All-Time #10 MLS Players

From former world greats, Pele, Maradona, Platini, Baggio, and Zidane, to modern players the likes of Totti, Rooney, Messi, and Del Piero, the number 10 jersey is a special number in soccer which is often, but not always, reserved for the most creative and/or exceptional players on the field.

This is a list of every #10 in the history of Major League Soccer. Many of the best players in the history of the league have worn the 10 shirt, but quite a few forgettable players have donned the shirt as well. (If a timeframe is not listed, there was no number ten for those years). Which team has the best #10 history?

Chicago Fire
Peter Nowak (1998-2002)
Thiago (2006)
Cuauhtemoc Blanco (2007-2009)

Chivas USA
Hector Cuadros (2005)
Juan Pablo Garcia (2006)
Laurent Merlin (2007)

Colorado Rapids
Roy Wegerle (1996-1997)
Steve Rammel (1997)
Waldir Saenz (1998)
Anders Limpar (1999-2000)
Carlos Valderamma (2001-2002)
Jean Phillippe Peguero (2004-2005)
Alain Nkong (2006)
Herculez Gomez (2007)
Christian Gomez (2008)

Columbus Crew
Brian Maisonneuve (1996-1999; 2001-2004)
Kyle Martino (2005)
Joseph Ngwenya (2006)
Alejandro Moreno (2008-2009)

DC United
Marco Etcheverry (1996-2003)
Christian Gomez (2005-2007)
Marcelo Gallardo (2008)
Christian Gomez (2009)



FC Dallas/Dallas Burn
Washington Rodriguez (1996)
Dante Washington (1997-1998)
Ricardo Iribarren (2000)
Joselito Vaca (2001-2003)
Brad Davis (2004)
Ramon Nunez (2006-2007)
Ricardinho (2008)
David Ferreira (2009)

Houston Dynamo/San Jose Clash/San Jose Earthquakes
Christopher Sullivan (1997)
Francisco Uribe (1998)
Raul Diaz Arce (1999)
Travis Mulraine (2000)
Landon Donovan (2001-2004)
Joseph Ngwenya (2007)
Franco Caraccio (2008)
Kei Kamara (2008)

Kansas City Wizards
Mike Sorber (1996)
Mo Johnston (1997-2001)
Francisco Gomez (2002-2004)
Carlos Marinelli (2007-2008)
Santiago Hirsig (2009)

Los Angeles Galaxy
Mauricio Cienfuegos (1996-2003)
Andreas Herzog (2004)
Landon Donovan (2005-2009)



New England Revolution
Alberto Naveda (1996-1997)
Edwin Gorter (1998)
Mario Gori (1999)
Mauricio Ramos (2000)
Cate (2001)
Alex Pineda Chacon (2002)
Jorge Vazquez (2003)

New York Metrostars/Red Bulls
Tab Ramos (1996-1999)
Lothar Matthäus (2000)
Tab Ramos (2001-2002)
Andrzej Juskowiak (2003)
Joselito Vaca (2004)
Youri Djorkaeff (2005-2006)
Claudio Reyna (2007-2008)
Macoumba Kandji (2009)

Real Salt Lake
Clint Mathis (2005)
Mehdi Ballouchy (2006-2007)
Robbie Findley (2008-2009)

"New" San Jose Earthquakes
Jean Phillippe Peguero (2008)
Francisco Lima (2008)
Arturo Alvarez (2009)

Seattle Sounders
Freddie Ljungberg (2009)

Toronto FC
Alecko Eskandarian (2007)
Rohan Ricketts (2008-2009)


Defunct Teams

Miami Fusion
Carlos Valderamma (1998-1999)
Edwing Gorter (1999)
Andy Williams (2000)
Alex Pineda Chacon (2001)

Tampa Bay Mutiny
Carlos Valderamma (1996-1997)
Jorge Salcedo (1998)
Mauricio Ramos (1999)
Carlos Valderamma (2000-2001)



Pics from MLSnet and WSoccer

2010 WCQ Hat Tricks

This list shows all of the hat tricks that have been scored in 2010 World Cup Qualifying games going all the way back to September 2007, when qualifying began in the Oceania region. Each region is in order with the most recent hat trick scorer on the top of each list.

