MLS Rookies on Opening Day

16 rookies played in their team's opening game this season. How does that compare to years past? By Year Start Sub Total 1996 4 5 9 1997 3 3 6 1998 7 3 10 1999 3 2 5 2000 6 4 10 2001 7 2 9 2002 2 3 5 2003 6 3 9 2004 2 4 6 2005 7 9 16 2006 9 6 15 2007 8 5 13 2008 6 9 15 2009 9 7 16 2010 7 9 16 Totals 86 74 160 By Team (all time) Start Sub Total CHI 2 8 10 CHV 5 4 9 CLB 3 12 15 COL 10 3 13 DAL 0 4 4 DC 7 6 13 HOU 0 1 1 KC 8 5 13 LA 7 9 16 MIA 2 0 2 NE 10 7 17 NY 14 5 19 PHI 2 2 4 RSL 1 4 5 SEA 0 1 1 SJ 6 3 9 TB 5 1 6 TOR 4 0 4 Philadelphia had four rookies see action this season. Only two other teams have done that: CHV 2006 and COL 2000. Dallas has never had a rookie start on opening day in 15 years of existence. Under Steve Nicol, New England has seen a rookie play on opening day for every season. That's eight straight years, 2003-10. The second longest streak is tied by several teams at six years: CLB 2004-09, COL 2000-05, KC 2005-10, and LA 2005-10. Only four teams have started three rookies in the first game: COL 2000, NY 2003, CHV 2006, and NE 2007. I'll be interested to see if Bob Bradley can do it for a third straight time with a new team if (when) he comes back to MLS. The odds are that the 2010 Rookie of the Year played this past weekend. In 14 previous seasons, the winner played on opening day 10 times (28/42 nominees). The winners who didn't? Carlos Bocanegra, Rodrigo Faria, Maurice Edu, and Sean Franklin. All had played by the team's 5th team. In fact, no player since Santino Quaranta in 2001 has debuted later than his team's third game and managed to be a ROTY finalist. Opening Day Rookie List Note: For the early years, it's possible that I may have overlooked a player or two. Please inform me of any mistakes. I know Cesar Delgado (1999) may have been a rookie, but I don't have concrete information on that. Mike Duhaney (1997) wasn't technically a rookie, as he was on the roster without playing the previous year due to injury. But since he somehow was eligible and won the ROTY award, he's counted below. Also, I'm missing the time for Aleskey Korol's substitution in the first game of 2000 (and the other subs in that game - CHI vs DAL). I could figure them out by taking the total minutes played for the season and going through every game and subtracting...maybe later. 2010 Team Player Role Min COL Ross LaBauex sub 13 DAL Eric Alexander sub 35 DC Andy Najar start 45 KC Korede Aiyegbusi sub 10 KC Teal Bunbury sub 23 LA Michael Stevens sub 10 NE Seth Sinovic start 90 NE Zach Schilawski start 90 NE Zak Boggs sub 32 NY Tim Ream start 90 NY Toni Tchani sub 1 PHI Amobi Okugo sub 19 PHI Danny Mwanga start 45 PHI Jack McInerney sub 12 PHI Toni Stahl start 40 SJ Ike Opara start 90 2009 Team Player Role Min CHV Michael Lahoud sub 36 CLB Alex Grendi sub 45 DC Chris Pontius start 90 DC Rodney Wallace start 90 KC Graham Zusi start 62 LA A.J. DeLaGarza start 90 LA Omar Gonzalez start 90 LA Kyle Patterson sub 10 NE Darrius Barnes start 90 NE Kevin Alston start 89 NY Jeremy Hall sub 56 RSL Jean Alexandre sub 2 RSL Raphael Cox sub 7 SEA Steve Zakuani sub 22 SJ Quincy Amarikwa sub 33 TOR Stefan Frei start 90 TOR Sam Cronin start 90 2008 Team Player Role Min CHI Stephen King sub 36 CHV Justin Braun sub 17 CLB Andy Iro sub 1 COL Cieran O'Brien sub 19 DC Dan