2008 Major League Soccer season

D.C. United

New York

Columbus

New England

Chicago

Kansas City

Toronto

Colorado

Dallas

Chivas USA

Galaxy

Houston

Salt Lake

San Jose

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Locations of teams for the 2008 Major League Soccer season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 96th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 30th with a national first-division league.

The San Jose Earthquakes returned to the league, following a two-year hiatus that began after the 2005 season.

The Kansas City Wizards left Arrowhead Stadium and moved to the Kansas side of the metropolitan area, occupying CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City. The league also debuted its newest soccer-specific stadium in October when Real Salt Lake opened Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

The regular season began on March 29, and concluded on October 26. The 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 30, and concluded with MLS Cup 2008 on November 23. The Columbus Crew captured the league double by winning their second Supporters' Shield and by defeating the New York Red Bulls, 3-1, in MLS Cup.

Overview

Season format

The season began on March 29 and concluded with MLS Cup on November 23. The 14 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 30 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 26 games. The remaining four games were played against four regional rivals, two at home and two away.

The top three teams from each conference automatically qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. In addition, the two highest remaining point totals, regardless of conference, also qualified. In the first round, aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners. The conference finals were played as a single match, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup. 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, as a Canadian-based team, could not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS, and had to instead qualify through the Canadian Championship.

Automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup was awarded to the top six overall finishers, as opposed to the top three finishers in each conference. The rest of the U.S.-based MLS teams had to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.

Due to fixture congestion, qualification for the SuperLiga was limited to the top four overall finishers not already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. This applied retroactively to the 2008 season, and thus was related to qualification for MLS teams to SuperLiga 2009.

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorships

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	Denis Hamlett		Best Buy
Chivas USA	Preki		Comex
Colorado Rapids	Fernando Clavijo		—
Columbus Crew	Sigi Schmid	Frankie Hejduk	Glidden
D.C. United	Tom Soehn		Volkswagen
FC Dallas	Steve Morrow		—
Houston Dynamo	Dominic Kinnear	Wade Barrett	—
Kansas City Wizards	Curt Onalfo		—
LA Galaxy	Ruud Gullit		Herbalife
New England Revolution	Steve Nicol		—
New York Red Bulls	Juan Carlos Osorio	Claudio Reyna	Red Bull
Real Salt Lake	Jason Kreis	Kyle Beckerman	—
San Jose Earthquakes	Frank Yallop	Nick Garcia	—
Toronto FC	John Carver		—

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
FC Dallas	Steve Morrow	Fired	May 20, 2008	Marco Ferruzzi	May 20, 2008
FC Dallas	Marco Ferruzzi	End of interim period	June 16, 2008	Schellas Hyndman	June 16, 2008

Results table

Standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall standings

MLS Cup Playoffs

¹ The New York Red Bulls earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Western Conference qualified for the playoffs.

Player statistics

Goals

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy	20
2	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas	18
3	Edson Buddle	LA Galaxy	15
4	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	14
5	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo	13
6	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United	11
	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids
8	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	10
9	Chad Barrett	Chicago Fire Toronto FC	9
	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	16
2	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	11
3	Terry Cooke	Colorado Rapids	10
4	David Beckham	LA Galaxy	8
	Justin Mapp	Chicago Fire
6	Christian Gómez	Colorado Rapids	7
7	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire	6
	Brad Davis	Houston Dynamo
	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
	Jaime Moreno	Chicago Fire
	Ronnie O'Brien	San Jose Earthquakes

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Jon Busch	Chicago Fire	10
	Kevin Hartman	Kansas City Wizards
	Will Hesmer	Columbus Crew
4	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes	9
5	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake	8
6	Jon Conway	New York Red Bulls	7
	Pat Onstad	Houston Dynamo
	Darío Sala	FC Dallas
9	Matt Reis	New England Revolution	6
	Greg Sutton	Toronto FC

