2011 Major League Soccer season

Overview

Season format

The season began on March 15 and concluded with MLS Cup on November 20. The 18 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 34 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in the league twice.

This was the first playoffs to include ten teams. The top three teams in each conference earned a bye to the conference semifinals, while the next four teams with the most points earned wild card berths. The wild card round included two single-elimination matches where the winners advanced to the conference semifinals. 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 and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, as Canadian-based teams, could not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS, and had to instead qualify through the Canadian Championship.

Roster rule changes

Team rosters were expanded to 30 players in order to accommodate the re-introduction of the MLS Reserve League. Of these 30 players, 18–20 count against a club's salary cap of $2,675,000. Clubs may still have a maximum of three Designated Players per club, each of whom counts $335,000 for salary cap purposes. The transfer windows for acquisition of players under contract in another country run from January 21 to April 15 and from July 15 to August 14.

Other key roster rule changes were the introduction of Off-Budget players who do not count against a club's salary cap; the ability of clubs to forgo fielding a full roster of 30 players for salary reasons; the introduction of roster slots paid below last year's league minimum; the ability of the two Canadian clubs to count U.S. domestic players as domestic players for roster purposes; and the ability of clubs to buy out one guaranteed player contract during the off-season and free up the corresponding budget space.

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: 2011 MLS Cup playoffs

• The regular season is over as of October 23, 2011. Please do not update these stats any longer. Visit the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs page for post-season stats. Thank you.

Player statistics

Goals

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Major League Soccer hat-tricks

Assists

Clean sheets

Awards

Individual awards

Best XI

Player of the Month

Weekly awards

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Transfers

Main article: List of Major League Soccer transfers 2011

Major League Soccer employs no fewer than 12 methods to acquire players. These include: signing players on transfers/free transfers as is done in most of the world; via trades; drafting players through mechanisms such as the MLS SuperDraft, MLS Supplemental Draft, or MLS Re-Entry Draft; rarely used methods which cover extreme hardship and injury replacement; signing players as Designated Players or Homegrown Players; placing a discovery claim on players; waivers; and methods peculiar to MLS such as through allocation or a weighted lottery.

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2010 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season.

¤ Davies was signed by United on a twelve-month loan deal.

¤¤ Chicago originally had the No. 9 ranking but traded it to Seattle on August 26, 2011.

The remaining order after Sporting Kansas City is: Chicago Fire¤¤, Columbus Crew, New York Red Bulls, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Los Angeles Galaxy, FC Dallas, and Colorado Rapids. In the unlikely event that all clubs use an allocation, the order begins anew with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Weighted lottery

Some players are assigned to MLS teams via a weighted lottery process. A team can only acquire one player per year through a weighted lottery. The players made available through lotteries include: (i) Generation adidas players signed after the MLS SuperDraft; and (ii) Draft eligible players to whom an MLS contract was offered but who failed to sign with the League prior to the SuperDraft.

The team with the worst record over its last 30 regular season games (dating back to previous season if necessary and taking playoff performance into account) will have the greatest probability of winning the lottery. Teams are not required to participate in a lottery. Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout.

The results of 2011 weighted lotteries:

Related competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions League

Main article: 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League, 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League

Prior to the start of the MLS regular season, Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake played against each other in the quarterfinals of 2010–11 edition of the CONCACAF Champions League. The first leg, contested at Crew Stadium on February 22, 2011; ended in a scoreless draw between the sides. On March 1, 2011; the second leg at Rio Tinto Stadium was played, where Real Salt Lake won the series against the Crew 4–1 in the game and on aggregate, this ending Columbus' Champions League campaign.

As a result, Salt Lake became the first MLS team to advance into the semifinals of the Champions League under its current format. The team won its home fixture against Saprissa of Costa Rica 2–0 on March 15, 2011. Real Salt Lake lost the away fixture 2–1 on April 5, 2011, but advanced 3–2 on aggregate. They faced Monterrey of Mexico in the first leg of the final on April 20 in Monterrey. The game concluded in a 2–2 draw. The second leg was played at Rio Tinto on April 27, 2011. Monterrey won 1–0 (3–2 on aggregate) with a late goal in the first half.

Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles Galaxy have qualified directly into Group Stage for the 2011–12 edition of the Champions League by being the MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield winners, respectively. Both Seattle Sounders FC and FC Dallas have earned preliminary entries in the tournament by winning the U.S. Open Cup and finishing runner up in the MLS Cup, respectively. Toronto FC secured the Canadian berth in the preliminary round with their Voyageurs Cup victory on July 2.

World Football Challenge

Main article: 2011 World Football Challenge

On March 29, 2011 MLS Commissioner Don Garber confirmed that the 2011 edition of the North American SuperLiga would be replaced by the World Football Challenge, a friendly tournament which started play on July 14 and will end on August 6.

The following MLS sides entered the tournament based on invitation: Los Angeles Galaxy, Philadelphia Union, New England Revolution, Chicago Fire and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Domestic competitions

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Main article: 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification

The MLS clubs that finished first through sixth place overall during last year's regular season earned a direct bye to the third round proper of the U.S. Open Cup. Clubs that finished seventh or lower will have to play for the final two spots in a series of play-in propers, based on their geographic location as well as their final regular season position.

