Magnificent Eleven

Sports Commentary

The best of Major League Soccer seasons saw some outstanding players arrive -- from Juan Pablo Angel to Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Guillermo Barros Schelotto to Juan Toja, Luciano Emilio to, yes, David Beckham -- raising the competition to new heights and prodding perhaps the best title chase in league history.

It wasn't all about the foreigners, either. Landon Donovan, Brad Guzan and Ben Olsen were outstanding, and Eddie Robinson was the league's best defender.

Never have there been so many contenders for the Best XI all-league team, but somehow we've narrowed to pool to XI -- plus a second XI, a third XI, even a rookie XI.

AOL's MLS Best XI

Goalkeeper

Brad Guzan (Chivas USA): Guzan's growth from wide-eyed rookie two years ago to best-in-MLS (and prime contender to unseat Tim Howard in the U.S. nets) has been astonishing. He's big, quick, is a superb shot-stopper, great in the air -- he's got all the tools and the mind-set, too, and his ability to organize Chivas' defense (the Goats surrendered just 26 goals, the second-best mark in league history) and make the oh-my-gosh saves made him the most valuable defensive player in MLS this season.

Defenders:

Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution): MLS's cleanest defender is so good at handling opposing forwards, he doesn't need to get physical. He committed just five fouls all season, receiving no yellow or red cards, while deftly organizing things in the back for one of the league's premier sides.

Eddie Robinson (Houston Dynamo): The reigning MLS champions' defensive leader is a physical defender who led the league in yellow cards (11) and was second in fouls committed (70). It works -- he's the main man on a backline that played the biggest role as the Dynamo annihilated the MLS record for fewest goals allowed, surrendering just 23 in 30 games.

Claudio Suarez (Chivas USA): The Mexican legend might be 38, but you'd never know it watching him on the Goats' backline. He's a superb tackler, never seems out of position, and Chivas' goals-against mark has a lot to do with his experience and the backbone he provides.

Midfielders

Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire): Some believed the Mexican superstar would struggle to adjust to MLS, that his frustration would add up to endless yellows and reds, and his tenure would ultimately end in failure. Instead, Blanco has been the league's finest creator, its best passer, perhaps its best free-kick specialist, and nobody finds the open space -- with runs or passes -- better than he does. Chicago's renaissance (just two losses in its past 15 games) has been all about Blanco.

Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy): How is it possible that American soccer's biggest star is undervalued? Donovan had a phenomenal campaign, but the Galaxy's struggles and all that attention on Beckham obscured a good deal of it. Donovan was at the heart of everything that worked for the Galaxy.

Shalrie Joseph (New England Revolution): Forget Angel, forget Donovan, forget Guzan. The most dominant player in MLS is this Grenada-born, New York-raised central midfielder. He's the guy who makes the Revs go, breaking up opposing attacks and so deftly finding attackers.

Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA): The second-year midfielder has evolved into Chivas' primary playmaker, a right-sided winger with the freedom to roam inside and combine with teammates -- especially star forwards Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo -- in one of the league's two or three most dynamic attacks. When Kljestan is at his best, he's virtually unstoppable.

Ben Olsen (D.C. United): Now a wily vet, Olsen enjoyed his best season after D.C. coach Tom Soehn moved him from central midfield to the right wing. He's a superb two-way player, and his impact on the United attack was massive. He might have been D.C.'s true MVP; he's unquestionably the heart of the team.

Forwards

Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls): The Colombian striker might be the best forward ever to play in MLS. He's dangerous every time he touches the ball, lifts the levels of his teammates the way great players do, and is the league's most lethal finisher, scoring 19 goals in just 24 games. With Angel, the Bulls are a title contender. Without him, they're not in the playoffs.

Luciano Emilio (D.C. United): The Brazilian forward made an immediate impact for D.C., scoring four goals in as many CONCACAF Champions League games, and he won the Golden Boot as MLS's scoring champion after finding the net 20 times. He's got a lot of support -- Christian Gomez, Ben Olsen, Jaime Moreno and Fred -- but United's attack isn't the same when he's not there.

Second Team

Goalkeeper: Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).

Defenders: Ryan Cochrane (Houston Dynamo), Wilman Conde (Chicago Fire), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards) and Marcos Gonzalez (Columbus Crew).

Midfielders: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Christian Gomez (D.C. United), Jesse Marsch (Chivas USA) and Juan Toja (FC Dallas).

Forwards: Ante Razov (Chivas USA) and Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution).

Third Team

Goalkeeper: Matt Reis (New England Revolution).

Defenders: Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew) and Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake).

Midfielders: Brian Mullan (Houston Dynamo), Steve Ralston (New England Revolution), Carl Robinson (Toronto FC) and Clyde Simms (D.C. United).

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (New York Red Bulls), Maykel Galindo (Chivas USA) and Eddie Johnson (Kansas City Wizards).

All-Rookie

Goalkeeper: Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake).

