MLS Cup Final: 10 Players to Watch in the Houston Dynamo V LA Galaxy Matchup

After a long MLS season, the MLS Cup Final is finally upon us. The Houston Dynamo, making their third appearance in the last six years, will be taking on the Los Angeles Galaxy, who are also no strangers to the MLS Cup Final, having made it to the game a record seven times.Both teams have taken very different paths to reach the MLS Cup Final.Los Angeles dominated league play, winning the Supporters' Shield by finishing four points ahead of the Seattle Sounders and 14 points ahead of Real Salt Lake, before brushing aside the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake in the playoffs.Houston on the other hand finished seventh in the overall league table and second in the Eastern Conference, finishing the season with a fairly mediocre record. However, they too managed to comfortably put away the Philadelphia Union and Sporting Kansas City to make the final.Since Los Angeles performed so better than Houston in the regular season, Los Angeles will probably go into the MLS Cup match as favorites.However, it must be remembered that Houston won the last match between the two sides in October, and have won all the MLS Cup Finals they've played in.Let's look at the ...

Dwayne De Rosario of D.C. United Wins League MVP Award

Dwayne DeRosario has probably had the most interesting season of any player in the MLS—ever. He has now topped off that season by being named the league's most valuable player. DeRosario started off the 2011 MLS season in his hometown club of Toronto FC. He played there for only two games before being traded to the New York Red Bulls. He wore the New York colors for a mere 87 days—which included 13 games—and notched two goals and four assists. DeRosario was then traded from the Red Bulls to D.C. United for midfielder Dax McCarty. He closed out the 2011 season with D.C. by scoring 13 goals in 18 games. His numbers this season—16 goals and 12 assists—meant he was the only MLS player to finish with double digits in both categories. He is well deserving of the award. With 72.72 percent of the media vote, DeRosario beat out Brad David of Houston, Dallas' young star Brek Shea and Landon Donovan. Toronto and New York must be scratching their heads on this one. DeRo is the first Canadian to win the award. He is also the first player to win it and not be on a playoff-bound squad. He has ...

MLS Cup 2011 Live Blog: Play-by-Play Analysis, Reaction and More

This is it. The finale to the 2011 Major League Soccer season: MLS Cup 2011, live from the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on Sunday, Nov. 20. Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, the champions of the MLS Western Conference, take on Dominic Kinnear's Houston Dynamo, the kings of the MLS Eastern Conference, in front of a sold-out crowd of 27,000 strong in Victoria Street.Bleacher Report's Jo-Ryan Salazar brings you a special all-day blog of all the action, including pregame buildup, the history of this event, as well as the road each of the two teams took to get here.Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN, Galavision and TSN 2. The live blog is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET.As always, keep it right here on Bleacher Report for all things world football, including Major League Soccer.Read more MLS news on BleacherReport.com

Wide Left: MLS Commissioner Don Garber Talks MLS Cup, Beckham, U.S. Soccer

Subscribe to the Wide Left podcast on iTunes here.The MLS Cup between the LA Galaxy and Houston Dynamo is Sunday night at 9pm E.T. on ESPN. In the middle of an extremely busy week, MLS Commissioner Don Garber takes the time to talk with us about the state of the league, its current TV deals, the tenure of David Beckham, U.S. Soccer's relationship with MLS, the NBA lockout, Sepp Blatter's recent comments about racism in the sport and a whole lot more. The show ends with a question about Blatter, but we'll start with that here. I ask the commissioner for his thoughts on the head of FIFA telling the media that racist acts on the field come out in the heat of the game and can be settled "at the end of the game…we shake hands." Understandably, Commissioner Garber is taking a diplomatic stance on Blatter's comments: "I didn't hear him say it. I read it…I have to say that FIFA has done a very good job in trying to create awareness for anti-racism programs, and everybody who is involved in the game knows that. "The 'Say No To Racism' statements that are made before big matches and the discipline ...

