2011 Major League Soccer season

Major League Soccer

Season	2011
MLS Cup	LA Galaxy (3rd title)
Supporters' Shield	LA Galaxy (4th shield)
Champions League (U.S.)	LA Galaxy Seattle Sounders FC (via U.S. Open Cup) Real Salt Lake Houston Dynamo
Champions League (Canada)	Toronto FC (via Canadian Championship)
Matches played	306
Goals scored	791 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dwayne De Rosario and Chris Wondolowski (16 goals)
Biggest home win	NY 5–0 TOR (July 6)
Biggest away win	DCU 0–4 NY (April 21) TOR 2–6 PHI (May 28) VAN 0–4 LA (July 30)
Highest scoring	8 goals: TOR 2–6 PHI (May 28) SEA 6–2 CLB (August 27) PHI 4–4 NE (September 7)
Longest winning run	5 matches: Real Salt Lake [1] (August 27 – Sep 21)
Longest unbeaten run	14 matches: LA Galaxy [1] (May 7 – July 30) Sporting KC [1] (May 28 – August 3)
Longest winless run	14 matches: Vancouver Whitecaps FC [1] (March 26 – June 11)
Longest losing run	5 matches: Sporting KC [1] (April 16 – May 21) New England Revolution [1] (September 16 – October 15)
Highest attendance	64,140 [2] SJ @ SEA
Lowest attendance	6,680 [3] TOR @ NE
Average attendance	17,872 [4]
← 2010 2012 →

D.C. United

New York

Columbus

New England

Chicago

Kansas City

Toronto

Philadelphia

Colorado

Dallas

Chivas USA

Galaxy

Houston

Salt Lake

Portland

San Jose

Seattle

Vancouver

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Locations of teams for the 2011 Major League Soccer season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 16th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 33rd with a national first-division league.

This season marked the arrival of two new clubs, the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, who replaced teams of the same name that last played in the USSF D2 Pro League. The addition of those two clubs led to a realignment of the league's conferences, with the Houston Dynamo moving to the Eastern Conference to create two conferences of nine teams each.

The Kansas City Wizards rebranded as Sporting Kansas City, which coincided with its move to its new stadium, Livestrong Sporting Park.

The MLS Reserve League returned this season after previously disbanding following the 2008 season.

The regular season began on March 15 and concluded on October 23. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 26 and ended on November 20, when the LA Galaxy claimed their third league title by defeating the Houston Dynamo, 1–0, in MLS Cup.

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. ^[5]

Stadiums and locations

Main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Chicago Fire	Toyota Park	20,000
Chivas USA	Home Depot Center	27,000
Colorado Rapids	Dick's Sporting Goods Park	18,061
Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium	22,555
D.C. United	RFK Stadium	45,596
FC Dallas	Pizza Hut Park	21,193
Houston Dynamo	Robertson Stadium	32,000
LA Galaxy	Home Depot Center	27,000
New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	68,756
New York Red Bulls	Red Bull Arena	25,000
Philadelphia Union	PPL Park	18,500
Portland Timbers	Jeld-Wen Field	18,627
Real Salt Lake	Rio Tinto Stadium	20,213
San Jose Earthquakes	Buck Shaw Stadium	10,525
Seattle Sounders FC	Qwest Field	68,740
Sporting Kansas City	Livestrong Sporting Park	18,467
Toronto FC	BMO Field	21,566
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Empire Field BC Place	27,528 22,120

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.

