The MLS

[BlueDan91]

I remember hoping that, and wondering if, this little Mexican was going to light up our season. Jeez, I've clutched at a few anorexic straws over the last forty years.

haha, i remember when they brought him out to the cheesy mexican music. honestly thought he was gonna be the next big thing. haha, how wrong i was

 

[macmanson]

Can someone please explain to me how the Major League Soccer works? Thanks

Hey Eddie, MLS is the top tier of both the American (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_soccer_pyramid) and Canadian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_soccer_pyramid soccer pyramids.

MLS currently has 16 teams split into 2 conferences with 2 teams joining for the 2011 season. Those teams would be the Portland Timbers who we played an exhibition game against this past weekend and the Vancouver Whitecaps. A 19th team, the Montreal Impact will bring the league to 19 teams in 2012 with likely one more team to make the FIFA limit of 20 teams in the top division.

The team who finishes first overall during the season wins the Supporter's Shield which earns them 1 of 4 spots the US has in the CONCACAF Champion's League. The top team in each conference along with the next 6 highest teams based on points then play an 8 team knockout style tournament to determine the MLS Playoff Cup winner. The 2nd and 3rd spots the US has in the CONCACAF Champion's League go to the MLS Playoff Cup Winner and Runner-Up with the 4th spot going to the winner of the US Open Cup.

The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup would be the equivalent of your FA cup for which qualification for it depends on teams placing in the league standings in each of the five US leagues in the soccer pyramid. (MLS, USSDF Div2, USL 2nd Division, USL PDL & USASA).

MLS has 1 Canadian team currently, Toronto FC, who are not able to enter the US Open Cup. They participate in the Canadian Soccer Championships which is a 3 team tournament between Toronto FC of MLS and the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact who both currently play in the USSF Div 2 (A jointly sanctioned US/Canadian league created for 1 year as a solution to the fracturing of the United Soccer Leagues First Division) but will be moving to MLS in 2011 and 2012 respectively.

The winner of this tournament gains Canada's only spot in the CONCACAF Champion's League. If Toronto FC were to win the Supporter's Shield or the MLS Cup there spot would be awarded to the next highest placed US team. The same thing when the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact joing MLS in the next 2 seasons.

This tournament seems to have replaced the Open Canada Cup which used to be similar to the US Open Cup as Canada's version of the FA Cup. The amateur clubs play in what is now known as the BMO National Chamipionships at their respective age groups (Snr Men, Women's, U-18, etc).

From a business perspective, the league operates on a franchise model and therefore there is no relegation/promotion between the various levels in both the American and Canadian pyramids like in the English pyramid.

 

[SambaStyle]

<a class="postlink" href="http://lmgtfy.com/?q=How+does+the+MLS+work%3F" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://lmgtfy.com/?q=How+does+the+MLS+work%3F</a>

 

[ajbj76]

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I can't start new topics, and I thought some of you might enjoy this article on ex-City player Terry Dunfield, who has signed with my local club, Vancouver Whitecaps.

He speaks quite a bit about his time at City.

Link: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Dunfield+excited+back+home/3468152/story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Dunfi ... story.html</a>

 

[Stillsy]

its pretty strange the MLS

 

[The Blue]

I went to watch Real Salt Lake City v Chivas earlier this year (I have family that live in Salt Lake).

The stadium and facilities were excellent, the football played that night was equivilent to League 1 over here! RSLC won the league last year as well and they couldnt keep the ball for more than 3 passes.

It was surreal having vendors coming down throughout the game chucking burgers, hotdogs and icecreams at you!! I must have been in the posh seats, because it was all free, unfortunatley the beer wasnt!

 

[Leyth Blue]

So what is the "Superliga" ?

 

[Jnr Kisby]

well they have a D-fence and an O-fence and a soccerball, the aim is to punt the soccerball past the goaltender.

 

[lloydie]

I don't know if this is the right place for this, but I can't start new topics, and I thought some of you might enjoy this article on ex-City player Terry Dunfield, who has signed with my local club, Vancouver Whitecaps.

He speaks quite a bit about his time at City.

Link: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Dunfield+excited+back+home/3468152/story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Dunfi ... story.html</a>

Thanks for that mate, great read, could do with pinning it up on the Academy wall for the "blinged up" (tm Steven Ireland) to read.

 

[macmanson]

So what is the "Superliga" ?

The North American Superliga is a tournament style competition between the top 4 sides in MLS and the top 4 sides in the Mexican Premier division. It is a sub-regional championship tournament in the North American section of CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football).

In 2008, CONCACAF created it's own Champion's League which is seperate from this Superliga competition and usually includes the top teams from each of the countries in CONCACAF and is a pathway to the FIFA Club World Cup. MLS decided that due to fixture congestion, they would not allow teams to participate in both competitions. So in practice the teams that end up participating in the Superliga aren't generally the top 4 teams in each division. It's in a sense like the Europa league in UEFA but much smaller in comparison.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_North_American_SuperLiga