2009 Major League Soccer season

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The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington.

Changes from the 2008 season

The following changes were made since the 2008 season:

• Seattle Sounders FC began play as an expansion team in the Western Conference.
• Two teams signed shirt sponsorship deals:
  • Xbox 360 Live became the shirt sponsor of Seattle Sounders FC.
  • Amway Global became the shirt sponsor of the San Jose Earthquakes.
• The top two teams from each conference will qualify automatically for the playoffs (down from three). In addition, the next four highest point totals, regardless of conference, will also qualify (up from two).
• Sigi Schmid did not sign a new contract with the Columbus Crew and was hired as head coach of Seattle Sounders FC.
• The Columbus Crew promoted assistant coach Robert Warzycha to head coach.
• After three seasons, the MLS Reserve Division was discontinued. As a result, each team's Developmental Roster spots were reduced from 10 to four, and each team's Senior Roster spots were increased from 18 to 20. This had the effect of reducing each team's total roster from 28 to 24 players.

Competition format

The format for the 2009 season was as follows:

• The season began on March 19 and ended on November 22 with MLS Cup 2009.^[3]
• The 15 teams were split into two conferences. The Western Conference had eight teams with the addition of Seattle Sounders FC, and the Eastern Conference had seven teams. Each team played a total of 30 games that were evenly divided between home and away games. Each team played every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 28 games. The remaining two games were played against two conference rivals, one at home and one away.
• The two teams in each conference with the most points qualified for the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs. In addition, the next four highest ranked teams, regardless of conference, also qualified. Teams were bracketed by conference, with the lowest ranked teams crossing over to the other conference if necessary. In the Conference Semifinals, aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners. The Conference Finals were played as single matches, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup 2009. After the completion of any round, ties were broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kick shootout if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.
• The team with the most points in the regular season won the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified directly into the Group Stage of the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League. The MLS Cup Winner also qualified for the Champions League Group Stage. The MLS Cup Runners-Up and the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Winners qualified for the Preliminary Round of the Champions League. If a team qualified for multiple berths into the Champions League, then additional berths were awarded to the highest-placed team(s) in the 2009 MLS regular season's overall standings that had not already qualified.
• The four teams with the most points, regardless of conference, who had not qualified for the Champions League qualified for SuperLiga 2010.
• The six U.S.-based teams with the most points, regardless of conference, qualified for the Third Round of the 2010 U.S. Open Cup. The remaining U.S.-based MLS teams had to qualify for the remaining two berths via a series of play-in games.
• As a Canadian-based team, Toronto FC could not qualify through MLS for the Champions League or the U.S. Open Cup. In either case, any berth earned by Toronto FC was awarded to the highest-placed team in the overall standings which had not already qualified. Their means of entry into the Champions League is the Canadian Championship; they won that competition in both 2009 and 2010 to gain entry to the Champions League for 2009–10 and 2010–11.

Tiebreakers

1. Head-to-Head (Points-per-match average)
2. Overall Goal Differential
3. Overall Total Goals Scored
4. Tiebreakers 1-3 applied only to matches on the road
5. Tiebreakers 1-3 applied only to matches at home
6. Fewest team disciplinary points in the League Fair Play table
7. Coin toss

If more than two clubs are tied, once a club advances through any step, the process reverts to Tiebreaker 1 among the remaining tied clubs recursively until all ties are resolved.^[4]

Results table

Standings

For an explanation of the playoff qualifications, see Competition format.

Conference standings

Overall standings

• ^Note 1 - Toronto FC cannot qualify for the U.S. Open Cup, as it is a Canadian-based team. If they qualify for an automatic berth into the U.S. Open Cup, the next highest placed team not already qualified will be given a berth. Similarly, they cannot qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS. Rather, they can qualify through the Canadian Soccer Championship. If they qualify for the Champions League through MLS, then the highest placed team not already qualified will qualify.

• ^Note 2 - The winner of the 2009 MLS Supporters' Shield (Columbus Crew) and the winner of MLS Cup 2009 (Real Salt Lake) qualified for the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage. The runner-up of MLS Cup 2009 (Los Angeles Galaxy) and the winner of the 2009 U.S. Open Cup (Seattle Sounders) qualified for the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round.
  

• ^Note 3 - SuperLiga 2010 berths are awarded to the top 4 finishing teams from MLS who do not qualify for Champions League (Houston, Chicago, Chivas USA and New England).

Playoffs

¹ Real Salt Lake earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Western Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Eastern Conference qualified for the playoffs.