Defenders: Andrew Boyens (Toronto FC), Ty Harden (Los Angeles Galaxy), Michael Harrington (Kansas City Wizards), Mike Randolph (Los Angeles Galaxy).

Midfielders: Corey Ashe (Houston Dynamo), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Dane Richards (New York Red Bulls) and Bakare Soumare (Chicago).

Forwards: Adam Cristman (New England Revolution) and Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake).

Awards Finalists

MLS unveiled many of its award finalists Monday, and most of them made sense. The three best players are up for MVP and Newcomer of the Year (New York's Juan Pablo Angel, Chicago's Cuauhtemoc Blanco and D.C. United's Luciano Emilio). It's hard to argue with the three coaching contenders (Houston's Dominic Kinnear, Chivas USA's Preki and D.C. United's Tom Soehn), and the Defender of the Year candidates are perfect (New England's Michael Parkhurst, Houston's Eddie Robinson and Chivas USA's Claudio Suarez).

But let's quibble a little. I would have preferred that Real Salt Lake's Robbie Findley, not New England's Adam Cristman, join Toronto FC's Maurice Edu and New York's Dane Richards among Rookie of the Year finalists. And it's sad to see Nick Rimando's brilliance ignored in the Goalkeeper of the Year balloting, although the three finalists (Chivas USA's Brad Guzan, Houston's Pat Onstad and New England's Matt Reis) are all solid selections.

The biggest error might be Eddie Johnson as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate (along with Columbus' Frankie Hejduk and New England's Pat Noonan. In July, Johnson was a slam dunk, but his second half wasn't good, and Kansas City reached the playoffs because of Scott Sealy, Davy Arnaud, Jimmy Conrad, Kerry Zavagnin, Sasha Victorine and Kevin Hartman, not Johnson.

Home Cooking

Only New England, among the favorites, returns home with an advantage following the first leg of the first round of MLS's playoffs. The Revs were outplayed much of their Eastern Conference opener at New York, but a scoreless draw suits them fine heading into Saturday's decisive leg.

The home teams -- the underdogs -- pulled out 1-0 victories in the other three series, with Chicago's Chris Rolfe (against D.C. United) and Kansas City's Davy Arnaud (against Chivas USA) scoring superb goals and FC Dallas' Clarence Goodson (against Houston) finishing when Ryan Cochrane couldn't clear Adrian Serioux's long throw-in.

A 1-0 deficit isn't much to overcome, but more troublesome for Eastern Conference (and Supporters' Shield) winner D.C. United and especially Western champ Chivas USA are injuries that have torn apart their attacks.

D.C. coach Tom Soehn was able to bring on ailing Luciano Emilio and Jaime Moreno, who combined for 27 regular-season goals (33 in all games), in the second half, but to no avail. Guy-Roland Kpene, the lone striker in United's starting 4-5-1 alignment, has scored just two goals in his MLS career, both for D.C.'s Reserve League side.

Chivas is in worse shape. Ante Razov has been out three weeks with an MCL sprain, and Maykel Galindo, with an abdominal injury, didn't travel to K.C. Both could be back for Saturday's second leg, although Razov would be a surprise.

The Goats sure could use them: They had a combined 23 goals and 13 assists this season. Chivas has scored just once in its past four games.

Houston's and New England's firepower should be enough at home, but Chivas is in danger, and so is D.C., which has never beaten -- has never scored against -- Chicago in the playoffs.

Spot Kicks

-- FIFA's decision to drop its World Cup rotation policy certainly harms the U.S. bid to stage the 2018 tournament. It was North America's turn, but now anybody can bid, and England looks like the front-runner. Australia also is likely to join the process. Any of the three likely would be better received than the next two infrastructure-challenged hosts, South Africa in 2010 and Brazil in 2014.

-- There's lots of speculation about who will lead the new San Jose Earthquakes into their inaugural MLS season next year, and most of it deals with two former Earthquakes head coaches.

A lot of buzz surrounds Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear, who headed to Houston with the Quakes when the club was relocated before the 2006 season. Kinnear grew up in Fremont, just north of San Jose, and is a childhood friend of John Doyle, his former assistant coach and the general manager of the new Quakes.

If Kinnear comes home, speculation goes, former Colorado Rapids star John Spencer, a Dynamo assistant, would take charge in Houston. Spencer also could return to Denver, to take over the Rapids, if Fernando Clavijo is dismissed.

Also in Quakes talk is Los Angeles Galaxy coach Frank Yallop, who told his team that it's possible he won't be back next year. Yallop, who won two MLS titles in San Jose, is slated to coach L.A. in friendlies Sunday against Hollywood United (a benefit for Southern California fire victims), Nov. 7 in Vancouver against the Vancouver Whitecaps and Nov. 11 in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Thunder. Whether he'll still be around for the two-game trip to Australia and New Zealand at the end of November is something else.