AFRICA
Emmanuel Adebayor (4) - TOGO v Swaziland
Shabani Nonda - CONGO DR v Djibouti
Ismael Bangoura - GUINEA v Namibia
Essau Kanyenda - MALAWI v Djibouti
Moumouni Dagano - BURKINA FASO v Seychelles
Faneva Andriatsima (4) - MADAGASCAR v Comoros

ASIA
Ahmad Al Azemi - KUWAIT v Syria
Ziad Chaabo - SYRIA v Indonesia
Raja Rafe - SYRIA v Indonesia
Kim Do Heon - KOREA REPUBLIC v Turkmenistan
Maksim Shatskikh (5) - UZBEKISTAN v Chinese Taipei
Sarayoot Chaikamdee - THAILAND v Macau
Jong Chol Min - KOREA DPR v Mongolia
Mahdi Karim (4) - IRAQ v Pakistan
Numordzhon Hakimov - TAJIKSTAN v Bangladesh
Chan Siu Ki - HONG KONG v Timor-Leste

EUROPE
Ebi Smolarek (4) - POLAND v San Marino
Zvjezdan Misimovic - BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA v Estonia
Miroslav Klose - GERMANY v Finland
Theo Walcott - ENGLAND v Croatia

NORTH, CENTRAL AMERICA AND CARRIBEAN
Jozy Altidore - USA v Trinidad & Tobago
Rodolfo Zelaya - EL SALVADOR v Haiti
Carlos Ruiz (4) - GUATEMALA v St. Lucia
Luton Shelton - JAMAICA v Bahamas
Ricky Charles (4) - GRENADA v US Virgin Islands
Rudis Corrales (5) - EL SALVADOR v Anguilla
Ronald Cerritos - EL SALVADOR v Anguilla

OCEANIA
Seule Soromon - VANUATU v Tonga
Commins Menapi (4) - SOLOMON ISLANDS v American Samoa
Roy Krishna - FIJI v Tuvalu
Pita Rabo - FIJI v Tuvalu
Osea Vakatalesau (6) - FIJI v Tuvalu
Etienne Mermer (4) - VANUATU v American Samoa
Francois Sakama - VANUATU v American Samoa
Seule Soromon (4) - VANUATU v Tonga
Iamel Kabeu - NEW CALEDONIA v Cook Islands

SOUTH AMERICA
Joaquin Botero - BOLIVIA v Argentina
Diego Forlan - URUGUAY v Peru

50% Booking Received Rate

These Top European league players have received a booking in at least one out of every two games they've played in the 08/09 season (minimum 15 games played, 4/1/09). Will any of them make it through the entire season with the 50% rate?

53% -- Moises - Espanyol (11/21)
53% -- Carlos Garcia - Almeria (8/15)
52% -- Siaka Tiene - Valenciennes (12/23)
50% -- Marouane Fellaini - Everton (12/24)
50% -- Fernando Amorebieta - Athletic Bilbao (10/20)
50% -- Pablo Pinillos - Racing Santander (10/20)
50% -- Paul Freier - VfL Bochum (9/18)
50% -- Luca Cigarini - Atalanta (8/16)

MLS Quiz #1

Well, the first BestEleven quiz was a moderate success (except I made it too hard, only one 100% so far), so I'll give it another a shot. This time there are ten questions about Major League Soccer. If you are from overseas you will likely find the quiz quite difficult, but if you follow the league closely it shouldn't be too tough. Give it a shot.

The Best Eleven MLS Quiz 3/30/09 » Fun Trivia Maker

MLS Players' Previous European Clubs

This is a listing of all of the European clubs where current MLS players have been senior roster members earlier in their career (including loans).

European Clubs that have had at least three current MLS players:
1860 Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Coventry City, Fulham, Manchester United, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Preston North End, Queens Park Rangers, St. Pauli, Sunderland

AUSTRIA
Rapid Vienna (Jazic, CHV)
SC Rheindorf Altach (Jaqua, SEA)

BELGIUM
Charleroi (Dalby, COL)

BULGARIA
FC Etar (Dimitrov, CHI)

CROATIA
HNK Hajduk Split (Jazic, CHV)
Hrvatski Dragovoljac (Jazic, CHV)

DENMARK
AGF Aarhus (Barrett, HOU)
Esbjerg fB (Hall, HOU)
Viborg FF (Russell, RSL)

