasn’t playing as his support striker, and his midfield wasn’t serving the ball in the box.

Seattle Sounders FC

GK Kasey Keller – 4: Some decent saves from Keller today, but the first goal was a defensive breakdown Keller needed to organize better, and his distribution from the back was less-than-ordinary.

RB James Riley – 6: Instrumental in both attack and defense, shutting down Kei Kamara with one of his crosses counting as a shot on goal.

CB Jhon Kennedy Hurtado – 5: Marshalled the back line well after the first goal, but received an unlucky yellow card for Brad Davis’s mediocre dive. 

CB Patrick Ianni – 5.5: Tale of two halves for Tyrone Marshall’s replacement. His opportunistic bicycle kick goal in the second half was ultimately negated by his collection of half-clearance howlers that led to Houston’s scoring chances and goal in the first half. I think this is the only time a bicycle kick goal-scoring defender will get a 5.5 and snubbed from MOTM from me.

LB Tyson Wahl – 4: Unfortunate side effect of left backs in the modern game: instrumental overlapping in attack, but ultimately absent-minded on defense.

RM Freddie Ljungberg – 8 (Man of the Match): Ljungberg has finally hit his stride.  The former Arsenal star showed why he is the outfield captain with his scintillating passing and leadership on the Sounders’ fastbreak. Showed grit and determination despite being marked and fouled heavily, and his fine delivery into the box were repaid with Ianni riding the bike into the net.

CM Peter Vagenas – 4: Ianni looked more of a defensive midfielder than Vagenas today. 

CM Stephen King – 6: Strong on both attack and defense, showed the box-to-box grit that his team should take note of.

LM Steve Zakuani – 7: Average brilliance from Zakuani today, who made the most of his runs at an out-of-place Brian Mulrooney. 

CF Fredy Montero – 7.5: Brilliant run by Montero into the box for his first “goal.”  Fredy is finally clicking with his teammates when he dribbles the ball as well.

ST Nate Jaqua – 6: Incredible ball to Montero for the first goal.  Needs to play more like a target man than the support striker, but did look very menacing in attack.

Substitutes:

LW Sebastien Le Toux (for Zakuani 56’) – 7: The wing isn’t even his natural position.

CF Roger Levesque (for Ljungberg 90’) – NR: Can’t rate Roger for garbage time curtain call minutes.

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Bridgeview, IL  July 11, 2009  Sometimes a vacation is all that is needed to stoke the fires of passion. If you can call Superliga a vacation, the Chicago Fire has benefited from some MLS down time, and has stoked the flames on better outcomes during extra-league play than were seen during their short losing streak leading up to the break.

So, now that the Fire has a week of resumed MLS play under their belt, they appear to be reasserting control over the East.

Still in two games Chicago's side has scored two goals, 2-0 win vs. Colorado on 7/4, with the second match being a nil-nil draw. versus Columbus Crew tonight. 

There's no question that the pre-break defensive lapse has been solved, but the club's perennial offensive under-achievement continues to expose Chicago's achilles heel.

All would-be opponents know that if they can get a goal up on the Fire, their chances are good of getting a win.

Bottom line, Chicago is still a question mark for its post season prospects. Will 2009 be another year of bursts of brilliance followed by lapses of lethargy, ramped up expectations dashed on the rocks of first round ejection? It is too soon to tell, but for now and for the year until now, The Chicago Fire looks more like its usual self than a team ready to break the mold.

There's plenty of time to tweak their play to the next level, but the question is, will the current coaching be able to take this team to its potential and beyond?

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Seattle Sounders:

Kasey Keller (6): Not his most commanding performance, but still played well. Can't really fault him on the goal.

James Riley (8): Didn't do much wrong all day. Got involved in the attack, and completely kept Corey Ashe out of the game.

Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (4): Gave the ball away multiple times, and looked nervous out there. Probably his worst performance of the season.

Patrick Ianni (7): Had two missed clearances in the opening minutes, the second led to Houston's only goal. Much better in the second half, and a what a finish from the center back, eh?