If Yallop heads north, there is thought he'll bring star forward/midfielder Landon Donovan with him. Donovan, a part of both Quakes title teams, received heavy abuse from San Jose fans when he returned to Spartan Stadium as part of the hated Galaxy. It would be interesting to see how he is welcomed back should he join the new Quakes.

If Yallop is let go, the two big names for the Galaxy job are Juergen Klinsmann and Jose Mourinho. Both have relationships with AEG and the Galaxy, but Klinsmann, who lives in nearby Huntington Beach, makes a lot more sense.

-- The Quakes last week announced they would play at Santa Clara University's Buck Shaw Stadium in 2008 and 2009 (and maybe in 2010, too). Much-needed renovation will increase capacity to 12,000, and the media can hope a new press box is part of the deal. My favorite Buck Shaw moments: Watching Santa Clara's women dismantle Michigan in an NCAA Tournament game but win by only a goal, and Brandi Chastain giving me her Thai food at another Broncos game because I hadn't eaten all day.

-- The old Earthquakes possessed one of MLS's finest communications departments before the club departed for Houston, maybe the best in the league, so it's no surprise the new club, owned by Oakland Athletics co-owner Lew Wolff, would be in contact with the old staff as it prepares for its first season next year. Trouble is the new Earthquakes only want info from the old staff and have made it clear they have zero interest in hiring any of the standbys.

The new communications manager, Flor de Maria Rivera, has a background in television and none in professional sports communications, and it's a big leap from one field to the other. The Earthquakes' old communications director, the exceedingly capable Jed Mettee, now runs Santa Clara University's sports information department, but his underlings are available.

-- All of the MLS clubs have announced their club MVPs, and most of them got it right. Here are the winners, with comment:

Chivas USA: Goalkeeper Brad Guzan -- Guzan's a good choice, but midfielder Sacha Kljestan or forwards Maykel Galindo or Ante Razov would have been, too.

Colorado Rapids: Midfielder Pablo Mastroeni -- Mastroeni is certainly the most accomplished of Colorado's stars, but goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul had a better season.

Columbus Crew: Argentine midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto -- There was no other realistic candidate.

D.C. United: Brazilian forward Luciano Emilio -- The Golden Boot winner (as MLS scoring champion) is a good choice, but some favored midfielder Ben Olsen.

FC Dallas: Colombian midfielder Juan Toja -- The gifted youngster was the best choice, but he was better earlier in the season than later.

Houston Dynamo: Tie between midfielder Brian Mullan and Canadian goalkeeper Pat Onstad -- Mullan was outstanding and didn't receive the attention he deserved. Onstad set an MLS goals-against record, but he benefited from the league's best backline and one of its best midfielders. A better choice would have been central defender Eddie Robinson, the best backliner in the leaguer.

Kansas City Wizards: Forward Eddie Johnson -- He's so talented, so young (just 23) and too inconsistent to deserve this award, which was won on his 15 goals. Midfielder Davy Arnaud, enjoying his best MLS campaign, or backline leader Jimmy Conrad were more deserving.

Los Angeles Galaxy: Defender Chris Klein -- The winger, acquired from Real Salt Lake in the Robbie Findley/Nathan Sturgis trade, was L.A.'s iron man, playing every game and nearly all of them out of position. And he scored two big, great goals. But this is a farce. Landon Donovan was L.A.'s MVP, and there were no other candidates.

New England Revolution: Forward Taylor Twellman -- Can't argue against the productive striker, but you could also argue for midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Steve Ralston. Joseph would get my vote.

New York Red Bulls: Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel -- He should be the league MVP, too.

Real Salt Lake: Goalkeeper Nick Rimando -- He was mostly magnificent for RSL, making saves few others could and keeping the Western Division stragglers in games they had no business being in. An easy choice.

Toronto FC: Tie between Canadian defender Jim Brennan and Welsh midfielder Carl Robinson -- Brennan was the backline anchor and Robinson the midfield engine. Given a choice, I'd go with Robinson.

-- Freddy Adu does it again, scoring his first Portuguese League goal in the 87th minute to lift 10-man Benfica to a 2-1 triumph over Maritimo and into second place. Adu, just 18, has scored two Portuguese Cup goals and last week became the youngest American to play in the UEFA Champions League. In total, he has three goals in six first-team appearances for the Lisbon-based giant.

-- Toronto Croatia won the Canadian Soccer League title, beating archrival Serbian White Eagles, 4-1, on aggregate. Croatia, which won the 2000 and 2004 CSL crowns and the 1976 NASL title (as Toronto Metros-Croatia, led by the legendary Eusebio), captured the first leg, 4-1, as Jonathan Bustamante scored two goals, then held on for a 0-0 draw in the second leg. The first game was open only to Croatia fans, the second leg only to Eagles supporters.

-- Tony Meola is the Major Indoor Soccer League's Goalkeeper of the Week after leading the New Jersey Ironmen past the Orlando Sharks, 7-4, in the both teams' inaugural games. He made 10 saves, shut out the Sharks for three quarters and made several big saves late to preserve the victory.