MLS owners have offered Don Garber a contract extension provided a new collective bargaining agreement can be reached with the players reports Sports Business Journal (subscription).


The terms are reported to be up to $3 million per year for four years.


Garber's tenure with the league, which began when he moved over from the National Football League in 1999, has been marked by solid growth in recent years. The league has taken large strides, including the additions of several expansion franchises, the sale of jersey sponsorships, and the luring of big name players.


Garber's acknowledgement that MLS must do a better job of attracting American soccer fans who currently ignore the league indicates that he understand the task American club soccer faces; whether he or the owners are willing to take appropriate steps to better bring in those fans is the question he will face going forward.


Extending Garber is the right move for the league, as it's doubtful they'd be able to find anyone better equipped to take American club soccer through the next crucial phase in its development. Tying the new deal to a successful CBA negotiation is more about the league protecting itself from a large financial commitment if there is a protracted work stoppage or lost season than it is about motivating Garber to get a deal done, but it's a proper caveat to impose.


There is a certain irony, as pointed out in the SBJ story, that Garber could be set to make more in a year than the per team salary cap; as an executive, Garber may be worth the money, but it doesn't look to good on the league or the Commissioner himself.

This week, Jason and Zach review the MLS Cup Final, discuss the return of the NASL name for America's second division, and talk to Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch regarding the MLS CBA negotiations.

Get your thoughts on these topics or others by emailing the show at show@americansoccershow.com

Don't forget that this is the FINAL show that will be available via the MFUSA iTunes feed; if you want to get the show in iTunes going forward, you MUST subscribe to the new feed HERE.

DOWNLOAD the show

LISTEN in the CSRN Media Player

The show should be available via the new iTunes feed and the CSRN media player around 3 PM ET/12 PM PT.

The American Soccer Show will be doing a special LIVE show on December 4th immediately following the World Cup group draw; head to americansoccershow.com for more details.

Taking stock of the MLS CBA negotiations is difficult, if only because it's almost impossible to determine if what is being said by each side is purely rhetoric or if it's an actual peek at bargaining table mindsets. If it's all rhetoric, then we can have hope as a fan base, knowing that both groups will likely back down from their current stances and find common ground by January 31st. If it's not rhetoric, if both Major League Soccer and the MLS Players Union want to stick to their hard lines, it might be a painful next two months.


The players, for their part, have made statements outlining their desire for concessions on the following points, going so far as to involve the international players group FIFPro on point one:

1. Guaranteed contracts
2. Free agency
3. Quality of life items


Management has pushed back hard on the first two, though it appears that they're amedable to working with the players on point three. Of course, quality of life items, meaning larger per diems, allowing charter flights, moving cost reimbursement, etc., aren't going to make headlines, nor decide the ultimate tenor of the new agreement. It's those first two issues, and the accompanying matter of FIFA compliance, that will have each side at the others throats.


For a more detailed look at the FIFA regulations and how they apply to MLS contracts, and possible ways by which the league can get around the compliance question, read Kyle McCarthy's piece at Goal.com. McCarthy delves into the minutiae of the FIFA regs, but sums up by pointing out that none of it matters as long as world football's governing body maintains its stance that it will not intervene.


Unfortunately, the bluster will surely continue, clouding over the matter and giving many MLS fans ulcers until the thing is worked out. With just over two months to go until the current CBA expires, it doesn't appear that the league and the players have made any real progress; when the players, prematurely in my mind, make noise about a strike, and management refuses to address a very real and very legitimate concern about their contracts, feathers are bound to be ruffled.


It's during negotiations like these, between two groups of people with intelligence and the supposed best interest of the game at heart, that we see adults act the most like children. The stubbornness we're seeing now, and the rhetoric flying back and forth, serves to not only create hard feelings at the negotiating table, thereby slowing down the process, it also saps any confidence the fan base has in the deal getting done.


I know that I don't feel very good about the chances of an agreement being reached by the expiration date, and while that doesn't necessarily mean that the 2010 season will be cancelled or delayed, it will certainly damage the leagues standing among soccer fans in the United States.

Ives has an update on the recovery progress of US National Team forward Charlie Davies, and it appears to be fantastic news; not only is Charlie's rehab going as planned, he's exceeding expectations.


Don't get me wrong, this is excellent news for Davies and his family, and as a huge fan of Charlie's, I wish him all the best; but I'm slightly concerned that updates like these could artificially raise expectations and give US fans a misguided belief that Davies could return in time to contribute to the National Team's World Cup efforts next year in South Africa.


Even if there is a remote chance that Davies could be playing soccer again by June, the best mindset, the correct mindset, for fans is to think of Charlie's progress only as interesting from a compassionate human standpoint rather than a soccer one. I'm not going to rule our a miraculous recovery that makes Charlie a possible inclusion in the World Cup team, as I'm not a doctor, and am loathe to underestimate Davies' resolve; but let's not get ahead of ourselves by putting any of our hope into a player who's abilities on the pitch would at the very least rusty should he manage to shock us all by returning next summer.


I'm sure I'm jumping the gun on this, since I haven't actually seen anyone overstating this news or voicing their hope that Davies will be back for South Africa. Most fans are capable of contextualizing the news, setting Davies the player aside for the time being; but I'm sure there's at least a few out there that might be rolling the idea around in the back of their heads, imagining the Americans opening up the tournament with the same pair of strikers we saw at the Confederations Cup this past June.


I'm certain Bob Bradley isn't working under the belief that Davies can be back, so neither will I.


Just one more note before I close this unnecessary post (which I may have written just as much to remind myself of reality); neither Davies nor Onyewu's absence guarantee's an American flame out, no matter how important each player is to the squad. If you've given up on the team because of a few injuries, you're just as bad as those that blindly overrate them.


I know I'm way off with this little rant, so feel free to tell me so in the comments.