Tyson Wahl (5): Another average performance, not horrible, but not great. Will need to step it up in the next couple of games if he wants to challenge Leo Gonzalez for the left back spot.

Freddie Ljungberg (7): Always dangerous when he is on the ball, but is a step slower than when he was with Arsenal. Another tireless effort.

Peter Vagenas (6): Filled in fairly well in Alonso's absence. Tackles well, but doesn't have the vision or playmaking abilities of Osvaldo.

Stephen King (5): A rather quiet game for Mr. King. Involved in Montero's goal but wasn't as influential as a center midfielder should be.

Steve Zakuani (7):  A constant menace with the ball on his feet. Needs to get his fitness up so he can play more than 55-60 minutes per game. Would also like to see him use his pace and make more slashing runs to get in behind the defense.

Nate Jaqua (6): A good game for the big man. Would have liked to have seen him stay more central and take advantage of his physical qualities over the shorter Dynamo centerbacks.

Fredy Montero (8): His composure and finish were world class, regardless of whether or not it should have been a goal. Houston's defense had trouble containing him.

Subs:

Sebastian Le Toux (5): Worked hard as always, but not as dangerous as Zakuani going forward.

Roger Levesque (NR): Would have liked to have seen him sooner, as Ljungberg looked tired and was getting frustrated towards the end of the game.

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Patrick Ianni was at fault for the Houston Dynamo's opening goal, but redeemed himself less than two minutes into the second half by scoring the eventual game winner as the Sounders are now unbeaten in their last five games.

Seattle (7-3-7, 28 points) leapfrogged Chivas USA (8-4-3, 27 points) into second place in the MLS Western Conference. Houston (9-4-4, 31 points) maintained their status as league and conference leaders. Chivas, who have two games in hand, play the Los Angeles Galaxy in the SuperClasico later tonight.

The match started out all wrong for the Seattle Sounders as defender Patrick Ianni, starting for Tyrone Marshall who is on international duty with Jamaica, was unable to clear a loose ball inside the Seattle 18-yard box. The ball ended up on the left foot of Brad Davis who made no mistake, slotting his shot just inside Kasey Keller's left post giving the Dynamo the lead after only 12 minutes.

After the goal, Seattle started to settle down and started to settle into a rhythm.  However, Brad Davis came within a whisker of doubling Houston's lead with a free kick in the 26th minute.  His left footed effort from 28 yards missed Keller's far post by a matter of inches.

In the 32nd minute the Sounders would equalize, albeit controversially, through their talisman Fredy Montero. His partner up front, Nate Jaqua, played a long ball into the box from the right side. Montero did well to control the ball of his chest before deftly looping the ball over an oncoming Pat Onstad. 

Dynamo left back Mike Chabala did well to recover and volleyed the ball away from the goal, but not before the assistant referee waved his flag, indicating the ball has crossed the goal line. Replays, however, appeared to show that in fact the ball did not cross the line.  Houston's protest were to no avail, however, and the goal was allowed to stand. 

The goal was Montero's ninth on the season, and fifth in as many games.

Full of confidence from the goal, and encouraged by the raucous Qwest Field crowd of 32,404, the Sounders set out in search of an equalizer. In the 43rd minute, Stephen King broke down the right side of the box and played the ball across the goal mouth. Steve Zakuani was there but only a one-handed save from Pat Onstad kept the scores level.

After the break, the Sounders wasted no time in searching for the go ahead goal. A Freddie Ljungberg corner kick was headed down by Zakuani, and Patrick Ianni hit a clever overhead kick from the corner of the goal box right inside the far post. 

The goal was Ianni's first on the season, and redeemed himself for his egregious mistake earlier in the game.

Houston, who were without main scoring threat Brian Ching and influential midfielder Stuart Holden, struggled to create opportunities in the second half. Ade Akinbiyi came on for Dominic Oduro in the 63rd minute, but was unable to register even a shot on goal.

Substitute Danny Cruz, who came on for Brian Mullan, registered Houston's only shot on goal in the second half, a drive from the top of the box which was handled easily by Keller.

