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 YOUR SHOUT   PAGE  47                                                                1st APRIL 2008

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Major League Soccer by Megan Snedden
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Major League Soccer is a football league in the United States. As they play on the other side of the world, you'll probably not know as much about it as the German Bundesliga, La Liga or Serie A, so today, we're having a look at the MLS.

Creation
There has been an American league before but the Major League Soccer (also known as the “MLS”) was formed in 1994 but the first season was in 1996. 14 teams take part, which will increase to 16 by 2010. Seattle and Philadelphia are the teams that will take part in the future seasons. As North America is a massive continent, the league is split into two conferences, Eastern and Western. There are 7 teams per conference with the teams coming from 10 states in total.
Since the league formed, Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion have went bust over the recent years, leaving Florida clubless.

 

Publicity
In January 2007, it was confirmed that David Beckham would leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer side, Los Angeles Galaxy in a multi-million dollar deal. His aim was to change football in the States forever unlike ex-greats, George Best and Pele. After his move in the summer, more Brits and famous names have moved to the MLS. Ex-Bairns, Collin Samuel and Kenny Deuchar signed for Toronto FC and Red Salt Lake respectively. The later playing in the same conference as David Beckham. The league signed deals with ESPN, ESPN 2, ABC and Fox Soccer Channel to show media coverage of the MLS. With the addition of Toronto FC to the league, coverage of the MLS expanded into Canada with the CBC, The Score and Rogers Sportsnet showing footage.

 

MLS Teams
Like other U.S. sports teams, MLS sides were given nicknames when they were founded like San Jose Earthquakes or Kansas City Wizards. Though recently, teams such as Dallas Burn (FC Dallas) changed their name to be more normal. 


Eastern Conference  

  • Chicago Fire

  • Columbus Crew

  • D.C. United

  • Kansas City Wizards

  • New England Revolution

  • New York Red Bulls

  • Toronto FC

 


Western Conference

  • CD Chivas USA

  • Colorado Rapids

  • FC Dallas

  • Houston Dynamo

  • Los Angeles Galaxy

  • Real Salt Lake

  • San Jose Earthquakes

 

 

Notable Players

Eastern Conference

  • Cuauhtemoc Blanco

  • Taylor Twellman

  • Jozy Altidore

  • Juan Pablo Angel

  • Claudio Reyna

  • Collin Samuel 


Western Conference

  • Brad Guzan

  • Brian Ching

  • David Beckham

  • Landon Donovan

  • Abel Xavier

  • Kenny Deuchar

 
You will have probably heard of some of the names mentioned above but there are a few that are unknown to most, so here is a guide to some MLS players: the golden oldies and rising stars.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco is the oldest of the players featured today at 35 years. He is a Mexican attacking midfielder and has nearly reached 100 caps for Mexico with 34 national goals to his name. His career started with Mexican side, Club America and he played for them on four different occasions throughout his career, making over 250 appearances and scoring over 100 goals. When he moved to Chicago Fire in the summer of 2007, he scored on his debut in a friendly against Glasgow Celtic.

Taylor Twellman is a 28 year old, prolific American striker who started off at youth club Maryland before signing for German club, 1860 Munich, where he didn't make any appearances. New England Revolution snapped him up in 2002, where established himself as one of the best strikers in the MLS. So far for Revolution, he has played over 175 games with more than 100 goals. Taylor has also been in the national team since 2002, with a good scoring record.
Jozy Altidore is the latest hot prospect from the States at only 18 years old. Amazingly, in his first season with the New York Red Bulls, he became a fan's favourite with stunning performances and great goals. He has played for the American u17's and u20's and has already been called up to the first team. Josmer, also known as Jozy, has been linked with Newcastle Utd, Reading, Manchester City, Manchester Utd, Chelsea and Real Madrid. Remember, you heard about him here first.
Brad Guzan is a 6ft 4in, American goalkeeper. He is only 23 years old, which for a goalkeeper, he is still to reach his prime years. CD Chivas USA signed him from the Chicago Fire academy/reserves in 2005 and he is now their number one keeper. After winning the "MLS Goalkeeper of the Year" award, it was speculated that he would sign for Arsenal, Liverpool, Olympiacos and AJ Auxerre. In January, he was on trial with Celtic (which collapsed) before not being granted a work permit to join Aston Villa. He has already played for the USA five times.
Brian Ching is an Hawaiian born, American striker who is 29 years of age. He plays for current league champions, Houston Dynamo though throughout his career, Brian has played for Spokane Shadow, Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders and San Jose Earthquakes. In 2006, he scored four goals in one match. After rupturing his right Achilles' tendon, Brian was voted "MLS comeback of the year" for his fantastic comeback from injury. He has also played for USA's national team.
America's interest in "Soccer"
Over the past 20 years, more young American's have shown interest in football (known in the States as "soccer".) Up incoming great players from the USA include keeper Brad Guzan and Chris Seitz. At the back, Oguchi Onyewu, 20 year old Michael Bradley and Brazilian-born Benny Feilhaber and ex-Man Utd player, Jonathan Spector are rising stars. 18 year old, Freddy Adu moved to Benfica from DC United after having a trial with Manchester Utd. Clint Dempsey has impressed in the Barclays Premier League with Fulham, moving from New England Revolution in 2007. Midfielders, Maurice Edu, Danny Szetela and Sacha Kljestan have made their first appearances while DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan are playing their important role as usual. Strikers Robbie Findlay and Sal Zizzo have put their names forward for the future team, while ex-Kansas City Wizards player, Eddie Johnson's January move to Fulham has helped his publicity. But Johnson, Twellman and Altidore are still USA's main strikers. The future looks good for the Unites States of America national football team.

Kits
The Americans are well known for their fashion, with designers including Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Anna Sui and Donna Karan. And they take their style in fashion to their football kits. All of the kits are made by Adidas so they look roughly the same. Their kits are very, very cool and (IMO) nicer than Scottish clubs strips but probably if I lived and supported someone from another country, I'd think the same about Scottish ones as I do American ones.

Even though our strip will be made by Puma next year, New England Revolution's kit would be perfect for us as the colours are perfect and it's a really cool kit.

Below you can see MLS home and away kits (not all teams kits are pictured)

Eastern Conference

DC United

Kansas City Wizards

New England Revolution

New York Red Bulls

Toronto FC


Western Conference

CD Chivas USA

Colorado Rapids

FC Dallas

Houston Dynamo

LA Galaxy

Red Salt Lake

San Jose Earthquakes
Stadiums

When the MLS was formed, most clubs played at stadiums built for the NFL. The aim of the MLS is to build their own stadiums which are sometimes called "soccer-specific stadiums." Nearly every stadium is named after a company, like the Toyota Park (Chicago Fire), Gillette Stadium (New England Revolution), Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Colorado Rapids) and Pizza Hut Park (FC Dallas) etc. Red Salt Lake, New York Red Bulls, DC United, the Kansas City Wizards, Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution and the San Jose Earthquakes will be opening new stadiums in the near future. The biggest ground in the MLS is New York Red Bulls' Giants Stadium, home of NFL's New York Giants and New York Jets. It has a capacity of just over 80,000 seats but the NY Red Bulls only use up about 15,000.

Season starts now

Well, that's your quick guide to the MLS finished. The new MLS season has just started so look out for the results. I hope you enjoyed this article.

 

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