ENGLAND
Arsenal (Ricketts, TOR; Ljungberg, SEA)
Aston Villa (Angel, NY)
Barnet (Dichio, TOR)
Barnsley (Ricketts, TOR)
Birmingham City (Cooke, COL; Kirovski, LA)
Bolton Wanderers (Smith, TOR, Ricketts, LA)
Bradford City (Ricketts, LA)
Bristol City (Brennan, TOR)
Bristol Rovers (Padula, CLB)
Carlisle United (Smith, TOR)
Charlton Athletic (Gibbs, COL)
Chester City (Joy, RSL)
Coventry City (Ricketts, TOR; Guerrero, COL; Huckerby, SJ)
Crystal Palace (Kirovski, LA)
Darlington (Smith, TOR)
Derby County (Dichio, TOR, Lewis, LA)
Everton (McBride, CHI)
Fulham (McBride, CHI; Lewis, LA; Elliott, SJ; Keller, SEA)
Grimsby Town (Thorrington, CHI; Cooke, COL)
Huddersfield Town (Thorrington, CHI; Brennan, TOR)
Kidderminster Harriers (Joy, RSL)
Leeds United (Lewis, LA; Huckerby, SJ)
Leicester City (Keller, SEA)
Lincoln City (Huckerby, SJ)
Manchester City (Cooke, COL; Huckerby, SJ)
Manchester United (Cooke, COL; Cooper, DAL, Kirovski, LA, Beckham, LA)
Middlesbrough (Moreno, DC)
Millwall (Dichio, TOR; Serioux, TOR; Huckerby, SJ; Keller, SEA)
Newcastle United (Huckerby, SJ)
Norwich City (Brennan, TOR; Robinson, TOR; Huckerby, SJ)
Nottingham Forest (Padula, CLB; Olsen, DC; Brennan, TOR; Huckerby, SJ)
Oldham Athletic (Cooper, DAL)
Portsmouth (Robinson, TOR; Miglioranzi, LA)
Preston North End (McBride, CHI; Dichio, TOR; Lewis, LA, Beckham, LA)
Queens Park Rangers (Padula, CLB; Dichio, TOR; Ricketts, TOR; Pickens, COL)
Reading (Convey, SJ)
Rotherham United (Robinson, TOR)
Sheffield United (Robinson, TOR)
Sheffield Wednesday (Robinson, TOR; Cooke, COL)
Shrewsbury Town (Robinson, TOR)
Southampton (Brennan, TOR; Keller, SEA))
Stockport County (Smith, TOR)
Sunderland (Dichio, TOR; Robinson, TOR; Cooke, COL; Holden, HOU)
Swindon Town (Miglioranzi, LA)
Tottenham Hotspur (Ricketts, TOR; Keller, SEA)
Walsall (Padula, CLB; Robinson, TOR)
Welling United (Dichio, TOR)
West Bromwich Albion (Dichio, TOR)
West Ham United (Ljungberg, SEA)
Wrexham (Cooke, COL)
Wigan Athletic (Padula, CLB; Cooke, COL)
Wolverhamton Wanderers (Ricketts, TOR; Robinson, TOR)

FRANCE
FC Lorient (Jacobson, DC; Le Toux, SEA)
Girondins Bordeaux (Celades, NY)
Le Havre (N'Silu, DC)
Montpellier HSC (Padula, CLB)
RC Lens (Cannon, SJ)
Rennes (Le Toux, SEA)

GERMANY
1. FC Köln (Emilio, DC)
1860 Munich (Wolff, KC; Twellman, NE; Purdy, DAL)
Alemannia Aachen (Emilio, DC)
Bayer Leverkusen (Thorrington, CHI; Hejduk, CLB; Donovan, LA)
Bayern Munich (Donovan, LA)
Borussia Dortmund (Casey, COL; Kirovski, LA)
Borussia Mönchengladbach (Keller, SEA)
FSV Zwickau (DeRosario, TOR)
Hamburg SV Amateur (Joy, RSL)
Hannover (Casey, COL; Mathis, RSL)
Hertha Berlin (Sanneh, LA)
Karlsruhe (Casey, COL)
Mainz (Casey, COL)
Nuremberg (Sanneh, LA)
SC Fortuna Köln (Kirovski, LA)
St. Pauli (Gibbs, COL; Kovalenko, LA; Joy, RSL))
VfL Wolfsburg (McBride, CHI)

GREECE
Atromitos Athens (Doe, DC)
Ergotelis (Mathis, RSL)
Skoda Xanthi (Trujillo, CHV)