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew
Defender of the Year	Chad Marshall	Columbus Crew
Goalkeeper of the Year	Jon Busch	Chicago Fire
Coach of the Year	Sigi Schmid	Columbus Crew
Rookie of the Year	Sean Franklin	LA Galaxy
Newcomer of the Year	Darren Huckerby	San Jose Earthquakes
Comeback Player of the Year	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas
Golden Boot	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
Goal of the Year	Will Johnson	Real Salt Lake
Fair Play Award	Michael Parkhurst	New England Revolution
Humanitarian of the Year	José Burciaga Jr.	Colorado Rapids

MLS Best XI

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Jon Busch, Chicago	Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Chad Marshall, Columbus Bakary Soumaré, Chicago	Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Chicago Shalrie Joseph, New England Sacha Kljestan, Chivas USA Robbie Rogers, Columbus Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Columbus	Kenny Cooper, Dallas Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy

Weekly awards

Player of the Week
Week	Player	Club
Week 1	Terry Cooke	Colorado Rapids
Week 2	David Beckham	LA Galaxy
Week 3	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew
Week 4	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
Week 5	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
Week 6	David Beckham	LA Galaxy
Week 7	Robbie Rogers	Columbus Crew
Week 8	Edson Buddle	LA Galaxy
Week 9	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire
Week 10	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake
Week 11	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo
Week 12	Edson Buddle	LA Galaxy
Week 13	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
Week 14	Steve Ralston	New England Revolution
Week 15	Adam Cristman	New England Revolution
Week 16	John Thorrington	Chicago Fire
Week 17	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew
Week 18	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas
Week 19	Kenny Cooper	FC Dallas
Week 20	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls
Week 21	Ronnie O'Brien	San Jose Earthquakes
Week 22	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew
Week 23	Fabian Espindola	Real Salt Lake
Week 24	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew
Week 25	Steve Ralston	New England Revolution
Week 26	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
Week 27	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids
Week 28	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo
Week 29	Brian McBride	Chicago Fire
Week 30	Claudio López	Kansas City Wizards
Week 31	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire

Goal of the Week
Week	Player	Club
Week 1	Sainey Nyassi	New England Revolution
Week 2	Geoff Cameron	Houston Dynamo
Week 3	Sacha Kljestan	Chivas USA
Week 4	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
Week 5	Marcelo Gallardo	D.C. United
Week 6	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire
Week 7	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire
Week 8	Marcelo Gallardo	D.C. United
Week 9	Tam McManus	Colorado Rapids
Week 10	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake
Week 11	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United
Week 12	Clyde Simms	D.C. United
Week 13	Gonzalo Martínez	D.C. United
Week 14	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United
Week 15	Ante Razov	Chivas USA
Week 16	Ante Razov	Chivas USA
Week 17	Juan Pablo Angel	New York Red Bulls
Week 18	Abe Thompson	FC Dallas
Week 19	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United
Week 20	Chad Barrett	Toronto FC
Week 21	Brian Carroll	Columbus Crew
Week 22	Joe Vide	D.C. United
Week 23	Fabian Espindola	Real Salt Lake
Week 24	Santino Quaranta	D.C. United
Week 25	Davy Arnaud	Kansas City Wizards
Week 26	Robbie Rogers	Columbus Crew
Week 27	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards
Week 28	Andy Williams	Real Salt Lake
Week 29	Brandon McDonald	LA Galaxy
Week 30	Danny Cepero	New York Red Bulls
Week 31	Brad Evans	Columbus Crew

Monthly awards

Player of the Month
Week	Player	Club
April	Landon Donovan	LA Galaxy
May	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire
June	Luciano Emilio	D.C. United
July	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake
August	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew
September	Darren Huckerby	San Jose Earthquakes
October	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls

Attendances

Related competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2008

The Houston Dynamo and D.C. United earned berths in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup by virtue of their MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield wins, respectively. Houston and D.C. were both victorious in their quarterfinal ties and advanced to the semifinals. For the second straight year, however, both lost their respective semifinals, and were eliminated.

