MLS Best XI Facts & Analysis

I compiled a list of all the players who made an MLS Best XI to analyze, and there's some interesting stuff there. There have been 110 Best XI appearances (11 x 10), and 67 players have made it, including 23 more than once. You can see all 10 year end Best XI's through this handy page at Wikipedia. But first, here's a short trivia quiz about the Best XI (answers are below): QUIZ 1. Who are the only two players to make the Best XI four years in a row? 2. Besides Jaime Moreno and Taylor Twellman, who is the only forward to be named to the Best XI more than once? 3. Which year had the fewest returnees from the previous year, with one? 4. Which team (minus RSL and Chivas) is the only one not to have a player make the Best XI twice? 5. Which teams (minus RSL and Chivas) have the most and least Best XI selections? ... ANSWERS 1. Chris Armas (1998-01) and Marco Etcheverry (1996-99) 2. John Spencer (2001, 03) 3. 2002 (Tim Howard). The World Cup probably had a lot to do with it. 4. Miami. 5 Best XI selections, all in 2001 (Preki, Llamosa, Mastroeni, Pineda Chacon, Serna). 5. Chicago (16) and Colorado/Miami/New England (5) Other Interesting Facts 1. 45 out of 110 selections taken by foreigners. 2. No player has made it with three different teams. Now that Agoos and Chung have retired, only Pope has a chance this year. 3. Eddie Pope also is the only player to have two appearances for two different teams (DC, MET). He's also the only one to have two seperate "streaks" of Best XI selections (1997-98 and 2003-04). 4. Robin Fraser and Jaime Moreno have the longest spans between their first and last Best XI appearances, 8 years. 5. The longest time between Best XI appearances is 5 years, shared by three players: Chung (97-02), Moreno (99-04), and Pope (98-03). Selections By Team CHI 16 LA 15 DC 15 SJ 12 KC 10 MET 8 TB 7 CLB 6 DAL 6 COL 5 MIA 5 NE 5 CHV 0 RSL 0 Returning From Previous Year 1997 3 1998 3 1999 5 2000 3 2001 3 2002 1 2003 2 2004 2 2005 3 The List Player Pos Times Years Teams 1 Robin Fraser D 5 1996, 98-00, 04 LA 4, CLB 1 Chris Armas M 5 1998-01, 03 CHI 3 Marco Etcheverry M 4 1996-99 DC 3 Preki M 4 1996-97, 01, 03 KC 2, MIA, KC 3 Eddie Pope D 4 1997-98, 03-04 DC 2, MET 2 3 Jaime Moreno F 4 1997, 99, 04-05 DC 7 Mauricio Cienfuegos M 3 1996, 98-99 LA 7 Carlos Valdarrama M 3 1996-97, 00 TB 7 Mark Chung M 3 1997, 02-03 KC, COL 2 7 Jeff Agoos D 3 1997, 99, 01 DC 2, SJ 7 Peter Nowak M 3 1998, 00-01 CHI 7 Steve Ralston M 3 1999-00, 02 TB 2, NE 13 Lubos Kubik D 2 1998-99 CHI 13 Thomas Dooley D 2 1997-98 CLB 13 Greg Vanney D 2 2000-01 LA 13 John Spencer F 2 2001, 03 COL 13 Tim Howard GK 2 2001-02 MET 13 Carlos Bocanegra D 2 2002-03 CHI 13 Taylor Twellman F 2 2002, 05 NE 13 Ryan Nelson D 2 2003-04 DC 13 Pat Onstad GK 2 2003, 05 SJ 13 Ronnie O'Brien M 2 2004-05 DAL 13 Jimmy Conrad D 2 2004-05 KC 24 Mark Dodd GK 1 1996 DAL 24 Leonel Alvarez D 1 1996 DAL 24 Eduardo Hurtado F 1 1996 LA 24 Roberto Donadoni M 1 1996 MET 24 John Doyle D 1 1996 SJ 24 Roy Lassiter F 1 1996 TB 24 Brad Friedel GK 1 1997 CLB 24 Richard Gough D 1 1997 KC 24 Ronald Cerritos F 1 1997 SJ 24 Zach Thornton GK 1 1998 CHI 24 Stern John F 1 1998 CLB 24 Cobi Jones F 1 1998 LA 24 Jason Kreis F 1 1999 DAL 24 Kevin Hartman GK 1 1999 LA 24 Eddie Lewis M 1 1999 SJ 24 Hristo Stoitchkov M 1 2000 CHI 24 Tony Meola GK 1 2000 KC 24 Peter Vermes D 1 2000 KC 24 Clint Mathis F 1 2000 MET 24 Mamadou Diallo F 1 2000 TB 24 Carlos Llamosa D 1 2001 MIA 24 Pablo Mastroeni D 1 2001 MIA 24 Alex Pineda Chacon F 1 2001 MIA 24 Diego Serna F 1 2001 MIA 24 Jeff Cunningham F 1 2002 CLB 24 Oscar Pareja M 1 2002 DAL 24 Alexi Lalas D 1 2002 LA 24 Carlos Ruiz F 1 2002 LA 24 Wade Barrett D 1 2002 SJ 24 Ronnie Ekelund M 1 2002 SJ 24 DaMarcus Beasley M 1 2003 CHI 24 Ante Razov F 1 2003 CHI 24 Landon Donovan M 1 2003 SJ 24 Joe Cannon GK 1 2004 COL 24 Kerry Zavagnin M 1 2004 KC 24 Amado Guevara M 1 2004 MET 24 Eddie Gaven M 1 2004 MET 24 Brian Ching F 1 2004 SJ 24 Danny Califf D 1 2005 SJ 24 Tyrone Marshall D 1 2005 LA 24 Clint Dempsey M 1 2005 NE 24 Dwayne DeRosario M 1 2005 SJ 24 Christian Gomez M 1 2005 DC 24 Shalrie Joseph M 1 2005 NE