Guest Post by Matt - US Soccer Daily


Though it’s not yet official, there seems to be general consensus in the international soccer community that the pots used in next Friday’s World Cup draw will look like this:

POT 1-Brazil, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Italy, Germany, South Africa

POT 2- Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Slovenia, Greece, Slovakia, Serbia, Switzerland

POT 3- USA, Mexico, Honduras, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand

POT 4- Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria


As USMNT fans know from recent experience, the draw can and usually does have a huge impact on a team’s odds of advancing to the knockout stages of the tournament. The way the above pots are set up gives each team a shot at finding themselves in the easiest group or the Group of Death. I’m not going to go through a mock draw; instead I’ll just give some possible groups of interest for USMNT and international fans alike.


1. USMNT Group of Death: As if Group E in the 2006 World Cup wasn’t bad enough (Italy, Czech Republic, Ghana), the US could find themselves in an even tougher group come Saturday:

Brazil
Netherlands
USA
Ivory Coast

The US would be fortunate to win any of these games, making a top two finish in the group unlikely. Brazil has shown their class this summer in CONMEBOL qualifying and the Confederations Cup, while the Netherlands once again bring a very talented team to the tournament that waltzed through UEFA qualification. Didier Drogba and Ivory Coast, meanwhile, are being touted by a fair share of pundits as having a good chance at becoming the first World Cup champions from Africa. The US did manage to make their way out of their difficult Confederations Cup group, but this one would be a whole other level.


2. Group of Karma: More than a few people are a little irked out how France made it to the World Cup, with Thierry Henry’s controversial winner and FIFA’s not-so-subtle efforts to help Les Bleus with the playoff seeding system. So justice would be served if Raymond Domenech’s side found themselves in this group:

France
Netherlands
Mexico
Ivory Coast

France has had a lackluster qualifying campaign and at this point does not look like a team capable of winning this tournament. With that much talent, however, things can click at the right time to give them a chance at the title. Even if that were to happen, the above group would make it extremely difficult just to make it to the round of 16, with all three teams capable of taking down the 2006 World Cup runners-up.

This group would also double as a Group of Death for Mexico. USMNT fans would be quite happy to see Mexico get this group after El Tri were given a very favorable draw in the 2006 World Cup (Portugal, Iran, Angola).


3. Best group for the USMNT: It’s no secret that hosts South Africa are the weakest team by far in the seeded pot (Pot 1), so Bob Bradley and company would love to find themselves in a group with Bafana Bafana. The Yanks will have good odds of returning to the knockout stage for the first time since their quarterfinal run in 2002 if they find themselves in the following group:

South Africa
Greece
USMNT
Uruguay

Despite the fact that South Africa will have their vuvuzela-wielding fans out in full force, the potential home-field advantage is outweighed by the fact that they have been fairly unimpressive for the last year or so. Their best performances of late were nothing more than moral victories, with two close losses to Brazil and Spain, while they have struggled in games against significantly lesser sides.


Greece, meanwhile, favor a strongly defensive style that would allow the US to control possession and the tempo of the game. The Greeks hardly looked impenetrable in their playoff with Ukraine and could very well have found themselves on the outside looking in if the Ukrainians were able to finish. Out of the last pot, Uruguay is probably the weakest team.


Overall, this group would be a dream come true for USMNT fans, and could very well happen if the US finds themselves in the hosts’ group. Never before has a host side failed to advance out of the group stage, and FIFA likely do not want that streak to end (insert conspiracy theory here). That would mean that South Africa’s group would likely be the easiest, giving them the best chance of moving on. So, come next Friday, pray that the US finds themselves alongside Carlos Parreira’s side.


With only a few exceptions (New Zealand, North Korea), almost all of the teams in South Africa next summer would provide the US with a solid test. Bring an end to all your worrying and tune in to ESPN2 on Friday at 12:00 PM ET to catch the draw live and see what exactly the USMNT will have to go up against next summer.

Scan the American soccer blogosphere any given week and you're likely to come across something that hits on at least one of the following topics:

Promotion/Relegation

Youth Development

Signing/Finding Talent


Sometimes, the pieces written on these subjects are intelligent, well-reasoned, and unique. More often than not, however, they're none of the above; predominantly, they're shallow, naive, simplistic, and ignore serious problems with the approaches they present.


Although not a blogger in the usual sense, Jimmy Conrad has decided to weigh in with his own thoughts on each of the above mentioned topics. It's the question everyone wants to ask, and so many think they might have the answer to: How do we, the American soccer community, take the game to the next level in this country?


Jimmy's first suggestion, a two-tiered MLS that includes promotion and relegation, goes nowhere unique, even if it is a reasonable approach to the "problem". But Conrad, who says twenty MLS teams could be divided into two leagues of ten, glosses over that tricky issue of forcing certain teams to start in the second division, using arbitrary criteria and exceptions to determine the split of first level and second level clubs.


Where Conrad has struck a chord was with his second two suggestions, both related directly to player development; unfortunately though, the prerequisite action, having MLS become a "monopoly" by buying up every professional American soccer league (including indoor), is so large a leap for MLS that it makes me cringe to read it. Why would an organization that imposes strict budgetary control and limits costs in every way possible step up and make such a large financial commitment? The league's owners may have deep pockets individually, but they have shown that as a collective group frugality wins out over all else. The move makes sense as a way to gain control and restructure an American soccer pyramid that has entirely too many cooks in the kitchen at the moment, but it would also be incredibly expensive. It's tantalizingly visionary, but depressingly impossible.


Delving into Conrad's thoughts on what to do with those lower division and indoor leagues once they're under the MLS umbrella seems pointless because it's so unlikely, but he does make solid suggestions for how to help young players gain crucial experience. Most unique is his thought on having young MLS player under a certain threshold of playing time in the outdoor season (he set this as 1,000 minutes) play indoor during the winter; with the greater pressure and faster pace of indoor soccer, the idea is that young players will improve their skills, speed up their development, and be better prepared to play in Major League Soccer. I can find no fault with Conrad's logic.