ICELAND
Breiðablik (Russell, RSL)

ITALY
Lazio (Lopez, KC)
Lecce (Dichio, TOR)
Olbia (Somma, SJ)
Perugia (Somma, SJ)
Pro Vasto (Somma, SJ)
Sampdoria (Dichio, TOR)

NETHERLANDS
ADO Den Haag (Gibbs, COL)
Ajax (Van den Bergh, DAL)
De Graafschap (Johnson, RSL)
Feyenoord (Gibbs, COL)
Heerenveen (Rogers, CLB; Johnson, RSL)
Utrecht (Van den Bergh, DAL)

NORWAY
Aalesund (Noonan, CLB)
Brann (Corrales, SJ)
Bryne FK (Johnson, NY, Torres, DAL)
Fredrikstad FK (Barrett, HOU)
HamKam (Corrales, SJ)
Haugesund (Weaver, SJ)
Odd Grenland (Borchers, RSL)
Rosenborg (Russell, RSL)
Sogndal (Russell, RSL)
Tromsø (Harmse, TOR; Torres, DAL)

POLAND
Lech Poznań (Conrad, KC)

PORTUGAL
Académica Coimbra (Cooper, DAL)
Benfica (Thornton, CHV)
Sporting CP (Kirovski, LA)

RUSSIA
FC Kuban (Jazic, CHV)

SCOTLAND
Aberdeen (Souter, KC)
Buckie Thistle (Souter, KC)
Dundee United (Onstad, HOU)
Ross County (Moffat, CLB)
Elgin City (Moffat, CLB)
Montrose (Joy, RSL)

SERBIA
FK Radnički Jugopetrol (Stepanovic, CHV)
FK Srem (Stepanovic, CHV)
FK Voždovac (Stepanovic, CHV)
Red Star Belgrade (Jakovic, DC)

SLOVAKIA
FC Nitra (Harmse, TOR)

SPAIN
Cádiz CF (Harris, CHV)
Celta Vigo (Celades, NY)
FC Barcelona (Celades, NY)
Racing de Ferrol (Razov, CHV)
Rayo Vallecano (Van den Bergh, DAL; Keller, SEA)
Real Madrid (Celades, NY, Beckham, LA)
Real Valladolid (Blanco, CHI; Guevara, TOR)
Real Zaragoza (Celades, NY)
UD Vecindario (Morales, RSL)
Valencia (Lopez, KC)
Xerez (Sala, DAL)

SWEDEN
Bodens BK (Torres, DAL)
GAIS (Campos, SJ)
Halmstads BK (Ljungberg, SEA)
Öster (Johnson, SJ)

SWITZERLAND
BSC Young Boys (Echeverry, NY)
FC Basel (Crayton, DC)
FC Concordia Basel (Crayton, DC)
FC Lucerne (Crayton, DC)
FC Schaffhausen (Crayton, DC)
FC Wangen bei Olten (Crayton, DC)
FC Zug 94 (Crayton, DC)
Grasshopper-Club Zürich (Crayton, DC)
Le Mont (N'Silu, DC)
SC Young Fellows Juventus (Crayton, DC)
St. Gallen (Hejduk, CLB)

UKRAINE
Chornomorets Odessa (Vitti, TOR)
Metalurh Zaporizhya (Kovalenko, LA)

Video: USA 2010 World Cup Qualification Locations

This flyover video I've put together shows all ten locations of the USA's CONCACAF 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign. The video really puts into perspective the immense amount of travel involved for these games, especially for players who have to come over from their clubs in Europe.

1992-1993 Inaugural Premier League Kits

This post shows one shirt from each of the 22 clubs that were a member of the inaugural edition of the English Premier League in the 1992-93 season. I tried to pick the more interesting (ie. ugly, gaudy, bright) shirts between the home and away selections.

All of these pictures are from my favorite vintage football shirt site, Classic Football Shirts UK. All of the shirts shown here and many more are for sale at that site, including match worn and international shirts. (I have no affiliation with them, I just spend a lot of time looking around on their site).

The shirts are pictured in order of the final 92-93 Premier League Table (with Point Totals).