SuperLiga 2008

D.C. United, Chivas USA, the New England Revolution, and the Houston Dynamo were MLS's entrants into SuperLiga 2008, based on their top-four finish in the 2007 regular season.

Following the Group Stage, which took place from July 12 to July 20, Houston and New England each won their respective groups to advance to the Semifinals, where they faced 2007 champion Pachuca on July 29 and Atlante on July 30, respectively. D.C. United finished last and Chivas USA finished third in their respective groups and failed to advance.

Both MLS teams were victorious in the Semifinals, setting up a rematch of the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups in the Final on August 5 at Gillette Stadium.

The teams played to a 2–2 draw after extra time. New England eventually defeated Houston 6–5 on penalty kicks.

CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09

The Houston Dynamo (MLS Cup winner), D.C. United (Supporters' Shield Winner), the New England Revolution (U.S. Open Cup winner and MLS Cup runner-up), and Chivas USA (Supporters' Shield runner-up) were the representatives in the rebranded successor to the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

New England and Chivas USA entered at the preliminary round, and were eliminated over two legs by Joe Public of Trinidad and Tobago and Tauro of Panama, respectively.

D.C. and Houston were seeded into the Group Stage as the top seeds in Groups A and B, respectively.

D.C. was eliminated from Group A with two games remaining in group play, while Houston qualified for the Championship Round with a 1–0 win in their last match against Luis Ángel Firpo on November 26, which was postponed from Matchday 1 due to Hurricane Ike.

Houston was eliminated in the Quarterfinals over two legs by Atlante.

National competitions

2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

MLS awarded the top three finishers in each conference last season automatic berths into the 2008 U.S. Open Cup's Third Round. D.C. United, the New England Revolution, and the New York Red Bulls qualified from the Eastern Conference while Chivas USA, the Houston Dynamo, and FC Dallas qualified from the Western Conference. The rest of MLS's U.S.-based teams would have to compete for the final two berths into the third round via a seven-team playoff. Eventually Chicago Fire and the Kansas City Wizards qualified by beating the Columbus Crew and the Colorado Rapids respectively.

Each of the qualified MLS teams was matched up against the winner of a Second Round game, all of whom came from either one of the USL's three divisions or the USASA, in the third round on July 1. Three MLS teams were eliminated by these lower division clubs. Chivas USA was eliminated by USL-1's Seattle Sounders, the New York Red Bulls were upset by Crystal Palace Baltimore of USL-2, and the Houston Dynamo lost a penalty shootout to the USL-1's Charleston Battery.

In the Quarterfinals on July 8, FC Dallas and the Kansas City Wizards were eliminated by the Charleston Battery and the Seattle Sounders, respectively. This meant an MLS team, either D.C. United or the New England Revolution would face a USL-1 team in the final.

In the Semifinals on August 12, D.C. United upset the Open Cup holding Revolution by a score of 3 to 1. This earned United a berth in the final against the USL-1's Charleston Battery on September 3 at RFK Stadium.

In the Final on September 3, D.C. United won their second U.S. Open Cup in a 2–1 win over the Charleston Battery.

2008 Canadian Championship

Due to the fact that none of the Canadian teams playing in the American soccer pyramid can qualify for Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League through their leagues or the U.S. Open Cup, the Canadian Soccer Association was forced to develop a tournament to determine the country's representative in the Champions League. The country's top three teams, MLS's Toronto FC and the USL-1's Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC were entered into the inaugural Canadian Championship. The tournament was played as a double round robin group from May 27 to July 22. The Montreal Impact finished first, claiming the Canadian berth in the Champions League.

All-Star game

The 2008 MLS All-Star Game was held at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, home of Toronto FC, on July 24.^[1] The opponent was West Ham United, of England's Premier League. It was the first time that the game was played outside the United States.

The game was won by the MLS All-Stars by a score of 3–2. Cuauhtémoc Blanco was named MVP of the game after assisting the All-Stars' first goal and scoring their second.

See also

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2008 Major League Soccer season