Following this portion of his column, Conrad asks a cynical question that had certainly run through the mind of many an MLS fan:

What is the main goal of having MLS in place? Is it about land and money and tax write-offs, or is it about something more?

Conrad closes out with his thoughts on the draft, calling for it to end and end immediately. I agree wholeheartedly, and find Conrad's suggestions for signing college players reasonable. My thoughts on the draft continue to be that it does not force MLS clubs to build a proper development system, and the longer they wait, the longer it will be until MLS is able to completely stand on its own as a respectable and established professional football league. Delaying the inevitable is doing MLS no good, and the first step in making the clubs learn to fly is to push them out of the nest without the net of the draft to catch them.


Again, Jimmy treads no ground that hasn't been covered many, many times before. But he does present specific ideas on how to make the system better, and while deeper analysis, not to mention that annoying business a multi-million dollar investement, might poke holes in his concepts, it's nice to see someone who actually plays the game step out with radical thoughts.


I'm curious as to what the MFUSA readership makes of Conrad's vision of the future, so don't hold back.

The Philadelphia Union will finally have some players today, and we should know who they are by mid-afternoon. It's Expansion Draft day, a day exciting for the Union's fans, but nerve-wracking for fans of other teams who don't want to see any of their favorites be taken. The reality of the draft rules means that some quality is available to Petr Novak, and it will be interesting to see how he chooses to build his team for 2010.


I'm not going to bore you with a mock draft or attempt to guess what Novak might do; but I will say that the Union sit behind the eight ball at the moment, and while they can begin to fill their roster today, there's still a long way to go before they'll be ready to take the field as a competitive side in March of next year.


The CBA negotiations, with most of the financial outlay for 2010 and beyond still to be determined, makes the usual processes difficult; as Goal.com's Max Zeger pointed out on Twitter today, at this point in their pre-launch, the Sounders already had Freddie Ljundberg and Kasey Keller lined up; the Union have had barely a whisper of any potential signings.


Still, the bulk of the team, the part that will give the Union the best chance to replicate what the Sounders did in their first year, will join up today (or be flipped for other considerations that might help the team more). I'll be back after the announcement with the list of the ten that Philly has taken.


*UPDATE*

Here are Philly's picks:

Brad Knighton
David Myrie
Shavar Thomas
Jordan Harvey
Shea Salinas
Stefani Miglioranzi
Andrew Jacobson
Nick Zimmerman
Alejandro Moreno
Sebastian Le Toux


For some perspective on what these guys might actually give the Union in terms of service, read Duane Rollins post at the 24th Minute; history says they won't be significant contributors

by Adam Soucie - Captain Positive


On Tuesday there was a lot of noise about how MLS is mistreating its players by denying them the basic rights of athletes. While the criticism is warranted, the reactionary statements are starting to get out of hand. What everyone's forgetting is that MLS isn't in as good of shape as Don Garber would have us believe. Some teams in MLS have yet to reach the break-even point financially. Four teams have yet to sign a jersey sponsor. The league's flagship franchise (historically), DC United, still pays rent on a stadium where they are the only reason it isn't being torn down and can't get the local government to agree to a new stadium plan.


Soccer, whether we want to admit it or not, is still very much a fringe sport in America. Sure, it's on the cusp of exploding, but it hasn't happened yet. Rather than storming the gates of Garber's office demanding broad sweeping change, the union needs to take a step back and realize that baby steps are the only way.


The big sticking points in the discussion are free agency, guaranteed contracts, option years, and transfer fee sharing. MLS is set against making any major changes to any of these topics. For the time being, they are right in doing so, to a certain extent. There is a middle ground.


The easiest change to make is with the sharing of transfer fees. It has been reported that MLS keeps 10 percent of a player's share of a transfer fee. That has to stop immediately. Simply put, it is stealing. No other business would get away with it, so MLS shouldn't. The league already gets a large portion of the transfer fee. If they are dead set on taking a bigger cut, take it from the team's cut. The owners still get the money either way.


Guaranteed contracts are also a relatively simple fix. Before looking at the solution, we must look at the reasoning. The players that have guaranteed contracts usually deserve them. They've performed well enough to deserve better treatment. Some of the other players, players described as being treated as second-class citizens, quite frankly, are second-class (or even third) in MLS. Rightly or wrongly, some players just plain suck. They don't deserve a place on an MLS roster. A guaranteed contract puts a financially shaky team like Kansas City in a worse position of having to pay a player they aren't using.


The solution to guaranteed contracts is simple: don't give every player a full-season contract. If FIFA regulations require that contracts can only be terminated at the end of contract's length, give fringe players shortened contracts. The NBA, the king of guaranteed contracts in sports, does this with developmental players from the NBDL. If a player isn't a regular starter, give him until "X" amount of games and renegotiate after that point. Find a middle ground and when things get better in a few years, renegotiate a better situation.


The idea of option years dovetails out of the guaranteed contract situation. As it stands now, the majority of option clauses in MLS are in favor of the league. As far as I know, only David Beckham has a true option clause, but even his clause (to my knowledge) involves a buyout. The most prominent player affected by the option situation is Landon Donovan. Donovan wants to make a move to Europe. Technically, his contract is up; however, MLS holds an option for one more season. Essentially, Donovan is stuck unless a club is willing to pony up the minimum $10 million (rumored MLS asking price) for a transfer. Life isn't fair, but contracts should be. Situations like Donovan's shouldn't happen. MLS can fix this.


One way would be to allow players to make a move to a different league instead of accepting an option decision. If the player wants to move to a different MLS team, the two teams need to work out some sort of deal. While that isn't an ideal solution, it is a step in the right direction. Team options appear in other sports, so getting rid of them entirely is impossible. Another option is to create more player options. After all, fairness has to go both ways.