Stratford sub 8 HOU Geoff Cameron sub 4 KC Jon Leathers start 90 LA Ely Allen start 45 LA Michael Gavin start 67 LA Brandon McDonald sub 45 NE Kheli Dube sub 9 NY Danleigh Borman sub 45 NY Luke Sassano start 90 SJ Shea Salinas start 57 TOR Brian Edwards start 90 2007 Team Player Role Min CHV John Cunliffe sub 5 CLB Brad Evans sub 2 KC Michael Harrington start 90 KC Kurt Morsink sub 2 KC Aaron Hohlbein start 90 LA Robbie Findley sub 30 LA Ty Harden start 90 NE Adam Cristman start 71 NE Gary Flood start 80 NE Wells Thompson start 90 NY Dane Richards start 84 NY Sinisa Ubiparipovic sub 6 TOR Andrew Boyens start 90 2006 Team Player Role Min CHI Calen Carr sub 11 CHI Floyd Franks sub 1 CHV Lawson Vaughn start 90 CHV Jonathan Bornstein start 90 CHV Sacha Kljestan start 90 CHV Drew Helm sub 2 CLB Brandon Moss start 90 CLB Jason Garey sub 18 CLB Kei Kamara start 90 KC Matt Groenwald start 90 LA Nathan Sturgis start 71 NE Kyle Brown sub 7 NY Marvell Wynne start 90 RSL Mehdi Ballouchy start 73 RSL Ryan Johnson sub 17 2005 Team Player Role Min CHI Chris Rolfe sub 24 CHI Chad Barrett sub 10 CHV Brad Guzan start 90 CHV Aaron Lopez start 74 CLB Ryan Kelly sub 3 CLB Domenic Mediate sub 13 CLB Knox Cameron sub 2 COL Hunter Freeman start 90 COL Guy Melamed start 90 DC Bobby Boswell start 90 KC Scott Sealy sub 9 LA Mubariki Chisoni sub 45 NE Michael Parkhurst start 90 NE James Riley sub 34 RSL Luke Kreamalmeyer sub 18 SJ Danny O'Rourke start 90 2004 Team Player Role Min CLB Jamal Sutton sub 5 COL Gary Sullivan start 90 DC Freddy Adu sub 29 DC Josh Gros sub 5 NE Clint Dempsey sub 6 NY Jeff Parke start 90 2003 Team Player Role Min CHI Nate Jaqua sub 2 CHI Damani Ralph sub 15 COL Matt Crawford start 45 COL Casey Schmidt start 90 NE Pat Noonan sub 8 NY Jacob LeBlanc start 90 NY Ricardo Clark start 90 NY Mike Magee start 90 SJ Todd Dunivant start 90 2002 Team Player Role Min CHI Kelly Gray sub 15 CLB Kyle Martino sub 3 COL Jeff Stewart start 100 LA Gavin Glinton sub 2 NY Sam Forko start 90 2001 Team Player Role Min CLB Edson Buddle start 72 COL Stephen Herdsman start 74 DC Craig Ziadie start 90 DC Ryan Nelsen start 90 DC Mark Lisi sub 10 LA Brian Ching start 45 TB Craig Demmin start 90 TB Ali Curtis start 84 TB Devin Barclay sub 6 2000 Team Player Role Min CLB Dominic Schell sub 3 COL Adin Brown start 90 COL Lance Key start 90 COL Alan Woods sub 5 COL Jeff DiMaria start 85 DAL Aleksey Korol sub ?? DC Bobby Convey sub 15 KC Nick Garcia start 90 NE Rusty Pierce start 100 NY Steve Shak start 90 1999 Team Player Role Min DAL Paul Broome sub 25 MIA Jay Heaps start 90 SJ Richard Mulrooney sub 6 SJ Jamie Clark start 90 SJ Scott Bower start 84 1998 Team Player Role Min CHI Ritchie Kotschau start 90 CHI Tony Kuhn start 74 DC Carey Talley start 45 DC Ben Olsen sub 45 KC Chris Klein start 88 LA Clint Mathis sub 36 LA Joe Franchino sub 17 MIA Leo Cullen start 90 NE Johnny Torres start 86 TB Josh Keller start 45 1997 Team Player Role Min DAL Temoc Suarez sub 29 LA Steve Jolley sub 45 NE Steve Klein sub 1 NY Andrew Lewis start 90 NY Carlos Parra start 90 TB Mike Duhaney start 90 1996 Team Player Role Min CLB Mac Cozier sub 12 CLB Brian Maisonneuve sub 18 KC Matt McKeon start 90 KC Diego Gutierrez sub 7 NY Miles Joseph sub 32 NY Damian Silvera start 90 NY A.J. Wood start 65 SJ Eddie Lewis sub 1 TB Steve Ralston start 90