Canadian championship

Main article: 2011 Canadian Championship

The two Canadian-based MLS clubs, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC participated in the Canadian Championship, Canada's domestic soccer cup. They competed against two other professional Canadian soccer teams from the NASL for the Voyageurs Cup, as well as a Preliminary Round berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. The tournament is organized in a knockout format with two-legged ties in both the semifinals and final, with the away goals rule in place.

The two began in the semifinal round, where the Whitecaps defeated the Montreal Impact and Toronto defeated FC Edmonton. The first leg of the final, held in Vancouver on May 18, ended in a 1–1 draw. The second leg, on May 25 in Toronto, was abandoned due to torrential rains with the Whitecaps leading 1–0. Under competition rules, the second leg was to be replayed in its entirety the following day, but the field remained unplayable. The second leg was replayed, again in its entirety, on July 2, with Toronto winning the game 2–1 and the championship 3–2 on aggregate.

League competitions

MLS Cup

Main article: 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs

Following the 2011 season, ten MLS clubs will qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs postseason tournament. Of the ten clubs, six will be automatic qualifiers from the top three clubs in each conference. These automatic qualifiers earn a bye to the conference semifinal, or quarterfinal round proper. Four more qualifiers will enter in a play-in round, where these for clubs will be determined by their final regular season standing, regardless of their conference. The winners of the play-in games will play in the conference semifinals, where the lowest seeded club will play against the Supporters' Shield winners.

The cup final will be held on a neutral venue.

Cups and Rivalries

Main article: MLS rivalry cups

This season marks the first time that the Cascadia Cup will be contested in Major League Soccer. Seattle, Portland and Vancouver contested this cup from 2004–08 until Seattle joined Major League Soccer. The competition continued between Portland and Vancouver for the next two years.

References

References

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2. "2011-06-23: Seattle Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes". MLSSoccer.com.
3. (June 15, 2011). "Toronto FC – New England Revolution". revolutionsoccer.net.
4. Jeremiah Oshan. (October 24, 2011). "MLS Attendance Was Up Almost Across The Board In 2011".
5. "2011 MLS Roster Rules". Major League Soccer.
6. (May 27, 2011). "AT&T Goal of the Week: Vote Now". mls.com.
7. (May 27, 2011). "MLS Save of the Week: Vote Now". mls.com.
8. (March 28, 2011). "Bravo takes first Player of the Week award".
9. (March 28, 2011). "RSL's Morales is voted league's best in Week 2".
10. (April 4, 2011). "Vancouver's Camilo named Player of the Week".
11. (August 1, 2011). "De Rosario's two goals earn him Player of the Week honors".
12. (August 8, 2011). "Hat trick nets De Rosario Player of the Week honors".
13. (August 15, 2011). "Pontius gives DC a hat trick of Player of the Week awards".
14. (September 12, 2011 <!--). "No award given for Week 25 because of the paucity of games".
15. (September 12, 2011). "DC's Davies claims first Player of the Week award".
16. (September 19, 2011). "TFC's Koevermans claims first Player of the Week award".
17. (September 26, 2011). "De Rosario wins third Player of the Week award of 2011".
18. (October 3, 2011). "Pappa takes Player of the Week honors for Week 29".
19. (October 17, 2011 <!--). "No award given for Week 30 because of the paucity of games".
20. (October 17, 2011). "Keller takes Player of the Week after dramatic night in Seattle".
21. (October 24, 2011). "Chicago's Anibaba wins 2011's final Player of the Week".
22. "2011 MLS Roster Rules | Major League Soccer". Mlssoccer.com.
23. (November 18, 2010). "USA World Cup star Jay DeMerit becomes first Whitecaps FC MLS signing | Vancouver Whitecaps FC". Whitecapsfc.com.
24. Portland Timbers. (January 17, 2011). "Timbers Sign Forward Kenny Cooper". Portland Timbers.
25. (February 16, 2011). "acquires forward Charlie Davies". D.C. United.
26. Dave Zeitlin. (August 12, 2011). "Freddy Adu returns to MLS, joins Philadelphia Union". MLSsoccer.com.
27. (April 20, 2011). "New England Revolution Acquire Midfielder Benny Feilhaber | New England Revolution". Revolutionsoccer.net.
28. Public, Sounders FC. "Sounders FC adds Sammy Ochoa – Seattle Sounders Football Club". Soundersfc.com.
29. (August 26, 2011). "Sounders pick up ex-US youth forward Sammy Ochoa". MLSsoccer.com.
30. (January 26, 2011). "Quakes land goalkeeper David Bingham | San Jose Earthquakes". Sjearthquakes.com.
31. Simon Borg. (February 11, 2011). "Real Salt Lake land forward Cody Arnoux in lottery | Major League Soccer". Mlssoccer.com.
32. Philadelphia Union Communications. (February 14, 2011). "Union Acquire Forward Chris Agorsor". Philadelphia Union.
33. "Crew land right back Korey Veeder in lottery | Major League Soccer". Mlssoccer.com.
34. (July 5, 2011). "Sporting Kansas City win lottery for college phenom Saad | Major League Soccer". Mlssoccer.com.
35. Borg, Simon. "World Football Challenge will replace SuperLiga". D.C. United.
36. "Rules of the Competition". MLSSoccer.com.