Far and away the biggest sticking point and the major battle in the collective bargaining process is free agency. It needs to happen. More than likely, it won't. Some have said free agency destroys the single-entity concept of MLS. For the most part, that is true. If that happens, it destroys the very thing that makes MLS a viable business right now. As a solution, I propose a modified form a free agency along the lines of the NFL and MLB's compensation system.


At the end of a contract, players can negotiate with any team. If the player and his new team agree to terms, the new team must pay a minor compensatory fee (or an equivalent draft pick) to the player's old team. This would only apply to players who have started a minimum number of games or played a minimum number of minutes. Fringe players would be free to move from team to team as true free agents. These are the players that are routinely cut at the end of the season anyway. In the event that the player leaves MLS in the offseason, the old MLS team loses all rights to the player. If the player leaves in the middle of the season, player rights are retained for the remainder of the current season.


All of these solutions to MLS' contract issues are just ideas. The overall idea I want to convey is that simply handing over concepts like free agency and guaranteed contracts as other American professional leagues would be suicide for MLS. The financial system in MLS works. The league exists because of it. Still, improvements can be made. The goals of the players and fans can be achieved. It's just going to take time. It took the NFL decades to establish itself as America's sport. Why should soccer be any different?

The international footballers union, FIFPro (Fédération Internationale Des Associations de Footballeurs Professionels) will lobby FIFA on behalf of MLS players, who maintain that the league's contract structure violates the rules of soccer's governing body.


This issue is at the heart of the current CBA negotiations, as the players have consistently voiced their displeasure in recent months with Major League Soccer's non-guaranteed contracts, ability to terminate contracts, and lack of free-agency. FIFPro's action now puts the league on notice that sweeping the problem under the rug will not be possible; despite vociferously maintaining that their contracts are FIFA-compliant, MLS now faces a public firestorm.


During Don Garber's State of the League conference call on the Monday prior to the MLS Cup Final, questions regarding the FIFA-compliance of MLS contracts were raised; Garber addressed them directly, claiming that "the players are wrong" in their belief that the league was skirting FIFA rules.


See my post on Garber's State of the League comments and the CBA for details on the FIFA rules in question.


FIFPro's weight is considerable, and the CBA negotiations now take on a new tenor with their approaching of FIFA. While there seemed to be some contentious feelings between MLS and the MLS Players Union, and some players had even raised the possibility of a strike, no overt signs had appeared that the process was not following the standard labor-negotiation path. If FIFA does choose to get involved, or decides to threaten MLS with revocation of their first division status, Don Garber & Co. will find themselves in a difficult position. No longer will the CBA situation be an internal problem, free of outside interference; worse yet, possible changes to the league's standard contracts might facilitate wholesale changes in the way they do business.


What response MLS has to this news will be extremely interesting; fighting FIFA, if the governing body chooses to come down on the league would probably not be a good idea.


*UPDATE* Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl has more on this story, with FIFA responding that they will not interfere in the negotiations between the MLS Players Union and the league, calling it a "domestic matter". As Wahl states, it's a serious blow to the players, who cannot rely on pressure from FIFA to force the league's hand regarding several key issues.

Match Fit USA, along with a "Who's Who" of American soccer blogs, has been nominated for USSoccer.com's Best Blog of 2009. Thank you to all the nominated the site; we haven't even hit our one year anniversary yet, and I'm completely humbled by the support.


I'm also humbled, and rightly so, by the company; from the in-depth USMNT analysis of The Shin Guardian, to the all-around excellence of Pitch Invasion (my favorite blog), as well as the journalistic chops of sites like Soccer By Ives, Soccer Insider and No Short Corners (not to mention the great team-centric work of Hillcrest Road), the list is formidable.


I have no real delusions of winning, but I implore you to vote for whomever you think is the best blog out there. You really can't go wrong, but if you do choose to vote for MFUSA, I thank you in advance.

The voting page is here.

Houston supporter and all around footy fanatic Yossarin has compiled a spreadsheet with the expansion draft status of every player in the league. Find it below, along with the roster designation and position.

The info might be a little tough to read due to the issues of importing a spreadsheet here, so my apologies if that's the case. The list is alphabetical by team.

*UPDATE* Scroll down (way down) for lists of only the unprotected players by team.

. Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Chicago Fire Mike Banner D-M S No . Chicago Fire Cuauhtemoc Blanco M SI/DP No . Chicago Fire C.J. Brown D S Yes . Chicago Fire Jon Busch GK s Yes . Chicago Fire Calen Carr F s No . Chicago Fire Wilman Conde D SI Yes . Chicago Fire Stefan Dimitrov F S No . Chicago Fire Andrew Dykstra GK S No . Chicago Fire Baggio Husidic M D/GA No . Chicago Fire Peter Lowry M SD No . Chicago Fire Justin Mapp M S Yes . Chicago Fire Brian McBride F S Yes . Chicago Fire David Myrie D SI No . Chicago Fire Patrick Nyarko F DI/GA Yes . Chicago Fire Marco Pappa M SI Yes . Chicago Fire Logan Pause M S Yes . Chicago Fire Brandon Prideaux D S No . Chicago Fire Dasan Robinson D S Yes . Chicago Fire Chris Rolfe F S No

. Chicago Fire Gonzalo Segares D SI No . Chicago Fire John Thorrington M S Yes . Chicago Fire Tim Ward D S Yes . Chicago Fire Austin Washington D SD No . Chicago Fire Daniel Woolard D S No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Chivas USA Jonathan Bornstein D S Yes . Chivas USA Justin Braun F SD Yes . Chivas USA Chukwudi Chijindu F SD No . Chivas USA Jon Conway GK S No . Chivas USA Yamith Cuesta D SI Yes . Chivas USA Jim Curtin D DL No . Chivas USA Maicon Santos F S Yes . Chivas USA Jorge Flores D-M S Yes . Chivas USA Maykel Galindo F S Yes . Chivas USA Kevin Harmse D-M SI No . Chivas USA Ante Jazic D S No . Chivas USA Dan Kennedy GK S No . Chivas USA Sacha Kljestan M S Yes . Chivas USA Michael Lahoud M S Yes