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	Frank Klopas	Logan Pause	—
Chivas USA	Robin Fraser	Simon Elliott	Corona
Colorado Rapids	Gary Smith	Pablo Mastroeni	—
Columbus Crew	Robert Warzycha	Chad Marshall	—
D.C. United	Ben Olsen	Josh Wolff	Volkswagen
FC Dallas	Schellas Hyndman	Daniel Hernández	—
Houston Dynamo	Dominic Kinnear	Brian Ching	Greenstar Recycling
LA Galaxy	Bruce Arena	Landon Donovan	Herbalife
New England Revolution	Steve Nicol	Shalrie Joseph	UnitedHealthcare
New York Red Bulls	Hans Backe	Thierry Henry	Red Bull
Philadelphia Union	Piotr Nowak	Faryd Mondragón	Bimbo
Portland Timbers	John Spencer	Jack Jewsbury	Alaska Airlines
Real Salt Lake	Jason Kreis	Kyle Beckerman	XanGo
San Jose Earthquakes	Frank Yallop	Ramiro Corrales	Amway Global
Seattle Sounders FC	Sigi Schmid	Kasey Keller	Xbox
Sporting Kansas City	Peter Vermes	Davy Arnaud	—
Toronto FC	Aron Winter	Torsten Frings	Bank of Montreal
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Tom Soehn	Jay DeMerit	Bell Canada

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming coach	Date of appointment	Table
Portland Timbers	Expansion club				John Spencer	August 10, 2010	Pre-season
Chivas USA	Martín Vásquez	Fired	October 27, 2010	8th West ('10)	Robin Fraser	January 4, 2011	Pre-season
Toronto FC	Nick Dasovic	End of interim period	September 14, 2010	5th East ('09)	Aron Winter	January 6, 2011	Pre-season
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Teitur Thordarson	Fired	May 29, 2011	9th West ('11)	Tom Soehn	May 29, 2011	9th West ('11)
Chicago Fire	Carlos de los Cobos	Fired	May 30, 2011	8th East ('11)	Frank Klopas	May 30, 2011	8th East ('11)

Results table

Home \ Away	CHI	CHV	COL	CLB	DCU	FCD	HOU	LAG	NER	NY	PHI	POR	RSL	SJE	SEA	SKC	TOR	VAN
Chicago Fire		3–2	2–0	3–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–2	3–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–2	0–0	3–2	2–0	0–0
Chivas USA	1–1		0–1	0–0	0–3	1–2	3–0	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–3	2–3	3–0	1–1
Colorado Rapids	1–1	2–2		2–0	4–1	1–0	0–0	1–3	2–2	4–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–1
Columbus Crew	0–1	3–3	4–1		2–1	2–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–4	2–1
D.C. United	1–2	2–2	1–1	3–1		0–0	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–4	2–2	1–1	4–1	2–4	2–1	0–1	3–3	4–0
FC Dallas	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–0	0–0		0–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	4–0	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–4	1–0	2–0
Houston Dynamo	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	4–1	2–2		3–1	1–0	2–2	0–1	2–1	3–2	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	3–1
LA Galaxy	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–0		1–1	1–1	1–0	3–0	2–1	2–0	0–0	4–1	2–2	3–0
New England Revolution	1–1	2–3	0–0	0–3	2–1	2–0	1–1	0–1		2–2	4–4	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–2	3–2	0–0	1–0
New York Red Bulls	2–2	2–3	2–2	1–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–1		1–0	2–0	1–3	3–0	1–0	1–0	5–0	1–1
Philadelphia Union	2–1	3–2	1–2	1–0	3–2	2–2	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–0		0–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0
Portland Timbers	4–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–3	3–2	0–2	3–0	3–0	3–3	1–0		1–0	1–1	2–3	1–2	2–2	2–1
Real Salt Lake	0–3	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–0	4–1	3–3	3–0	2–1	1–1		4–0	1–2	1–0	3–1	2–0
San Jose Earthquakes	2–0	1–2	1–2	3–0	0–2	4–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	0–1		2–2	1–1	1–1	2–2
Seattle Sounders FC	2–1	0–0	4–3	6–2	3–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	4–2	0–2	1–1	1–2	2–1		1–0	3–0	2–2
Sporting Kansas City	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–3	3–0	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–2		4–2	2–1
Toronto FC	2–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	0–3	0–1	2–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	2–6	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–0		1–0
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	4–2	0–0	1–2	0–1	2–1	1–2	1–0	0–4	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–1	1–3	3–3	4–2

Updated to match(es) played on October 20, 2011. Source: official website
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Standings