MLS Cup: 10 Bold Predictions for Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy

The 16th Major League Soccer Cup champion will be crowned this Sunday as the Houston Dynamo travel to the LA Galaxy’s home stadium, the Home Depot Center, at 9 p.m. EST on Sunday. The game will pit the two hottest teams in the league against one another.Here are 10 bold predictions for the game.Begin Slideshow

MLS Playoffs: Current Playoff System Too Confusing to Succeed

As a longtime supporter of the United States National team, I guess I should feel rather embarrassed that I only recently began watching the MLS. Citing a lack of top players and simply the fact that the league was named, "Major League Soccer" instead of "Major League Football," I perceived the MLS to be far too primitive to warrant my attention. Yet, after hearing that the Seattle Sounders packed over 64,000 fans into CenturyLink Field for the final game of the season (surely more fans than would turn out to watch the Seahawks play football or the Mariners play baseball), I realized that Seattleites' dedication to their team is indicative of the league's growing profile. In other words, the MLS is officially worth following. However, as I prepared for the playoffs, I found myself rather confused by the league's attempt to juxtapose the traditional football league format with the general American playoff framework.  Not effectively emulating either system, the current MLS playoff format is rather goofy. Yet, I'm not mad.  Its obvious that the MLS is trying to maximize appeal to the large population of American sports fans who exclusively follow traditional American sports and international football fans based all over ...

MLS: 4 Reasons Why the New York Cosmos Should Be the Next MLS Expansion Team

Finally American Soccer is getting some international recognition. Building off of the relative success of the United States Men's National Team, Major League Soccer is starting to develop into a respectable destination for more mainstream players.Though still far from most European leagues, the MLS has experienced steady growth since its foundation in 1993 with only 10 teams.  Now boasting 19 franchises, the MLS has had success with many of its expansion teams, most recently the Montreal Impact, Portland Timbers, and the Vancouver Whitecaps.  With an eye toward future expansion, the MLS is looking to add another franchise in 2013 or 2014, and there is a strong case to be made for the rebirth of the New York Cosmos.Begin Slideshow

Dimitar Berbatov and 10 Footballers Who Could Star in MLS

The profile of Major League Soccer continues to grow and with that comes the ability to attract higher quality players. The MLS is slowly adding world-class footballers to its league who are not just at the end of their careers but have plenty of miles still on the clock. It started with David Beckham and more recently Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane. Signings like these show the intentions of the MLS to build itself into a league with a worldwide reputation. Here is a list of 10 players who have been linked with a move to the United States and could be seen gracing the pitches of the MLS in the near future. Begin Slideshow

Is Jay Heaps Hiring as the New England Revolution Head Coach a Good Call?

The New England Revolution haven’t had a coaching vacancy since promoting Steve Nicol to head coach in 2002, but the choice of whom to replace the longest tenured coach in history is, at the very least, one of the most intriguing decisions the team could’ve made—and could certainly pay off.Continuing with a new trend in hiring ex-MLS players to coach their former teams—think Jason Kreis at Real Salt Lake and Ben Olsen at D.C. United—the Revolution ownership has chosen retired defender Jay Heaps to be the organization’s new head coach heading into the 2012 season.Some fans may worry that Heaps doesn’t have any previous coaching experience. What he lacks in soccer coaching experience he makes up for in other areas.For starters, Heaps who enjoyed a fine 10-year playing career (eight with New England), is one of the most popular and productive players in Revolution history. He’s first in the team’s record books in games played (243) and minutes played (21,619). He was the 1999 MLS Rookie of the Year with the Miami Fusion and he has been capped by the United States Men’s National team four times. He was a successful player at every level and knows what the players ...

David Testo: How the MLS Star Coming out Could Impact World Football

MLS star David Testo, who was released from the North American Soccer League's Montreal Impact at the end of the season and previously played with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Columbus Crew, came out late last week to the public as a gay man in a radio interview. He said his family, friends and teammates all knew and were supportive of him. As he told Radio Canada: “I really do regret not having come out earlier. It’s something that I’ve struggled with my whole life and career. It’s hard. Living the life of a professional athlete and being gay is incredibly hard. It’s like carrying around a secret. Carrying around luggage and never actually be allowed to just be yourself. It’s incredibly energy-draining on top of having to perform, on top of having to play."Does it matter if Testo's gay? Of course not, in the grand scheme of things—what matters is whether or not he can play football. So why are we bothering talking about it?This wouldn't be particularly newsworthy if it weren't for the fact that Testo was only the third openly gay male professional footballer ever, and only the second in a top-flight division, after Justin Fashanu.His predecessor's is a story most football ...