Through MLS W.O.R.K.S. and following the lead of Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti, more than 30 MLS players (ahead of the event, but most likely more to show up) have confirmed their involvement in “Soccer Night in Newtown,” a special event taking place on January 7 (today) and open only to Newtown residents and members of the Newtown Youth Soccer Club.

Local families and children will be able to meet MLS and US national team stars, play in small-sided games, and spend an afternoon thinking about the beautiful game rather than the ugliness of recent events.

Hit the jump to see the players that have confirmed so far, and links to all the info about this awesome event……

Hear Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti talk to the guys over at ExtraTime Radio about his plan to give the kids a night of fun in Newtown, Conn. – Podcast link here.

Make sure to hit up mlssoccer [dot] com for the full story, hit the mls insider on twitter and facebook page, follow all these good guys and gals participating on twitter and keep the folks of Newtown and our entire nation in your thoughts and prayers….

Participating players:

Chicago Fire :: Chris Rolfe

Columbus Crew :: Ethan Finlay

FC Dallas :: Zach Loyd, Bobby Warshaw

Houston Dynamo :: Corey Ashe, Brad Davis, Brian Ching, Ricardo Clark, Tally Hall

LA Galaxy :: Landon Donovan, Sean Franklin, Rafael Garcia,

New England Revolution :: Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Hunter Freeman, Ryan Guy, Matt Reis, Clyde Simms, Chris Tierney, Bobby Shuttleworth

New York Red Bulls :: Kenny Cooper, Heath Pearce, Ryan Meara

Philadelphia Union :: Chris Albright, Ray Gaddis

Real Salt Lake :: Kwame Watson-Siriboe

San Jose Earthquakes :: Marcus Tracy

Seattle Sounders :: David Estrada, Josh Ford

Sporting Kansas City :: Kevin Ellis

Vancouver Whitecaps :: Brad Knighton , Omar Salgado

US Men’s Legends :: Cobi Jones, Alexi Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Mike Burns, Tony Meola

US Women’s Legends :: Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Christie Rampone