11th season of Major League Soccer
Football league season
The
2006 Major League Soccer season
was the 11th season of
Major League Soccer
. It was also the 94th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the
United States
, and the 28th with a national first-division league.
The MetroStars were bought by Austrian company
Red Bull
and rebranded as the
New York Red Bulls
.
Due to owner
AEG
being unable to secure a
soccer specific stadium
in
San Jose
, the
Earthquakes
ceased operations and had their personnel transferred to the expansion
Houston Dynamo
.
In June, the
Chicago Fire
moved into their new
soccer-specific stadium
,
Toyota Park
, in
Bridgeview, Illinois
.
The regular season began on April 1, and concluded on October 15. The 2006 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 21, and concluded with
MLS Cup 2006
on November 12. Houston marked their inaugural season with a league championship by defeating the
New England Revolution
on penalties in MLS Cup.
Overview
[
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]
Season format
[
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]
The season began on April 1 and concluded with
MLS Cup
on November 12. The 12 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference four times, and every team in the opposite conference twice.
The top four teams from each conference qualified for the
MLS Cup Playoffs
. 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' Cup
. Additionally, the winner of
MLS Cup
also qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. If a team qualified for multiple berths into the Champions' Cup, then additional berths were awarded to the highest overall finishing MLS team(s) not already qualified. Qualification for the inaugural
SuperLiga
was also awarded to the MLS Cup Champion and Supporters' Shield winner, as well two invited teams,
FC Dallas
and
LA Galaxy
.
Automatic qualification for the
U.S. Open Cup
was awarded 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.
Stadiums and locations
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Team
|
Stadium
|
Capacity
|
Chicago Fire
|
Toyota Park
|
20,000
|
Chivas USA
|
Home Depot Center
|
27,000
|
Colorado Rapids
|
Invesco Field at Mile High
|
76,125
|
Columbus Crew
|
Columbus Crew Stadium
|
22,555
|
D.C. United
|
RFK Stadium
|
46,000
|
FC Dallas
|
Pizza Hut Park
|
21,193
|
Houston Dynamo
|
Robertson Stadium
|
32,000
|
Kansas City Wizards
|
Arrowhead Stadium
|
81,425
|
Los Angeles Galaxy
|
Home Depot Center
|
27,000
|
New England Revolution
|
Gillette Stadium
|
68,756
|
New York Red Bulls
|
Giants Stadium
|
80,200
|
Real Salt Lake
|
Rice-Eccles Stadium
|
45,017
|
Personnel and sponsorships
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Coaching changes
[
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]
Standings
[
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]
Eastern Conference
[
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]
Western Conference
[
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]
Overall standings
[
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]
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
[
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]
Conference semifinals
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]
D.C. United
advance 2?1 on aggregate.
New England Revolution
advance 4?2 on penalties (2?2 aggregate after
extra time
).
Colorado Rapids
advance 5?4 on penalties (4?4 aggregate after
extra time
).
Houston Dynamo
advance 3?2 on aggregate.
Conference finals
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New England Revolution
advances 1?0 in single elimination.
Houston Dynamo
advances 3?1 in single elimination.
MLS Cup
[
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]
Player statistics
[
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]
Goals
[
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]
Assists
[
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]
Clean sheets
[
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]
Awards
[
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]
Individual awards
[
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]
Best XI
[
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]
Goalkeeper
|
Defenders
|
Midfielders
|
Forwards
|
Troy Perkins
,
D.C. United
|
Bobby Boswell
,
D.C. United
Jose Burciaga Jr.
,
Kansas City
Jimmy Conrad
,
Kansas City
|
Ricardo Clark
,
Houston
Clint Dempsey
,
New England
Dwayne De Rosario
,
Houston
Christian Gomez
,
D.C. United
Justin Mapp
,
Chicago
|
Jeff Cunningham
,
Salt Lake
Jaime Moreno
,
D.C. United
|
Attendance
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Club
|
Games
|
Total
|
Average
|
Los Angeles Galaxy
|
16
|
333,016
|
20,814
|
Chivas USA
|
16
|
317,432
|
19,840
|
Houston Dynamo
|
16
|
302,957
|
18,935
|
D.C. United
|
16
|
291,442
|
18,215
|
Real Salt Lake
|
16
|
261,855
|
16,366
|
FC Dallas
|
16
|
239,714
|
14,982
|
New York Red Bulls
|
16
|
233,112
|
14,570
|
Chicago Fire
|
16
|
225,775
|
14,111
|
Columbus Crew
|
16
|
212,699
|
13,294
|
Colorado Rapids
|
16
|
192,894
|
12,056
|
New England Revolution
|
16
|
188,569
|
11,786
|
Kansas City Wizards
|
16
|
177,322
|
11,083
|
Totals
|
192
|
2,976,787
|
15,504
|
External links
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|
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Club tournaments in CONCACAF member countries between July 2006 and June 2007
|
Domestic leagues
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Domestic cups
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CONCACAF competitions
| |
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