. Chivas USA Eduardo Lillingston F SI No . Chivas USA Jesse Marsch M S No . Chivas USA Gerson Mayen M SD No . Chivas USA Paulo Nagamura M SI Yes . Chivas USA Jesus Padilla M S Yes . Chivas USA Lance Parker GK SD No . Chivas USA Ante Razov F DL No . Chivas USA Marcelo Saragosa D-M S No . Chivas USA Bojan Stepanovic M SI No . Chivas USA Claudio Suarez D S No . Chivas USA Carey Talley D S No . Chivas USA Shavar Thomas D SI No . Chivas USA Zach Thornton GK S Yes . Chivas USA Mariano Trujillo D S No . Chivas USA Sasha Victorine M DL No . Chivas USA Cesar Zamora M DL No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Columbus Crew GuillermoBarros Schelotto F-M SI/DP Yes . Columbus Crew Eric Brunner D S Yes . Columbus Crew Kevin Burns M SD No

. Columbus Crew Brian Carroll M S Yes . Columbus Crew Emmanuel Ekpo M SI Yes . Columbus Crew Cory Elenio M SD No . Columbus Crew Jason Garey F S No . Columbus Crew Eddie Gaven M-F S Yes . Columbus Crew Alex Grendi M SD No . Columbus Crew Andy Gruenebaum GK S No . Columbus Crew Frankie Hejduk D S No . Columbus Crew William Hesmer GK S Yes . Columbus Crew Andy Iro D SI No . Columbus Crew Steven Lenhart F S Yes . Columbus Crew Chad Marshall D S Yes . Columbus Crew Adam Moffat M SI Yes . Columbus Crew Alejandro Moreno F S No . Columbus Crew Stanley Nyazamba M SI No . Columbus Crew Danny O'Rourke M-D S Yes . Columbus Crew Duncan Oughton M S No . Columbus Crew Gino Padula D SI No . Columbus Crew Emilio Renteria F SI No . Columbus Crew Robbie Rogers M-F S Yes

. Columbus Crew Kenny Schoeni GK S No . Columbus Crew Jed Zayner D D/GA No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Colorado Rapids Mehdi Ballouchy M SI No . Colorado Rapids Julien Baudet D SI Yes . Colorado Rapids Preston Burpo GK S No . Colorado Rapids Conor Casey F S Yes . Colorado Rapids Steward Ceus GK SD No . Colorado Rapids Colin Clark M S Yes . Colorado Rapids Omar Cummings F SI Yes . Colorado Rapids Greg Dalby M S No . Colorado Rapids Facundo Diz F SI No . Colorado Rapids Cory Gibbs D S Yes . Colorado Rapids Ty Harden D S No . Colorado Rapids Jordan Harvey D S No . Colorado Rapids Michael Holody D SD No . Colorado Rapids Kosuke Kimura D SI Yes . Colorado Rapids Nick LaBrocca M S Yes . Colorado Rapids Pablo Mastroeni M-D S Yes . Colorado Rapids Drew Moor D S Yes

. Colorado Rapids Pat Noonan F S No . Colorado Rapids Ciaran O'Brien M D/GA No . Colorado Rapids Scott Palguta D S No . Colorado Rapids Jacob Peterson M S No . Colorado Rapids Matt Pickens GK S Yes . Colorado Rapids Ross Schunk F SD No . Colorado Rapids Jamie Smith M SI Yes . Colorado Rapids Rob Valentino D D/GA No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . FC Dallas Eric Avila M D/GA No . FC Dallas Jair Benitez D SI Yes . FC Dallas Ray Burse GK S No . FC Dallas Marvin Chavez M SI Yes . FC Dallas Jeff Cunningham F S Yes . FC Dallas Kyle Davies D S Yes . FC Dallas David Ferreira M-F SI Yes . FC Dallas Bruno Guarda M DI/GA No . FC Dallas Atiba Harris M-F S Yes . FC Dallas Daniel Hernandez M-D S Yes . FC Dallas Ugo Ihemelu D S Yes

. FC Dallas George John D S Yes . FC Dallas Josh Lambo GK S/GA No . FC Dallas Peri Marosevic F D/GA No . FC Dallas Dax McCarty M S Yes . FC Dallas Heath Pearce D S Yes . FC Dallas Steve Purdy D S No . FC Dallas Pablo Ricchetti D-M S No . FC Dallas Andre Rocha M SI No . FC Dallas Dario Sala GK S No . FC Dallas Brek Shea M-D D/GA No . FC Dallas Daniel Torres D SI No . FC Dallas Dave van den Bergh M S No . FC Dallas Blake Wagner D S No . FC Dallas Anthony Wallace D-M DL No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . DC United Ely Allen F-M D No . DC United Brandon Barklage M-F SD No . DC United Marc Burch D S Yes . DC United Steve Cronin GK S No . DC United John DiRaimondo M SD No

. DC United Luciano Emilio F S/DP No . DC United Christian Gomez M SI No . DC United David Habarugira D SI No . DC United Andrew Jacobson M S No . DC United Dejan Jakovic D SI Yes . DC United Julius James D SI Yes . DC United Greg Janicki D DL No . DC United Avery John D SI No . DC United Thabiso Khumalo F-M SI No . DC United Milos Kocic GK SD No . DC United Devon McTavish D-M S No . DC United Jaime Moreno F S Yes . DC United Bryan Namoff D S Yes . DC United Ange N'Silu F DL No . DC United Ben Olsen M S No . DC United Chris Pontius F-M S Yes . DC United Santino Quaranta F-M S Yes . DC United Tiyiselani Shipalane M SI No . DC United Clyde Simms M S Yes . DC United Danny Szetela M S Yes