Manchester United - 84pts



Aston Villa - 74pts



Norwich City - 72pts



Blackburn Rovers - 71pts



Queens Park Rangers - 63pts



Liverpool - 59pts



Sheffield Wednesday - 59pts



Tottenham Hotspur - 59pts



Manchester City - 57pts



Arsenal - 56pts



Chelsea - 56pts



Wimbledon - 54pts



Everton - 53pts



Sheffield United - 52pts



Coventry City - 52pts



Ipswich Town - 52pts



Leeds United - 51pts



Southampton - 50pts



Oldham Athletic - 49pts



Crystal Palace - 49pts



Middlesbrough - 44pts



Nottingham Forest - 40pts

2009 MLS New Foreign Born Players

This list shows the new foreign born players that have joined Major League Soccer for the 2009 season (as of 3/25/09).

CHICAGO FIRE
Bulgaria - Stefan Dimitrov
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Baggio Husidic

CHIVAS USA
Sierra Leone - Michael Lahoud
Mexico - Eduardo Lillingston
Mexico - Mariano Trujillo

COLORADO RAPIDS
Guyana - Gregory Richardson

COLUMBUS CREW
Zimbabwe - Stanley Nyazamba

DC UNITED
Croatia - Dejan Jakovic
DR Congo - Ange N'Silu
Costa Rica - Rodney Wallace
Serbia - Milos Kocic

FC DALLAS
Colombia - David Ferreira
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Peri Marosevic

HOUSTON DYNAMO
None

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
Argentina - Santiago Hirsig

LOS ANGELES GALAXY
Trinidad & Tobago - Yohance Marshall
England - Kyle Patterson
Jamaica - Donovan Ricketts

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
None

NEW YORK RED BULLS
Andorra - Albert Celades
Costa Rica - Carlos Johnson

REAL SALT LAKE
Haiti - Jean Alexandre

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
Brazil - Pablo Campos

SEATTLE SOUNDERS
Cuba - Osvaldo Alonso
Colombia - John Kennedy Hurtado
France - Sebastien Le Toux
Sweden - Freddie Ljungberg
Colombia - Fredy Montero
Gambia - Sanna Nyassi
DR Congo - Steve Zakuani

TORONTO FC
Gambia - Emmanuel Gomez
Gambia - Amadou Sanyang
Argentina - Pablo Vitti
Jamaica - O'Brian White
Switzerland - Stefan Frei


Steve Zakuani (SEA) and Ange N'Silu (DC) are the first DR Congo born players to join MLS.
Gregory Richardson (COL) is the first Guyana born player.
Albert Celades (NY) is the first Andorra born player.

Google Earth Video: South Africa 2010 Stadiums

This video shows a fly over of Stadiums and sites that will be used in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. This is my first attempt at creating a Google Earth video and there are a few minor things that didn't turn out quite like I expected (zoom levels, labels positions, etc.) and I don't really know how to fix them yet (I'm still learning). Nevertheless, the video is still an interesting bird's eye view of the 10 stadiums/sites that will be used during the World Cup in 2010.



The Second Stadium (Nelson Mandela Stadium) is under construction and under the words Mandela and Stadium.

Soccer Club Geography Quiz

I put together this tricky quiz to test your knowledge of world club locations. It consists of four short multiple choice questions and only takes about a minute to complete. This is the first Best Eleven quiz and I'm using it to gauge the interest in this type of post. I can create a quiz about any soccer subject that comes to mind. Good idea? Terrible idea? Please let me know if there is interest by taking the quiz or leaving a quick comment.

Soccer Geography Quiz » Make Your Own Quiz

3/23@1:10PM - This is proving to be a tricky quiz. So far "ram" from Barcelona has the best score with 2 out of 4 right in 1 min 11 sec. I'm not sure why but it seems to work for some people and not others.

3/23@8:30PM - Top score so far is 50% in 39 seconds by Chalky from the UK

3/23@11:30PM - Last update for today, Jacob from South Carolina had the best score, 3 out of 4 in 43 seconds. Nice one Jacob.