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sporting Kansas City	34	13	9	12	50	40	+10	51	MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2	Houston Dynamo	34	12	9	13	45	41	+4	49
3	Philadelphia Union	34	11	8	15	44	36	+8	48
4	Columbus Crew	34	13	13	8	43	44	−1	47	MLS Cup Play-In Round
5	New York Red Bulls	34	10	8	16	50	44	+6	46
6	Chicago Fire	34	9	9	16	46	45	+1	43
7	D.C. United	34	9	13	12	49	52	−3	39
8	Toronto FC	34	6	13	15	36	59	−23	33
9	New England Revolution	34	5	16	13	38	58	−20	28

Source: MLS

Western Conference

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	LA Galaxy	34	19	5	10	48	28	+20	67	MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2	Seattle Sounders FC	34	18	7	9	56	37	+19	63
3	Real Salt Lake	34	15	11	8	44	36	+8	53
4	FC Dallas	34	15	12	7	42	39	+3	52	MLS Cup Play-In Round
5	Colorado Rapids	34	12	9	13	46	42	+4	49
6	Portland Timbers	34	11	14	9	40	48	−8	42
7	San Jose Earthquakes	34	8	12	14	40	45	−5	38
8	Chivas USA	34	8	14	12	41	43	−2	36
9	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	34	6	18	10	35	55	−20	28

Source: MLS

Overall standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	LA Galaxy (S, C)	34	19	5	10	48	28	+20	67	CONCACAF Champions League
2	Seattle Sounders FC	34	18	7	9	56	37	+19	63
3	Real Salt Lake	34	15	11	8	44	36	+8	53
4	FC Dallas	34	15	12	7	42	39	+3	52
5	Sporting Kansas City	34	13	9	12	50	40	+10	51
6	Houston Dynamo	34	12	9	13	45	41	+4	49	CONCACAF Champions League
7	Colorado Rapids	34	12	9	13	44	41	+3	49
8	Philadelphia Union	34	11	8	15	44	36	+8	48
9	Columbus Crew	34	13	13	8	43	44	−1	47
10	New York Red Bulls	34	10	8	16	50	44	+6	46
11	Chicago Fire	34	9	9	16	46	45	+1	43
12	Portland Timbers	34	11	14	9	40	48	−8	42
13	D.C. United	34	9	13	12	49	52	−3	39
14	San Jose Earthquakes	34	8	12	14	40	45	−5	38
15	Chivas USA	34	8	14	12	41	43	−2	36
16	Toronto FC	34	6	13	15	36	59	−23	33	CONCACAF Champions League
17	New England Revolution	34	5	16	13	38	58	−20	28
18	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	34	6	18	10	35	55	−20	28

Source: MLS
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head record; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (S) Supporters' Shield

MLS Cup Playoffs

Main article: 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs

	Play-in round					Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup
						E1	Sporting Kansas City	2	2
	8	Colorado Rapids	1			WC	Colorado Rapids	0	0
	9	Columbus Crew	0			Eastern Conference						E1	Sporting Kansas City	0
												E2	Houston Dynamo	2
						E2	Houston Dynamo	2	1
						E3	Philadelphia Union	1	0
																	E2	Houston Dynamo	0
																	W1	LA Galaxy	1
						W2	Seattle Sounders FC	0	2
	7	FC Dallas	0			W3	Real Salt Lake	3	0
	10	New York Red Bulls	2			Western Conference						W3	Real Salt Lake	1
												W1	LA Galaxy	3
						W1	LA Galaxy	1	2
						WC	New York Red Bulls	0	1

Player statistics

Goals

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	16
	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes
3	Thierry Henry	New York Red Bulls	14
4	Andrés Mendoza	Columbus Crew	13
5	Camilo Sanvezzo	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	12
	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC
	Dominic Oduro	Chicago Fire
9	Charlie Davies	D.C. United	11
	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union
	Álvaro Saborío	Real Salt Lake
	Brek Shea	FC Dallas

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Brad Davis	Houston Dynamo	16
2	David Beckham	LA Galaxy	15
3	Mauro Rosales	Seattle Sounders FC	13
4	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	12
5	Kyle Beckerman	Real Salt Lake	9
	Davide Chiumiento	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union
	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC
	Patrick Nyarko	Chicago Fire
10	Jack Jewsbury	Portland Timbers	8