Statistics

Golden Boot

Full article: MLS Golden Boot

Rank	Scorer	Club	GP	G	A
1	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	28	17	8
2	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	24	16	1
3	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	27	12	7
4	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	25	12	6
5	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake	27	12	4
6	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	24	12	3
7	Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	25	12	2
8	Dwayne de Rosario	Toronto FC	28	11	6
9	Ryan Johnson	San Jose Earthquakes	30	11	2
10	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	27	11	0

Stats last updated 24 October 2009.^[5]

Goalkeeping leaders

Rank	Goalkeeper	Club	GP	MINS	SHTS	SVS	GA	GAA	W–L–T	SHO
1	Zach Thornton	Chivas USA	27	2385	111	83	23	0.87	12–9–6	12
2	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	29	2549	108	78	26	0.92	12–5–11	10
3	William Hesmer	Columbus Crew	19	1710	86	68	18	0.95	9–4–6	7
4	Matt Reis	New England Revolution	24	2160	140	114	23	0.96	10–8–6	8
5	Pat Onstad	Houston Dynamo	30	2700	121	89	29	0.97	13–8–9	10

Stats last updated October 26, 2009.^[6]

Individual awards

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Club	Week's Statline
Week 1	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	2 G (12', 75') GWG, A (25')
Week 2	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	SHO, 5 SVS
Week 3	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	3 G (1', 49', 84') GWG
Week 4	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy	SHO, 5 SVS
Week 5	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	2 G (78', 89') GTG
Week 6	Javier Morales	Real Salt Lake	2 A (53', 55') GWA
Week 7	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	2 G (56', 66') GWG
Week 8	Macoumba Kandji	New York Red Bulls	G (40'), 2 A (13', 22') GWA
Week 9	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	2 G (20', 67') GWG
Week 10	Amado Guevara	Toronto FC	2 G (14', 70')
Week 11	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	2 G (25', 48')
Week 12	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution	2 G (57', 64')
Week 13	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	2 G (61', 87') GWG
Week 14	Omar Cummings	Colorado Rapids	2 G (11', 45') GWG, A (49')
Week 15	Nate Jaqua	Seattle Sounders FC	A (23') GWA, 2 G (48', 68')
Week 16	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	2 G (15', 17') GWG
Week 17	Chad Barrett	Toronto FC	2 G (5', 69')
Week 18	Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Chicago Fire	A (82') GWA, G (92+')
Week 19	Yura Movsisyan	Real Salt Lake	2 G (55', 93+')
Week 20	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	4 G (38', 66', 76', 89'), GWG
Week 21	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	3 G (4', 23', 47+')
Week 22	Chad Marshall	Columbus Crew	G (10'), A (87')
Week 23	Kheli Dube	New England Revolution	3 G (9', 29', 66')
Week 24	Pablo Campos	Real Salt Lake	1 G (43') GWG, 1 G (18') GWG
Week 25	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	2 G (73', 91+')
Week 26	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	2 G (25', 86') 2 A (71', 83')
Week 27	Brad Davis	Houston Dynamo	G (81') GWG, 2 A (2', 5')
Week 28	Shalrie Joseph	New England Revolution	2 G (51', 86') GWG
Week 29	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 G (42') GWG
Week 30	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	1 G (81') GWG
Week 31	Freddie Ljungberg	Seattle Sounders FC	2 A (69', 76') GWA
Week 32	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake	2 G (15', 33') GWG

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Club	Month's Statline
March	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	3 G, 1 A, Sounders 2-0-0 in March
April	Brian McBride	Chicago Fire	4 G, Fire 1-0-3 in April
May	Conor Casey	Colorado Rapids	4 G, 1 A, Rapids 2-0-2 in May
June	Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Columbus Crew	4 G, 2 A, Crew 3-1-0 in June
July	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 G, 2 A, Galaxy 3-0-1 in July
August	Chad Marshall	Columbus Crew	2 G, 3 SHO Crew 3-1-0 in August
September	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	7 G, 3 A, Dallas 3-1-1 in September
October	Freddie Ljungberg	Seattle Sounders FC	4 A, Sounders 3-0-0 in October

Goal of the Week

Week	Scorer	Club	Goal
Week 1	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	12'
Week 2	Fredy Montero	Seattle Sounders FC	77'
Week 3	Sainey Nyassi	New England Revolution	56'
Week 4	Brian McBride	Chicago Fire	57'
Week 5	Brian Ching	Houston Dynamo	20'
Week 6	Clint Mathis	Real Salt Lake	55'
Week 7	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	66'
Week 8	Chris Pontius	D.C. United	86'
Week 9	Santino Quaranta	D.C. United	85'
Week 10	Claudio López	Kansas City Wizards	56'
Week 11	Nate Jaqua	Seattle Sounders FC	58'
Week 12	Omar Cummings	Colorado Rapids	88'
Week 13	Davy Arnaud	Kansas City Wizards	19'
Week 14	Eric Avila	FC Dallas	80'
Week 15	Nate Jaqua	Seattle Sounders FC	48'
Week 16	Marco Pappa	Chicago Fire	30'
Week 17	Patrick Ianni	Seattle Sounders FC	46'
Week 18	Bryan Namoff	D.C. United	56'
Week 19	Claudio López	Kansas City Wizards	26'
Week 20	Fred	D.C. United	74'
Week 21	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy	21'
Week 22	Steve Zakuani	Seattle Sounders FC	22'
Week 23	Nate Jaqua	Seattle Sounders FC	70'
Week 24	Wells Thompson	New England Revolution	73'
Week 25	Edgaras Jankauskas	New England Revolution	63'
Week 26	O'Brian White	Toronto FC	71'
Week 27	Brad Davis	Houston Dynamo	81'
Week 28	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	87'
Week 29	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	71'
Week 30	Jeff Cunningham	FC Dallas	82'
Week 31	George John	FC Dallas	4'
Week 32	Robbie Findley	Real Salt Lake	33'