In the end, the shorthanded Dynamo were outmatched by the Sounders. Assistant Coach Brian Schmetzer was able to keep the Sounders organized defensively in the absence of Sigi Schmid, who was attending his son's wedding in California.

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A new book, The Beckham Experiment by Grant Wahl, reveals the details of Beckham’s experience in the US and exposes the huge gap between the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star’s A$8.3 million annual Galaxy salary and the day-to-day more frugal existence of his teammates.

Before a Galaxy game against New England Revolution, one hotel outside of Boston offered a pre-match meal plates of “greasy fried chicken”, prompting Portuguese defender Abel Xavier to exclaim, “This is not correct!”

Galaxy player Kyle Martino is quoted in the book saying Beckham and Xavier arrived at the hotel “looking at us like it was an episode of Punk’d with Ashton Kutcher.”

The rest of the Galaxy squad, however, were used to low rent accommodation, even if it was at official MLS sanctioned hotels.

Star player Landon Donovan, the highest-paid player on the Galaxy’s squad after Beckham, recalled an earlier trip to Los Angeles when he was playing for San Jose Earthquakes.

“The night before, there had been a fatal shooting in the parking lot of the hotel,” Donovan said. “We were just like, ‘Come on’. You at least want to be safe.”

But Beckham and Xavier, a Portuguese international who had previously played with Liverpool, Everton, Roma, and Middlesbrough, were granted some perks.

The high profile expats took advantage of a Galaxy rule that any player who owned a car valued at more than $100,000 was allowed to park their vehicle undercover, close to the changing rooms inside Galaxy’s stadium and training ground.

Beckham was able to park his Escalade, black Porsche 911, or Rolls Royce Phantom in one of the preferred designated spots and so, too, was Xavier with his convertible white Bentley, even if he was on a reported salary of just USD$156,000.

The rest of the Galaxy team, however, had to park outside in the Home Depot Center’s public car park.

Source: Click Here

From my years watching David Beckham the footballer, I have neither heard nor read about Beckham associated with traits like non-committed, missed training and lazy.

Landon Donovan's depiction of the former England captain through Grant Wahl's book "The Beckham Experiment" was scathing to say the least.

No other book has warranted an excerpt such as these. A sneak preview can be found here.

I do believe though that David Beckham was not prepared for LA Galaxy and the MLS the first time round. In what is effectively his second stint with the Galaxy, my opinion is that Beckham will be a different footballer—the true dedicated professional that he is renowned to be.

Here are my top five improvement areas for David Beckham to be a success in Major League Soccer.

1. Be a leader

Beckham must make his vast footballing experience count. He must start taking charge on and off the field.

While as captain, Beckham was disappointing. He must make up for that by setting a significantly better example this time round.

2. Dictate play from central midfield

Beckham does not have the pace and the dribble to beat defenders any longer. Instead, Bruce Arena should maximise the one strength that Beckham has—his passing ability.

Beckham must be deployed in centre midfield and do the "Andrea Pirlo" work of linking defence-midfield-attack together.

His ability to pick out team mates with long and/or short passes will really be a weapon that no other team in the MLS could contain.

Beckham should be made the "quarterback" of LA Galaxy. Think Carlos Valderrama.

3. Concentrate on LA Galaxy's team performance

The glitzy LA life holds many charms and lots of celebrities. Nevertheless, to be successful, Beckham must start caring and playing for the team.

4. Demonstrate desire, passion and motivation

Three qualities that Beckham has in abundance and this must shine through in this second time of asking.

5. Rebuild relationship with Landon Donovan

The isolation between Beckham and other Galaxy players, especially Donovan were seen as a wedge which ended the Galaxy's season.

Through these five changes, David Beckham should become the marquee star that the MLS had hoped for.

The Beckham Experiment will be available in bookstores starting July 14.

This article is featured at The Flat Back Four.

Source: Click Here

From my years watching David Beckham the footballer, I have neither heard nor read about Beckham associated with traits like non-committed, missed training and lazy.