Mark Your Calendar - May 8th, 2010

What's so special about that date? It's a Saturday night, and the Houston Dynamo play at Chivas USA. More importantly, if Pat Onstad plays, he'll pass Preki to become the league's oldest player of all time (it's too bad he's no longer coaching Chivas, that would've been something). Preki played his last game on October 10th, 2005, coming on as a sub in the 68th minute for Nick Garcia. Kansas City took on FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park, and the game finished 2:2 after Preki scored in the 90th minute. Their playoff hopes would die the next day (when the Metrostars defeated Chivas USA 2:0), and Preki retired afterwards. Age in his final game: 42.311 years. Onstad will be 42.316 years old if he plays on May 8th. Mark your calendar. Note: I've updated the MLS age-related all time lists through last night's opener. Check them out below: Top 25 Youngest MLS Players Top 25 Oldest MLS Players Top 25 Oldest MLS Debuts

MLS 2010 Predicted Order Of Finish

Getting my picks in at the last second. I was going to list all the picks from the top US soccer sites, but many don't even have a specific order. This season, the drop off from Chicago and NE means that the west looks much stronger on paper. East 1) *Columbus - Virtually unchanged and a clear favorite in the East. 2) *Toronto - It's not that they're better, just that the teams who were above them now look worse. 3) *Chicago - Lost several Best XI caliber players, unlikely that replacements will all pan out. 4) New York - Sure to be the most improved team, but even a 0.50 PPG improvement leaves them only average. 5) DC United - Offense looks worse, defense looks better. So that's a wash. 6) New England - Has to be the year they fail to make the playoffs, right? 7) Kansas City - Lots of newcomers, but few of them look like difference makers. 8) Philadelphia - Lacks firepower and unlike Seattle last year, didn't bring in outside talent. West 1) *Seattle Sounders - The one top contender to actually look stronger. 2) *Real Salt Lake - Should finally have a winning record. 3) *Los Angeles Galaxy - Probably overachieved a bit last year. 4) *Houston Dynamo - Depth is still great, though the attack may stutter. 5) *Colorado Rapids - Defense should improve, they just need their forwards to repeat last year's good showing. 6) FC Dallas - Ending strong in 2009 doesn't mean a strong 2010 (see SJ last year). 7) San Jose Earthquakes - Unless Convey and Opara are outstanding... 8) CD Chivas USA - Expect the defense to fall off. * denotes playoff team. MLS Cup: Seattle over Columbus

Amazing Stat of the Day

This was pretty interesting to me: If you feel like your favorite MLS team didn't improve last year, you're not alone. In the overall table last season (using tiebreakers), the only team to finish higher in 2009 than in 2008 was the LA Galaxy. That's possible due to the debut of Seattle near the top, LA's large leap (13-2), and several teams who finished in the exact same spot.

MLS: Most Games Played w/Only One Team

Here's the top 50 (all competitions), and one team refers to within MLS only: 1 Jones, Cobi 392 LA 2 Brown, C.J. 344 CHI 3 Olsen, Ben 284 DC 4 Cienguegos, Mauricio 270 LA 5 Clark, Mike 265 CLB 6 Namoff, Bryan 260 DC 7 Rhine, Bobby 247 DAL 8 Etcheverry, Marco 241 DC 9 Joseph, Shalrie 229 NE 10 Arnaud, Davy 220 KC 11 Twellman, Taylor 211 NE 12 Pause, Logan 210 CHI 13 Maisonneuve, Brian 208 CLB 14 Farrer, Richard 190 DAL 15 Jewsbury, Jack 189 KC 16 Rodriguez, Jorge 188 DAL 17 Warzycha, Robert 187 CLB 18 Eck, Ted 183 DAL 19 Simms, Clyde 177 DC 20 Deering, Chad 175 DAL 21 Johnston, Mo 169 KC 22 West, Brian 167 CLB 22 Yeagley, Todd 167 CLB 24 Marshall, Chad 159 CLB 25 Oughton, Duncan 158 CLB 26 Dayak, Troy 149 SJ 26 Rolfe, Chris 149 CHI 28 Nowak, Peter 147 CHI 29 Parke, Jeff 143 NY 30 Gros, Josh 141 DC 31 Doyle, John 140 SJ 32 Larentowicz, Jeff 139 NE 33 Parkhurst, Michael 138 NE 34 Beasley, DaMarcus 135 CHI 35 Stammler, Seth 134 NY 36 Dorman, Andy 131 NE 36 Ramos, Tab 131 NY 38 Lapper, Mike 130 CLB 38 Okafor, Uche 130 KC 38 Segares, Gonzalo 130 CHI 41 Pollard, Brandon 129 DAL 42 Mendoza, Francisco 127 CHV 43 Gbandi, Chris 126 DAL 44 Martinez, Chris 124 COL 45 Holden, Stuart 122 HOU 46 Bocanegra, Carlos 120 CHI 46 Bowers, Sean 120 KC 46 Farrell, Jason 120 CLB 46 Kljestan, Sacha 120 CHV 46 Mendes, Carlos 120 NY Bold = currently active in MLS. The Crew have the most players here with 9, followed by Chicago and Dallas with 7. Larentowicz should be leaving the list once the season starts (that is, if the... oh, forget it). If you're wondering who's played the most games for only one team before then playing for another, the answer is Kevin Hartman with 307. He's followed by Jason Kreis and Nick Garcia. The next highest active players are Jonathan Bornstein, Alan Gordon, Fred, Devon McTavish, Corey Ashe, Jacob Peterson, Michael Harrington, and Dario Sala. All have at least 100 games.