. DC United Lawson Vaughn D S No . DC United Rodney Wallace M-D D/GA Yes . DC United Josh Wicks GK S No . DC United Fred Carreiro M-F SI Yes . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Houston Dynamo Corey Ashe M S Yes . Houston Dynamo Wade Barrett D S No . Houston Dynamo Bobby Boswell D S Yes . Houston Dynamo Geoff Cameron D S Yes . Houston Dynamo Mike Chabala D S No . Houston Dynamo Brian Ching F S Yes . Houston Dynamo Ricardo Clark M S No . Houston Dynamo Ryan Cochrane D S No . Houston Dynamo Danny Cruz M D/GA No . Houston Dynamo Brad Davis M S Yes . Houston Dynamo Tyler Deric GK SD No . Houston Dynamo Andrew Hainault D SI Yes . Houston Dynamo Tally Hall GK S Yes . Houston Dynamo JohnMichael Hayden M SD No . Houston Dynamo Stuart Holden M S Yes

. Houston Dynamo LuisAngel Landin F SI/DP No . Houston Dynamo Brian Mullan M S Yes . Houston Dynamo Richard Mulrooney D S No . Houston Dynamo Dominic Oduro F SI Yes . Houston Dynamo Pat Onstad GK S No . Houston Dynamo Eddie Robinson D S No . Houston Dynamo Abe Thompson F S No . Houston Dynamo Erik Ustruck F SD No . Houston Dynamo Craig Waibel D S No . Houston Dynamo Cam Weaver F S Yes . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Kansas City Wizards Davy Arnaud M S Yes . Kansas City Wizards Matt Besler D S No . Kansas City Wizards Jimmy Conrad D S Yes . Kansas City Wizards Adam Cristman F S No . Kansas City Wizards Roger Espinoza M D/GA No . Kansas City Wizards Herculez Gomez M-F S No . Kansas City Wizards Michael Harrington D-M S Yes . Kansas City Wizards Kevin Hartman GK S No . Kansas City Wizards Zoltan Hercegfalvi F SI Yes

. Kansas City Wizards Santiago Hirsig M SI No . Kansas City Wizards Aaron Hohlbein D S No . Kansas City Wizards Jack Jewsbury M S Yes . Kansas City Wizards Kei Kamara F S/GA Yes . Kansas City Wizards Michael Kraus M-F S No . Kansas City Wizards Eric Kronberg GK DL No . Kansas City Wizards Jonathan Leathers D S Yes . Kansas City Wizards Claudio Lopez F SI Yes . Kansas City Wizards Matt Marquess D D No . Kansas City Wizards Rauwshan McKenzie D S No . Kansas City Wizards Kurt Morsink M S No . Kansas City Wizards Chance Myers D-M D/GA No . Kansas City Wizards Boris Pardo GK SD No . Kansas City Wizards Kevin Souter M DL Yes . Kansas City Wizards Lance Watson D S No . Kansas City Wizards Josh Wolff F S Yes . Kansas City Wizards Graham Zusi M-F S Yes . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . LA Galaxy David Beckham M S/DP Yes . LA Galaxy Gregg Berhalter D S Yes

. LA Galaxy Chris Birchall M SI Yes . LA Galaxy Tristan Bowen F D/GA No . LA Galaxy Edson Buddle F S Yes . LA Galaxy A.J. DeLaGarza D S Yes . LA Galaxy Landon Donovan F-M S Yes . LA Galaxy Todd Dunivant D S No . LA Galaxy Alecko Eskandarian F DL No . LA Galaxy Sean Franklin D S Yes . LA Galaxy Omar Gonzalez D D/GA Yes . LA Galaxy Alan Gordon F S No . LA Galaxy Leonard Griffin D S No . LA Galaxy Bryan Jordan F S No . LA Galaxy Jovan Kirovski F S No . LA Galaxy Chris Klein M S No . LA Galaxy Dema Kovalenko M S Yes . LA Galaxy Eddie Lewis M S No . LA Galaxy Mike Magee M S Yes . LA Galaxy Yohance Marshall D S/DI No . LA Galaxy Stefani Miglioranzi M S No . LA Galaxy Kyle Patterson M S/DI No

. LA Galaxy Donovan Ricketts GK SI Yes . LA Galaxy Tony Sanneh D S No . LA Galaxy Josh Saunders GK S No . LA Galaxy Julian Valentin D DL No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . New England Revolution Chris Albright D S No . New England Revolution Kevin Alston D D/GA Yes . New England Revolution Stephane Assengue F SI No . New England Revolution Gabriel Badilla D SI No . New England Revolution Darrius Barnes D S Yes . New England Revolution Mauricio Castro M S No . New England Revolution Nico Colaluca M D/GA No . New England Revolution Kheli Dube F SI Yes . New England Revolution Jay Heaps D S No . New England Revolution Amaechi Igwe D D/GA No . New England Revolution Edgaras Jankauskas F SI No . New England Revolution Shalrie Joseph M S Yes . New England Revolution Brad Knighton GK S No . New England Revolution Jeff Larentowicz M S Yes . New England Revolution Kenny Mansally F-M SI Yes