Top League Strike Rates: England, Spain, Germany, and Italy

These are the top 08/09 strike rates in the biggest four leagues in Europe. (minimum of 15 matches played, stats as of 3/20/09)


GPG - Player (Club) - Goals/Matches Played

1.133 - Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg) - 17g/15
1.059 - Vedad Ibisevic (TSG Hoffenheim) - 18g/17
0.885 - Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) - 23g/26
0.864 - Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid) - 19g/22
0.826 - David Villa (Valencia) - 19g/23
0.750 - Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - 18g/24
0.708 - Patrick Helmes (Bayer Leverkusen) - 17g/24
0.706 - Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen) - 12g/17
0.667 - Adrian Mutu (Fiorentina) - 12g/18
0.655 - Marco Di Vaio (Bologna) - 19g/29
0.654 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan) - 17g/26
0.625 - Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid) - 15g/24
0.625 - Diego Milito (Genoa) - 15g/24
0.609 - Thierry Henry (Barcelona) - 14g/23
0.600 - Alvaro Negredo (Almeria) - 15g/25
0.600 - Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina) - 15g/25
0.571 - Giuseppi Rossi (Villarreal) - 12g/21
0.571 - Antonio Di Natale (Udinese) - 12g/21
0.565 - Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart) - 13g/23
0.565 - Eden Dzeko (VfL Wolfsburg) - 13g/23
0.563 - Fernando Torres (Liverpool) - 9g/16
0.563 - Luca Toni (Bayern Munich) - 9g/16
0.563 - Diego (Werder Bremen) - 9g/16
0.550 - Andriy Voronin (Hertha BSC) - 11g/20
0.539 - Raul (Real Madrid) - 14g/26
0.539 - Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid) - 14g/26
0.536 - Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea) - 15g/28
0.524 - Kaka (AC Milan) - 11g/21
0.522 - Artur Wichniarek (Arminia Bielefeld) - 12g/23
0.520 - Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) - 13g/25
0.519 - Alexandre Pato (AC Milan) - 14g/27




Stats compiled from Statbunker

MLS Sister Clubs

This is The Best Eleven's unofficial list of MLS "Sister" clubs around the world using comparable season average attendance figures from the 2007/2008 season.

26,009 - LA Galaxy
Birmingham City, 26,101
Palermo, 25,541
Stade Rennes, 26,194
Heerenveen, 25,022
Beşiktaş J.K., 26,249
Club Brugge, 26,368
Racing Club {Argentina}, 26,000

20,120 - Toronto FC
Portsmouth, 19,914
Juventus, 20,930
Espanyol, 20,256
Caen, 20,008
Real Sociedad, 20,129
Independiente, 20,625

19,835 - DC United
Reading, 19,724
Torino, 19,226
Racing Santander, 19,400
Mainz, 19,800
Vitesse Arnhem, 19,818
Zenit St. Petersburg, 19,906
FC København, 19,455
Rosenborg BK, 18,957
Shakhtar Donetsk, 19,747
Huracán {Argentina}, 19,250

17,580 - NE Revolution
Coventry City, 17,573
Catania, 17,606
Recreativo Huelva, 17,875
Sochaux, 17,601
Guimaraes, 17,836
Lech Poznan, 18,010

17,034 - Chicago Fire
Valladolid, 16,678
FC Augsburg, 17,234

16,939 - Houston Dynamo
Watford, 16,876
Almeria, 16,677
SK Brann, 16,954
SC Freiburg, 16,541

16,179 - Real Salt Lake
Bristol City, 16,276
Recreativo Huelva, 16,142
AZ Alkmaar, 16,477
Braga, 16,043
Galatasaray, 16,307
Brøndby IF, 16,069

15,928 - NY Red Bulls
Crystal Palace, 16,031
Udinese, 15,672
Hansa Rostock, 15,524
Heart of Midlothian, 15,930
Roda JC, 15,811
FK Rubin Kazan, 16,033
Bursaspor, 16,225
Tigre {Argentina}, 16,000
Bloem Celtic {South Africa}, 15,571

15,114 - Chivas USA
Swansea City, 15,094
Parma, 15,247
Mallorca, 15,125
SC Freiburg, 15,450
Viking FK, 15,379
Wisła Kraków, 14,967
AIK {Sweden}, 15,535
Gimnasia La Plata, 15,000

14,622 - Columbus Crew
Watford, 14,595
Metz, 14,485
VfL Osnabrück, 14,500
NAC Breda, 14,626
CSKA Moscow, 14,266
SK Rapid Wien, 14,336
San Martín de San Juan {Argentina}, 14,500

13,713 - San Jose Earthquakes
Queens Park Rangers, 13,959
VfL Osnabruck, 13,725
Valenciennes, 14,222
Hibernian, 13,884
Lokomotiv Moscow, 13,783
SV Austria Salzburg, 13,900
Kaizer Chiefs {South Africa}, 13,892

