2010 Major League Soccer season

Overview

Season format

The season began on March 25 and concluded with MLS Cup on November 21. The 16 teams were split evenly into two conferences. For the first time in league history, the season had a balanced schedule where each team played every other team in the league once at home and once away for a total of 30 games.

The top two teams from each conference automatically qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. In addition, the four highest remaining 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. 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 was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup, and the runner-up, also qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. An additional berth in the Champions League was also awarded to the winner of the 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, could not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS, and had to instead qualify through the Canadian Championship.

Automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup was awarded to the top six overall finishers. The rest of the U.S.-based MLS teams had to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.

Stadiums and locations

Main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums

Personnel and sponsorships

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

Managerial changes

Results table

Standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall standings

MLS Cup Playoffs

Main article: 2010 MLS Cup playoffs

Player statistics

Goals

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Major League Soccer hat-tricks

Assists

Clean sheets

Awards

Individual awards

Best XI

Monthly awards

Weekly awards

Related Competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions League

Main article: 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League, CONCACAF Champions League 2010–11

The Columbus Crew continued their 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League 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

Main article: 2010 North American 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.

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

Main article: 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, 2010 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification

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 D.C. 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

Main article: 2010 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

References

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2. (July 15, 2010). "AT&T Goal of the Week: Vote Now". mls.com.
3. (July 15, 2010). "NAPA save of the Week: Vote Now". mls.com.
4. (March 30, 2010). "Morales earns season's first MLS Player of the Week Honors".
5. (April 5, 2010). "Kenny Mansally earns MLS Player of the Week".
6. (April 13, 2010). "Le Toux bests rookie for Player of the Week honors".
7. (April 20, 2010). "Brace earns Buddle Player of the Week honors".
8. (April 26, 2010). "De Rosario named MLS Player of the Week".
9. (May 3, 2010). "Buddle named MLS Player of the Week".
10. (May 10, 2010). "Donovan collects Player of the Week honor".
11. (May 17, 2010). "RSL's Saborío earns MLS Player of the Week".
12. (May 25, 2010). "Crew's Renteria named MLS Player of the Week".
13. (May 31, 2010). "Toronto's De Rosario named MLS Player of the Week".
14. (June 7, 2010). "Dallas' Shea earns MLS Player of the Week".
15. (June 15, 2010). "DC United's Pontius nabs Player of the Week honors".
16. (June 28, 2010). "NY's Ángel named MLS Player of the Week".
17. (July 5, 2010). "RSL's Saborío earns MLS Player of the Week, again".
18. (July 12, 2010). "Braun earns first career Player of the Week award".
19. (July 19, 2010). "Le Toux makes it two Player of the Week awards".
20. (July 26, 2010). "Match Winning Zakuani Wins MLS Player of the Week".
21. (August 9, 2010). "Cunningham Scores Two, Earns Player of the Week".
22. (August 16, 2010). "RSL's Morales named MLS Player of the Week".
23. (August 23, 2010). "Ching named MLS Player of the Week".
24. (August 30, 2010). "Montero's Brace Earns Him Player of the Week".
25. (September 6, 2010). "Cummings Named MLS Player of the Week".
26. (September 12, 2010). "Gordon earns MLS Player of the Week Honor".
27. (September 20, 2010). "Nkufo nabs Player of the Week Honor".
28. (September 27, 2010). "Wondo named MLS Player of the Week".
29. (October 5, 2010). "RBNY's Bouna Coundoul named MLS Player of the Week".
30. (October 11, 2010). "SJ's Wondolowski named Player of the Week".
31. (October 18, 2010). "Seattle's Zakuani voted Player of the Week".
32. (October 25, 2010). "Wondolowski earns third Player of the Week nod".
33. (April 28, 2010). "SuperLiga 2010 dates and venues announced". Chicago-fire.com.