. New England Revolution Sainey Nyassi M SI Yes . New England Revolution Emmanuel Osei D SI Yes . New England Revolution Pat Phelan M S No . New England Revolution Steve Ralston F-M S Yes . New England Revolution Matt Reis GK S Yes . New England Revolution Bobby Shuttleworth GK D No . New England Revolution Wells Thompson M S No . New England Revolution Chris Tierney D-M S No . New England Revolution Taylor Twellman F DL Yes . New England Revolution Michael Videira F-M S No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . New York Red Bulls Juan Pablo Angel F SI/DP Yes . New York Red Bulls Danleigh Borman D-M SD Yes . New York Red Bulls Andrew Boyens D S No . New York Red Bulls Albert Celades M SI No . New York Red Bulls Danny Cepero GK S No . New York Red Bulls Giorgi Chirgadze F D No . New York Red Bulls Bouna Coundoul GK S Yes . New York Red Bulls Walter Garcia D SI No . New York Red Bulls Kevin Goldthwaite D S Yes

. New York Red Bulls Jeremy Hall D D/GA Yes . New York Red Bulls Carlos Johnson D SI Yes . New York Red Bulls Macoumba Kandji F-M S Yes . New York Red Bulls Matthew Mbuta M SD No . New York Red Bulls Carlos Mendes D DL Yes . New York Red Bulls Ernst Obster M SI Yes . New York Red Bulls Mike Petke D S No . New York Red Bulls Dane Richards M-F S Yes . New York Red Bulls Jorge Rojas M SI No . New York Red Bulls Luke Sassano M-D S No . New York Red Bulls Seth Stammler M S Yes . New York Red Bulls Sinisa Ubiparipovic M S No . New York Red Bulls John Wolyniec F S No . New York Red Bulls Nick Zimmerman M SD No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Real Salt Lake Jean Alexandre M S No . Real Salt Lake Kyle Beckerman M S Yes . Real Salt Lake Tony Beltran D D/GA Yes . Real Salt Lake Nat Borchers D S Yes . Real Salt Lake Pablo Campos F S No

. Real Salt Lake Raphael Cox M D No . Real Salt Lake Rachid El Khalifi M-F SI No . Real Salt Lake Fabian Espindola F SI Yes . Real Salt Lake Robbie Findley F S Yes . Real Salt Lake Nelson Gonzalez M-F SI No . Real Salt Lake Ned Grabavoy M S No . Real Salt Lake David Horst D S No . Real Salt Lake Will Johnson M S Yes . Real Salt Lake Clint Mathis M S No . Real Salt Lake Javier Morales M SI Yes . Real Salt Lake Yura Movsisyan F S No . Real Salt Lake Alex Nimo F-M D/GA No . Real Salt Lake Tino Nunez F DL No . Real Salt Lake Jamison Olave D SI Yes . Real Salt Lake Kyle Reynish GK S No . Real Salt Lake Nick Rimando GK S Yes . Real Salt Lake Robbie Russell D-M S No . Real Salt Lake Chris Seitz GK D/GA Yes . Real Salt Lake Andy Williams M S No . Real Salt Lake Chris Wingert D S Yes

. Team First Last Pos Status Protected . San Jose Earthquakes Arturo Alvarez M-F S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Quincy Amarikwa F S No . San Jose Earthquakes Bobby Burling D S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Joe Cannon GK S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Bobby Convey M S No . San Jose Earthquakes Ramiro Corrales M S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Simon Elliott M S No . San Jose Earthquakes Cornell Glenn F SI Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Mike Graczyk GK SD No . San Jose Earthquakes Jason Hernandez D S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Darren Huckerby M SI No . San Jose Earthquakes Ryan Johnson F S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Chris Leitch D S Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Andre Luiz Moreira M SI Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Brandon McDonald D-M SD Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Aaron Pitchkolan D S No . San Jose Earthquakes Antonio Ribeiro M SI No . San Jose Earthquakes Jamil Roberts D SD No . San Jose Earthquakes Shea Salinas M S No

. San Jose Earthquakes Ramon Sanchez M SI Yes . San Jose Earthquakes Andrew Weber GK S No . San Jose Earthquakes Chris Wondolowski F S No . San Jose Earthquakes Michael Zaher D SD No . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Toronto FC Nana Attakora D S Yes . Toronto FC Chad Barrett F SI Yes . Toronto FC Jim Brennan D S Yes . Toronto FC Sam Cronin M SI Yes . Toronto FC Julian de Guzman M S Yes . Toronto FC Dwayne De Rosario M S Yes . Toronto FC Brian Edwards GK SI No . Toronto FC Lesly Fellinga D SI No . Toronto FC Stefan Frei GK DI/GA No . Toronto FC Gabe Gala D-M SD No . Toronto FC Nick Garcia D S No . Toronto FC Ali Gerba F S No . Toronto FC Emmanuel Gomez D S/DI Yes . Toronto FC Amado Guevara M SI No . Toronto FC Fuad Ibrahim F DI/GA No

. Toronto FC Carl Robinson M SI No . Toronto FC Amadou Sanyang M SI Yes . Toronto FC Adrian Serioux D S Yes . Toronto FC Pablo Vitti F-M SI No . Toronto FC O'Brian White F S Yes . Toronto FC Marvell Wynne D SI Yes . Team First Last Pos Status Protected . Seattle FC Osvaldo Alonso M S Yes . Seattle FC Terry Boss GK S No . Seattle FC Evan Brown D D No . Seattle FC Brad Evans M S Yes . Seattle FC Chris Eylander GK DL No . Seattle FC Michael Fucito M DL No . Seattle FC Leo Gonzalez D SI Yes . Seattle FC Taylor Graham D S No . Seattle FC Jhon Kennedy Hurtado D SI Yes . Seattle FC Patrick Ianni D S Yes . Seattle FC Nate Jaqua F S Yes . Seattle FC Kasey Keller GK S Yes . Seattle FC Stephen King M S No

. Seattle FC Sebastien Le Toux M S No . Seattle FC Roger Levesque F S No . Seattle FC Freddie Ljungberg M S Yes . Seattle FC Tyrone Marshall D S Yes . Seattle FC Fredy Montero F SI Yes . Seattle FC Lamar Neagle M SD No . Seattle FC Sanna Nyassi M S/DI No . Seattle FC James Riley D S No . Seattle FC Zach Scott D S No . Seattle FC Nathan Sturgis D S No . Seattle FC Peter Vagenas M S No . Seattle FC Tyson Wahl D S No . Seattle FC Steve Zakuani M DI/GA Yes . . . MLS Status Key . S = Senior . DL = Disabled List . I = International . DI = Developmental International

. SD = Senior Developmental . GA = Generation Adidas . DP = Designated Player . SEI = Season Ending Injury . UDF = Unsigned Draft Pick

Leaving up the full list, but per Timmy's suggestion (see comments), here are only the unprotected players. This is now officially the longest post in the history of MFUSA, and I've maybe written 100 words.