13,659 - Colorado Rapids
Swansea City, 13,520
Reggina, 13,147
AJ Auxerre, 13,680
Amkar Perm {Russia}, 13,453
Denizlispor, 13,491

13,024 - FC Dallas
Preston North End, 12,843
Bologna, 13,036
MSV Duisburg, 12,668
Dinamo Moscow, 12,766
Trabzonspor, 12,957
Vålerenga, 12,700
Górnik Zabrze {Poland}, 13,059
Zorya Luhansk {Ukraine}, 12,536
Queensland Roar, 12,432
Olimpo de Bahía Blanca {Argentina}, 13,000
Black Leopards {South Africa}, 12,364

10,686 - KC Wizards
Atalanta, 10,673
Levante, 11,134
TUS Koblenz, 10,582
AS Monaco, 10,078
Sparta Rotterdam, 10,183
Luch-Energiya Vladivostok, 10,607
Sivasspor, 10,827
KAA Gent, 10,690
AGF Aarhus, 9,827
Maccabi Tel-Aviv, 10,031
Ålesunds FK, 10,363
FC St. Gallen, 10,022
Banfield {Argentina}, 11,000
Orlando Pirates {South Africa}, 10,035




Sources:
MLSnet
ESPN Soccernet
European Football Statistics

MLS Goal Celebration Videos

Chicago Fire


DC United


Toronto FC




I'm a bit short on time this week. If I get a minute I'll try to add a few more videos. I know there are many passionate supporters around the league that deserve to be in this post. Don't Forget, Thursday Night is the MLS Opener: New York @ Seattle at 9PM EST on ESPN2.

MLS Opening Game Results since 1996

MLS opening day is Thursday night with the Seattle Sounders playing their first ever game against New York. I put together an opening game results chart before last season (I can't believe I've been doing this for over a year now), and this is the updated version to include the 2008 first game results.

Team	W	D	L	Points
Kansas City Wizards	7	3	3	24
San Jose/Houston Dynamo	5	4	4	19
Columbus Crew	5	3	5	18
FC Dallas	4	6	3	18
DC United	5	2	6	17
Los Angeles Galaxy	4	5	4	17
New York Red Bulls	4	5	4	17
Chicago Fire	4	4	3	16
New England Revolution	3	5	5	14
Colorado Rapids	2	5	6	11
Chivas USA	2	1	1	7
Real Salt Lake	0	3	1	3
Toronto FC	0	0	2	0
"New" San Jose	0	0	1	0

I've counted the Shootout Results as Draws




This chart shows the average points per opening game:

Team	Avg. Points per Game
Kansas City Wizards	1.85
Chivas USA	1.75
San Jose/Houston Dynamo	1.46
Chicago Fire	1.46
FC Dallas	1.39
Columbus Crew	1.39
Los Angeles Galaxy	1.31
DC United	1.31
New York Red Bulls	1.31
New England Revolution	1.08
Colorado Rapids	0.85
Real Salt Lake	0.75
Toronto FC	0.00
"New" San Jose	0.00

Here's the opening game matchups for this season:

NY@SEA
CLB@HOU
CHI@DAL
TOR@KC
COL@CHV
NE@SJ
DC@LA

The College Years of US National Team Players

These pictures show many past and present US players when they were in their college/university playing days (and when Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel still had hair).

Eric Wynalda - San Diego State




Oguchi Onyewu - Clemson




Taylor Twellman - Maryland





Brian McBride - St. Louis University





Kasey Keller - University of Portland





Frankie Hejduk - UCLA





John Harkes, Jeff Agoos, Claudio Reyna - University of Virginia





Brad Friedel - UCLA





Benny Feilhaber - UCLA





Cobi Jones - UCLA





Brian Ching - Gonzaga





Paul Caligiuri - UCLA





Jonathan Bornstein - UCLA





Carlos Bocanegra - UCLA





Alexi Lalas - Rutgers



For some reason a Clint Dempsey at Furman picture is eluding me, so I have instead posted this youtube clip of Deuce and his buddies messing around on the Furman campus pitch.

Autographed pictures for sale at Timeless Legends
Other Pics from: Scarlet Knights, Virginia Sports, UCLABruins.CSTV, Portland Pilots, GoZags, UMTerps, SignOnSanDiego, ClemsonTigers.CSTV