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Kevin Hartman	FC Dallas	13
	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
3	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	9
	Dan Kennedy	Chivas USA
	Troy Perkins	Portland Timbers
6	Will Hesmer	Columbus Crew	8
	Jimmy Nielsen	Sporting Kansas City
	Matt Pickens	Colorado Rapids
	Josh Saunders	LA Galaxy
10	Jon Busch	San Jose Earthquakes	7
	Bill Hamid	D.C. United
	Sean Johnson	Chicago Fire
	Faryd Mondragón	Philadelphia Union
	Donovan Ricketts	LA Galaxy

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United
Defender of the Year	Omar Gonzalez	LA Galaxy
Goalkeeper of the Year	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Coach of the Year	Bruce Arena	LA Galaxy
Rookie of the Year	C.J. Sapong	Sporting Kansas City
Newcomer of the Year	Mauro Rosales	Seattle Sounders FC
Comeback Player of the Year	David Beckham	LA Galaxy
Golden Boot	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United
Goal of the Year	Darlington Nagbe	Portland Timbers
Save of the Year	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Fair Play Award	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union
Humanitarian of the Year	Zak Boggs	New England Revolution

Best XI

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Kasey Keller, Seattle	Todd Dunivant, LA Galaxy Omar Gonzalez, LA Galaxy Jámison Olave, Salt Lake	David Beckham, LA Galaxy Brad Davis, Houston Dwayne De Rosario, D.C. United Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy Brek Shea, Dallas	Thierry Henry, Red Bulls Chris Wondolowski, San Jose

Player of the Month

Month	Player	Club	Stats
March	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake	1GA
April	Brad Davis	Houston Dynamo	6A
May	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy	6G
June	Graham Zusi	Sporting Kansas City	2G, 3A
July	Kevin Hartman	FC Dallas	4GA
August	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	3G, 2A
September	Sébastien Le Toux	Philadelphia Union	7G
October	Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	5G