Chivas USA

Conway, Jon
Curtin, Jim
Harmse, Kevin
Jazic, Ante
Kennedy, Dan
Lillingston, Eduardo
Marsch, Jesse
Razov, Ante
Saragosa, Marcelo
Stepanovic, Bojan
Suarez, Claudio
Talley, Carey
Thomas, Shavar
Trujillo, Mariano
Victorine, Sasha
Chijindu, Chukwudi
Mayen, Gerson
Parker, Lance


Chicago Fire

Banner, Michael
Blanco, Cuauhtémoc
Carr, Calen
Dimitrov, Stefan
Dykstra, Andrew
Myrie, Dave
Rolfe, Chris
Segares, Gonzalo
Woolard, Daniel
Lowry, Peter
Washington, Austin


Columbus Crew

Garey, Jason
Gruenebaum, Andy
Hejduk, Frankie
Iro, Andy
Moreno, Alejandro
Nyazamba, Stanley
Oughton, Duncan
Padula, Gino
Renteria, Emilio
Schoeni, Kenny
Burns, Kevin
Elenio, Cory
Grendi, Alex


Colorado Rapids

Ballouchy, Mehdi
Burpo, Preston
Dalby, Greg
Diz, Facundo
Harden, Ty
Harvey, Jordan
Noonan, Pat
Palguta, Scott
Peterson, Jacob
Ceus, Steward
Holody, Mike
Schunk, Ross


FC Dallas

Burse, Ray
Purdy, Steve
Ricchetti, Pablo
Rocha, Andre
Sala, Dario
Torres, Daniel
Van Den Bergh, Dave
Wagner, Blake
Wallace, Anthony


D.C. United

Emilio, Luciano
Gomez, Christian
Habarugira, David
Jacobson, Andrew
Janicki, Greg
John, Avery
Khumalo, Thabiso
McTavish, Devon
N'Silu, Ange
Olsen, Ben
Vaughn, Lawson
Wicks, Josh
Allen, Ely
Barklage, Brandon
DiRaimondo, John
Kocic, Milos
Shipalane, Tiyiselani


Houston Dynamo

Barrett, Wade
Chabala, Michael
Clark, Ricardo
Cochrane, Ryan
Landin, Luis
Mulrooney, Richard
Onstad, Pat
Robinson, Eddie
Thompson, Abe
Waibel, Craig
Deric, Tyler
Hayden, John Michael
Ustruck, Erik


Kansas City Wizards

Besler, Matthew
Cristman, Adam
Gomez, Herculez
Hartman, Kevin
Hirsig, Santiago
Hohlbein, Aaron
Kraus, Michael
Kronberg, Eric
McKenzie, Rauwshan
Morsink, Kurt
Watson, Lance
Marquess, Matt
Pardo, Boris


New England Revolution

Albright, Chris
Badilla, Gabriel
Heaps, Jay
Igwe, Amaechi
Jankauskas, Edgaras
Knighton, Brad
Matamoros Castro, Mauricio
Ombiogno, Stephane
Phelan, Pat
Thompson, Wells
Tierney, Chris
Videira, Michael
Shuttleworth, Robert


LA Galaxy

Dunivant, Todd
Eskandarian, Alecko
Gordon, Alan
Griffin, Leonard
Jordan, Bryan
Kirovski, Jovan
Klein, Chris
Lewis, Eddie
Miglioranzi, Stefani
Sanneh, Tony
Saunders, Josh
Valentin, Julian
Marshall, Yohance
Patterson, Kyle


New York Red Bulls

Boyens, Andrew
Cepero, Daniel
Garcia, Walter
Krupnik, Leonid
Patterson, Caleb
Petke, Mike
Rojas, Jorge
Sassano, Luke
Ubiparipovic, Sinisa
Wolyniec, John
Mbuta, Andongcho
Zimmerman, Nick


Real Salt Lake

Alexandre, Jean
Campos, Pablo
El Khalifi, Rachid
Gonzalez, Nelson
Grabavoy, Ned
Horst, David
Mathis, Clint
Movsisyan, Yura
Reynish, Kyle
Russell, Robbie
Williams, Andy
Cox, Raphael
Nunez, Tino


San Jose Earthquakes

Amarikwa, Quincy
Convey, Bobby
Elliott, Simon
Pitchkolan, Aaron
Ribeiro, Antonio
Salinas, Shea
Weber, Andrew
Wondolowski, Chris
Graczyk, Mike
Roberts, Jamil
Zaher, Michael


Seattle Sounders FC

Boss, Terry
Eylander, Chris
Graham, Taylor
King, Stephen
LeToux, Sebastien
Levesque, Roger
Riley, James
Scott, Zacharias
Sturgis, Nathan
Vagenas, Peter
Wahl, Tyson
Brown, Evan
Fucito, Michael
Neagle, Lamar
Nyassi, Sanna


Toronto FC

Edwards, Brian
Fellinga, Lesly
Garcia, Nick
Gerba, Ali
Guevara, Amado
Robinson, Carl
Vitti, Pablo
Gala, Gabe