Landon Donovan's depiction of the former England captain in Grant Wahl's book "The Beckham Experiment" was scathing, to say the least.

No other book has warranted such an excerpt. A sneak preview can be found here.

I do believe though that David Beckham was not prepared for LA Galaxy and the MLS the first time around. In what is effectively his second stint with the Galaxy, my opinion is that Beckham will be a different footballer—the true dedicated professional that he is renowned to be.

Here are my top five improvement areas for David Beckham to be a success in Major League Soccer.

1. Be a leader

Beckham must make his vast footballing experience count. He must start taking charge on and off the field.

While captain, Beckham was disappointing. He must make up for that by setting a significantly better example this time around.

2. Dictate play from central midfield

Beckham has neither the pace nor the dribble to beat defenders any longer. Instead, Bruce Arena should maximise the one strength that Beckham has—his passing ability.

Beckham must be deployed in centre midfield and do the "Andrea Pirlo" work of linking defence-midfield-attack together.

His ability to pick out teammates with long and/or short passes will really be a weapon that no other team in the MLS could contain.

Beckham should be made the "quarterback" of LA Galaxy—think Carlos Valderrama.

3. Concentrate on LA Galaxy's team performance

The glitzy LA life holds many charms and lots of celebrities. Nevertheless, to be successful, Beckham must start caring and playing for the team.

4. Demonstrate desire, passion and motivation

These are three qualities which Beckham has in abundance, and they must shine through in this second time of asking.

5. Rebuild relationship with Landon Donovan

The isolation between Beckham and other Galaxy players, especially Donovan, were seen as a wedge which ended the Galaxy's season.

Through these five changes, David Beckham should become the marquee star that the MLS had hoped for.

The Beckham Experiment will be available in bookstores starting July 14.

This article is featured at The Flat Back Four.

Source: Click Here

Major League Soccer is not the greatest league in the world talent-wise, and their players who are talented are either rare Americans who jet out quickly to Europe or were highly overpaid European footballers who are at the end of their career.

The MLS financial situation is way down, with the exception of D.C. United and Seattle Sounder FC, which are doing great financially.

The MLS and their owners can’t keep putting out big contracts to one player, like David Beckham in Los Angeles, to be their only player in reality. Meanwhile, Landon Donovan still stays here for only $1 million.

Now, there are some great European players, most notably Freddie Ljungberg, that have come over to MLS and really wanted to play and be a winner.

Ljungberg talked about this very point:

"I spoke to the boys, and if you wanna be a winner like Arsenal, and all the top Euro clubs, you look and they don’t make mistakes. In the past few games, we made some mistakes and let the other team back. Today, no mistakes and we win 3-0, so it’s all about winning and not making mistakes to be a great club like this club can be."

That’s the kind of European player that MLS needs: Someone who actually cares about the game and wants to win.

So, the MLS can bring in some old Euro vets, but that won’t last for long, because those vets have about two or three years left in them.

The MLS' future is going to rely on their development of young U.S. and foreign players. That development also includes young South American players like Fredy Montero and Alonso, who the Sounders FC scouted and signed.

In the future, the MLS possibly should do what some MLB teams do and have an academy in third world countries and South America. That way, they can have a much easier time finding future great talent.

Then, they would bring those young players into the MLS for three or four years, and when they get noticed by big European clubs, they could sell them to make money.

Or, they can elect to keep a few that would love to stay, like Fredy Montero, who said he loves Seattle.

If the MLS wants to grow and be a competitive league, other than against itself, they are going to have to become a lot better at developing talent and finding foreign talent like Montero by scouting the entire world, not just Mexico.

Those teams also have to sign the players, like the Seattle Sounders FC are going to do with Montero after this season. He will cost about $5-7 million in transfer fees because Seattle already owns 60 percent of Montero's rights, which only costs them $1 million.

It will probably cost $5 million because of how well he has played this season, which is fair. Montero won’t cost DP money though.

