2009 MLS Best XI:
Goalkeeper: Zach Thornton (Chivas USA)
Defenders: Geoff Cameron (Houston Dynamo), Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew)
Midfielders: Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto FC), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Stuart Holden (Houston Dynamo), Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution), Freddie Ljungberg (Seattle Sounders FC)
Forwards: Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Jeff Cunningham (FC Dallas)
Every year before the MLS Cup, Commissioner Don Garber talks about the state of the league and answers a few questions from reporters.
During his address, Garber called Sounders FC, who led the league in attendance and became the first expansion team to advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs since the Chicago Fire in 1998, “arguably one of the best expansion launches in all of pro sports.”
“When you take a step back, the credibility that we have, the awareness we have of the great success in Seattle on the field and off the field gives us something that we’ve never had before, which is a real indication as to what the sport can be in this country,” Garber said.
As for League Expansion
Philadelphia Union will become Major League Soccer’s 16th team when they join the league in 2010. Garber said the club has already sold 8,500 season tickets and its stadium in Chester, Pa., is scheduled to be completed by the summer. Union will play their first few home games at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.
The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps will follow in 2011 and Garber said there’s a possibility of adding a third Canadian team in the near future.
“We’ve had productive conversations with Montreal to be our 19th team,” Garber said. “We have not put a timetable as to when that team would join the league if we’re able to reach agreement with them. We do not have any active discussions going on of note for the 20th team and certainly don’t have any timetable for the 20th team.”
MLS Cup finalists
He praised the Los Angeles Galaxy for going from “worst to first,” while being impressed with Real Salt Lake’s “aggressive and stylish play.”
Part of the Galaxy’s success this year, especially on the defensive side of the ball, has been due to the emergence of rookies A.J. DeLaGarza and Omar Gonzalez, two of the more successful players in this year’s rookie class. Garber said those players, along with D.C. United’s Chris Pontius, Steve Zakuani from Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC goalkeeper Stefan Frei, are prime examples of how young players can immediately impact Major League Soccer.
“You can be a young player in our league, you can get playing time and become an important contributor to your club and hopefully that will be a driver of a continued career in Major League Soccer or perhaps an opportunity for you to continue your career somewhere else,” Garber said.
The League’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expires on Jan. 31
Referring to a published report, Garber said any talk of a work stoppage “is totally premature.”
Garber said the league and the players union have met about six times over the course of six months.
“I expect this will be a difficult agreement to finalize, but I am very confident that we will be able to reach a productive agreement with our players,” Garber said. “I know that both we and the union are committed to do that.”
“We, the league, will not agree to a CBA that will negatively impact our ability to continue to grow this sport in the United States and Canada,” Garber said. “We’ve been very committed to doing that and quite successfully, I might add, for the last 14 years and we’re not going to compromise any of the key issues that we’re discussing confidentially within this agreement in order to avoid a stoppage.”
The evolution of the soccer fan in our country.”
“That’s a byproduct of a league around for 14 years — expansion, broader television coverage, designated players and the development of our own facilities,” Garber said.
He said the success of the “Summer of Soccer,” in which more than 2 million fans watched almost 100 matches over the course of 51 days, is a prime example of how popular soccer is in the United States.
“It begins to show again how far the sport has come and the potential of what the sport can be,” he said. “Clearly our continued goal and challenge is to continue to connect with all these fans, these people who really love the game, and convert them into being passionate and committed fans of their local MLS team.”
Garber called the designated player initiative a success on and off the field, touting Chicago Fire midfielder Cuauhtémoc Blanco as a prime example.
“I think Blanco has been one of the best signings in the history of our league,” Garber said. “We need more players like that, somebody who can be a difference-maker, who when he gets the ball something special is going to happen.”
As Major League Soccer moves into its 15th season, Garber said it is important for the league to prove itself beyond its borders.
“We need to win the Champions League,” Garber said. “We need to prove that we can be among the best teams in the region and that means beating Mexico and it certainly means beating teams from smaller countries that don’t have our resources.”