Save of the Week

Save of the week was first introduced during week 10 of the 2009 season.^[7]

Week	Goalkeeper	Club	Save
Week 10	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	34'
Week 11	Kevin Hartman	Kansas City Wizards	82'
Week 12	Pat Onstad	Houston Dynamo	34'
Week 13	Danny Cepero	New York Red Bulls	32'
Week 14	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy	14'
Week 15	Stefan Frei	Toronto FC	34'
Week 16	Josh Saunders	Los Angeles Galaxy	73'
Week 17	Pat Onstad	Houston Dynamo	43'
Week 18	Donovan Ricketts	Los Angeles Galaxy	42'
Week 19	Nick Rimando	Real Salt Lake	71'
Week 20	Darío Sala	FC Dallas	48'
Week 21	Kasey Keller	Seattle Sounders FC	47'
Week 22	Amado Guevara	Toronto FC	47'
Week 23	Onstad & Barret	Houston Dynamo	4'
Week 24	Stefan Frei	Toronto FC	93+'
Week 25	Stefan Frei	Toronto FC	24'
Week 26	Stefan Frei	Toronto FC	77'
Week 27	Zach Thornton	Chivas USA	15'
Week 28	Darío Sala	FC Dallas	7'
Week 29	Tyrone Marshall	Seattle Sounders FC	70'
Week 30	Dario Sala	FC Dallas	53'
Week 31	Geoff Cameron	Houston Dynamo	7'
Week 32	Kevin Hartman	Kansas City Wizards	51'

Team Attendance Totals

^[8]

Related competitions

International competitions

CONCACAF Champions League

The Houston Dynamo continued their CONCACAF Champions League 2008–09 campaign that began during the previous season. They were eliminated in the quarterfinals over two legs by eventual champions Atlante.

Columbus (MLS Cup and Supporters' Shield winner), Houston (MLS Supporters' Shield Runner-up), New York (MLS Cup runner-up), and D.C. United (U.S. Open Cup winner), will be the representatives in the CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10 -- an additional slot from Canada was gained by Toronto by virtue of their Voyageurs Cup win. New York and Toronto were eliminated at the preliminary round, while D.C. advanced to the group stage on penalty kicks. Columbus and Houston qualified directly into the Group stage.^[9] Houston and D.C. were eliminated during the group stage, with only Columbus progressing to the knockout rounds.

SuperLiga 2009

Chicago, New England, Chivas USA, and Kansas City were MLS's entrants in SuperLiga 2009, based on their finish in the 2008 regular season as the top four teams not already qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. Chivas U.S.A. and Kansas City were eliminated in the group stage. Chicago eliminated New England in the semi-finals, only to lose to Tigres in the final.

National competitions

2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

MLS awarded the top six finishers in 2008, regardless of conference, automatic berths into the 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup's third round. Columbus, Houston, Chicago Fire, New England, Chivas USA, and Kansas City qualified based on their top-six finish. D.C. United and Seattle qualified via an eight team qualifying tournament.

Each of the qualified MLS teams were matched up against the winner of a second round game, all of whom come from one of the USL's three divisions. Seattle and D.C. eventually emerged to play the final on 2 September at RFK stadium, which Seattle ultimately won.

2009 Canadian Championship

Canada's top three teams, MLS's Toronto FC, USL-1's Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC competed in the Voyageurs Cup. The tournament was played as a double round robin group from May 6 to June 18, and won by Toronto, who gained Canada's berth into the CONCACAF Champions League 2009-10.

All-Star game

The 2009 MLS All-Star Game against Everton FC, of the English Premier League, took place on July 29 from Rio Tinto Stadium home of Real Salt Lake. Everton defeated the MLS All-Stars in a penalty shootout 4-3 after the game was tied 1-1. No extra time was played following regular time. Tim Howard, the Everton and U.S. Men's National Team goalkeeper, was named the game's MVP.

See also

• List of transfers for the 2009 Major League Soccer season
• 2008 MLS Expansion Draft

References

External links

• Soccernet ESPN (Stats) Site
• MLS Site