So, the reality is that the MLS and all of their teams are going to have to improve their development of great young players by creating a development league. That should hold about 15 players on a DL contract, which would be $55,000 or less.

The next part is improve their scouting a lot by doing what the Sounders did and scour the globe to find great young talent.

That will help improve the quality of the league now and for the future, and when they sell some of the players, they can turn that money right around and reinvest it back into finding and acquiring talent.

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With two top-of-the-table clashes—one of which is a regional rivalry—and the always-entertaining Super Classico, this Saturday will be a MLS showpiece.

Oh, and just in case you care, some English guy is coming back to the Galaxy the following Thursday.

Headlining this momentous week is a big match at the top of the Western Conference: Houston Dynamo (31 pts) at Seattle Sounders FC (25 pts).

This game may very well tip the power balance in the Western Conference.

Houston are looking to make the Conference title a two-horse race: a win would extend their lead to an insurmountable nine points over third-place Seattle. On the other hand, a Seattle win can move the Sounders to second place in the conference and bring the top spot in the West within striking distance—three points.

This match pits Seattle’s potent offense (24 GF, second in MLS) against Houston’s rock-solid defense (10 GA, first in MLS).

But Gold Cup duty has robbed both teams of key players: Stu Holden and Brian Ching for Dynamo, Brad Evans and Tyrone Marshall for Sounders FC.

Houston has lost two key playmakers in attack, and Seattle loses an impact player and an anchor in defense.

Houston also reclaim Ricardo Clark from national team duty.  He and Brad Davis should have an intriguing midfield battle with Seattle’s Freddie Ljungberg and Osvaldo Alonso.

Add the Steve Zakuani vs. Cameron Weaver rookie battle, and this clash looks like it may be the game of the MLS regular season.

With so much talent on either side, intangibles will decide this battle.  This is Houston’s first trip to Qwest Field.  The raucous environment has affected the attitude most every team that has played against Seattle, and should play a huge factor in what is perceived to be a very important match. Houston’s poor recent form, with a loss to the Galaxy and a scrappy road win against KC, may be amplified by entering the hostile environment without their two veteran leaders.

But Seattle’s inconsistent form against top clubs in this league should not be ignored.  The Sounders convincingly lost two games at Chivas USA while dominating possession.  They drew against DC United after leading 3-1 at 70 minutes.

But they also forced draws against Columbus at home and Colorado at Toyota Park, and they recently showed maturation in a rout of Colorado at home.

Result: Dynamo 1-2 Sounders. Houston Dynamo are missing too many important players to give them the nod outright. The Sounders have what it takes to pull off the upset, but only if they keep up their scintillating recent form.

As for the other matches:

Columbus Crew (23 pts) at Chicago Fire (24 pts) – The plot thickens with another 1-3 matchup in the East. Schelotto and the Crew are looking to continue their positive momentum with a big road win, but losing Chad Marshall and Robbie Rogers to Gold Cup duty could prove to be the difference against a potent, experienced Fire attack.

While they miss Logan Pause, Gonzalo Segares, and Jon Busch, Chicago has proven that when they find their form, they are the most dangerous team in the league.

Result: Fire 2-2 Crew. Chicago snatch a tie from the jaws of victory once again.

Chivas USA (27 pts) at LA Galaxy (21 pts) – El Super Clasico will not disappoint. Chivas has been on a run of poor form in SuperLiga and MLS, while the Galaxy will be looking to rally after convincingly beating the Dynamo at home without Landon Donovan.

A big X-factor in this match will be Alecko Eskandarian, who was traded to the Galaxy from Chivas USA and has been a huge factor in both teams’ offense. Captain Donovan returns to amplify his team’s offensive kick.

Result: Chivas 1-2 Galaxy, with four yellow cards, three red cards, and Eskandarian being punched in the face more than once.

Kansas City Wizards (19 points) at New England Revolution (16 points) – Don’t let the Revs’ low point total fool you; they have at least two games in hand. Both teams need this game to stay relevant in the East.