Weekly awards

Week	Player of the Week		AT&T Goal of the Week [6]		MLS Save of the Week [7]
	Player	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
Week 1 [8]	Omar Bravo	Sporting Kansas City	Juan Agudelo	New York Red Bulls	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
Week 2 [9]	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	Javier Martina	Toronto FC	Jake Gleeson	Portland Timbers
Week 3 [10]	Camilo	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Khari Stephenson	San Jose Earthquakes	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 4 [11]	David Ferreira	FC Dallas	O'Brian White	Seattle Sounders FC	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 5 [12]	Luke Rodgers	New York Red Bulls	Jorge Perlaza	Portland Timbers	Jake Gleeson	Portland Timbers
Week 6 [13]	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	Juan Agudelo	New York Red Bulls	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 7 [14]	Will Bruin	Houston Dynamo	Brek Shea	FC Dallas	Bobby Shuttleworth	New England Revolution
Week 8 [15]	Joao Plata	Toronto FC	Thierry Henry	New York Red Bulls	Tim Ream	New York Red Bulls
Week 9 [16]	Justin Braun	Chivas USA	David Beckham	Los Angeles Galaxy	Stefan Frei	Toronto FC
Week 10 [17]	Jeff Parke	Seattle Sounders FC	Carlos Ruiz	Philadelphia Union	Troy Perkins	Portland Timbers
Week 11 [18]	Justin Mapp	Philadelphia Union	Lamar Neagle	Seattle Sounders FC	Donovan & DeLaGarza	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 12 [19]	Jean Alexandre	Real Salt Lake	Jean Alexandre	Real Salt Lake	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 13 [20]	Steven Lenhart	San Jose Earthquakes	Eric Hassli	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Greg Sutton	New York Red Bulls
Week 14 [21]	Bernardo Anor	Columbus Crew	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	Teemu Tainio	New York Red Bulls
Week 15 [22]	Mike Magee	Los Angeles Galaxy	Tyson Wahl	Seattle Sounders FC	Mike Magee	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 16 [23]	Joel Lindpere	New York Red Bulls	Darlington Nagbe	Portland Timbers	Brian Perk	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 17 [24]	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	David Beckham	Los Angeles Galaxy	Troy Perkins	Portland Timbers
Week 18 [25]	Mauro Rosales	Seattle Sounders FC	Carlos Ruiz	Philadelphia Union	Troy Perkins	Portland Timbers
Week 19 [26]	Sanna Nyassi	Colorado Rapids	Kei Kamara	Sporting Kansas City	Jimmy Nielsen	Sporting Kansas City
Week 20 [27]	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	Roger Torres	Philadelphia Union	Andy Gruenebaum	Columbus Crew
Week 21 [28]	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	Luis Gil	Real Salt Lake	Jimmy Nielsen	Sporting Kansas City
Week 22 [29]	Chris Pontius	D.C. United	Adam Moffat	Houston Dynamo	Miloš Kocić	Toronto FC
Week 23 [30]	Graham Zusi	Sporting Kansas City	Graham Zusi	Sporting Kansas City	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 24 [31]	Lamar Neagle	Seattle Sounders FC	Lamar Neagle	Seattle Sounders FC	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
Week 25 [32]	No award given		Kyle Beckerman	Real Salt Lake	Jimmy Nielsen	Sporting Kansas City
Week 26 [33]	Charlie Davies	D.C. United	Davide Chiumiento	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Joe Cannon	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Week 27 [34]	Danny Koevermans	Toronto FC	Álvaro Fernández	Seattle Sounders FC	Zac MacMath	Philadelphia Union
Week 28 [35]	Dwayne De Rosario	D.C. United	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	Troy Perkins	Portland Timbers
Week 29 [36]	Marco Pappa	Chicago Fire	Kenny Cooper	Portland Timbers	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
Week 30 [37]	No award given		Chris Wondolowski	San Jose Earthquakes	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 31 [38]	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	Danny Cruz	Houston Dynamo	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC
Week 32 [39]	Jalil Anibaba	Chicago Fire	Adam Moffat	Houston Dynamo	Jimmy Nielsen	Sporting Kansas City

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. ^[40]

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. ^[40]

Original Ranking	Club	Date Allocation Used	Player Signed	Previous Club	Ref
1	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	November 18, 2010	Jay DeMerit	Watford	[41]
2	Portland Timbers	January 17, 2011	Kenny Cooper	1860 Munich	[42]
3	D.C. United	February 16, 2011	Charlie Davies	Sochaux¤	[43]
4	Chivas USA
5	Philadelphia Union	August 12, 2011	Freddy Adu	Benfica	[44]
6	New England Revolution	April 19, 2011	Benny Feilhaber	AGF Aarhus	[45]
7	Houston Dynamo
8	Toronto FC
9	Seattle Sounders FC¤¤	August 26, 2011	Sammy Ochoa	Estudiantes Tecos	[46]
10	Sporting Kansas City

¤ 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. ^[47]

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:

Lottery Date	Player	Position	Winning Club	Other Clubs Participating	Ref
January 26, 2011	David Bingham	GK	San Jose Earthquakes	New England Revolution, Toronto FC, Chicago Fire, Seattle Sounders FC, Columbus Crew, New York Red Bulls, Colorado Rapids, FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, Los Angeles Galaxy, Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps FC	[48]
February 11, 2011	Cody Arnoux	FW	Real Salt Lake	Houston Dynamo, Seattle Sounders FC, Columbus Crew, Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps FC	[49]
February 14, 2011	Chris Agorsor	FW	Philadelphia Union	Portland Timbers, Vancouver Whitecaps FC	[50]
February 15, 2011	Korey Veeder	DF	Columbus Crew	Toronto FC, Seattle Sounders FC, Colorado Rapids	[51]
July 5, 2011	Soony Saad	FW	Sporting Kansas City	Chivas USA, Chicago Fire, Portland Timbers	[52]

Related competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions League

Main articles: 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League and 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.^{[ citation needed ]} 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, ^[53] a friendly tournament which started play on July 14 and will end on August 6. ^[54]

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 articles: 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and 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.

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