The Wizards don’t have Davy Arnaud or captain Jimmy Conrad, but the Revs are without Shalrie Joseph, whose absence leaves the “Steven Gerrard” effect.

Result: Revs 1-1 Wizards. Without Joseph, the Revs just look sloppy, but the Wizards are sloppy already.

FC Dallas (17 pts) at Colorado Rapids (21 pts) – The Hoops have lost Kenny Cooper to Gold Cup duty, and therefore have also lost any hope of scoring a goal in this match. It doesn’t help that the Rapids just got Conor Casey back. Result: Rapids 3-0 FCD.

Toronto FC (22 pts) at San Jose Earthquakes (13 pts) – TFC kept Dwayne DeRosario from the Gold Cup, and he will most likely lead the steamrolling of the lowly-but-lovable Earthquakes. Result: TFC 2-0 Quakes.

And to think this is the warm-up to David Beckham’s return next Thursday.  Amazing.

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In my first part of this three part series of articles referring to what needs to be fixed in MLS, the topics focused on were the salary cap, roster size and the DP rule.

Now in this article I will continue the problems in MLS by listing three more that need to be fixed. Those three include transfers (coming and going), the schedule of MLS (the time period of when they play and tournaments they need to get rid of) and third is the standings of MLS (one or two tables).

Let's get started.

Transfers:

This problem has side parts A,B,C, and D because there are many levels of the meaning transfers. A, would be keep the young players even if they are great like Fredy Montero in the league and kind of show them that Europe is not all that great because I mean really.

I mean if your Euro dream is to sit on the bench at AS Monaco or sign with a team and then always be loaned out and not do much for yourself then well that's pathetic and it's better to stay in the MLS for at least 3-4 years, then see if you want to go to Europe.

Players like Fredy Montero need to sign "long-term" (3-4) year contracts, well when Seattle plays the 10 million for Montero's complete rights from his Columbian club. That way they really get a feel of football, a huge step up from their south American leagues.

The MLS would benefit a lot more if players like Freddy Adu, Fredy Montero, and Jozy Altidore stayed in the MLS longer so when they do transfer to Europe the MLS gets a lot more cash in exchange.

Now part B is tied into that, don't let the top young players in your league leave for really just $10 million which hasn't been used. So really the MLS needs to sign these top young players to 3-4 year contracts and then sell them three years later when you get more for them and they are a lot better.

MLS schedule and tournaments:

The MLS schedule and time period has come under fire from FIFA and needs to be changed to modify what Europe and South America does. That way US National call ups don't hurt teams.

Now it really makes a lot of sense to change the MLS season to match the European schedule because during the transfer periods it really helps because in Europe it hits them in their off season so they have time to sign great players and then train together where in MLS it hits them during the season and makes it hard for teams to sign players because they already have great team chemistry.

The MLS needs to change the schedule so that they don't have a problem having MLS tournaments like Super Liga and others. Right now Super Liga and US National team and Gold Cup are really hurting MLS teams and they are playing a lot more games in a short time and the players need to rest more.

Which is also why, in my last article I said the rosters need to be expanded. More players, more rest for starters.

So what this means is the MLS needs to change their season time so that it is the same as Europe and south America. That way they can have Super Liga, US Open Cup, and others in the off season.

MLS standings and should it be one or two conferences:

Currently the MLS has two conferences, Western and Eastern. As it stands right now the West is a lot more powerful.

Now with the Eastern Conference getting only one new team in 2010 and the Western conference getting two teams in 2011 so the question will be asked. With the Western conference having two more teams than the Eastern conference should the MLS switch to one table and just have them be a lot more competitive?

MLS is going to be growing a lot in the next five years and having a lot of great new teams come into the league they should become more like European leagues and have one table and have a lot more competitive games and rivalries.

With the exception of being relegated, the MLS cannot do that.

So I wouldn't consider this a main problem like DP, salary cap, and the rest of the problems in the MLS but this is something that should be changed.

All of these problems that need to be fixed like this would make the MLS grow a lot faster than it is now.

Source: Click Here