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johnireland · 04-04-08, 03:32 PM

Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada. MLS represents the top tier of the American and Canadian Soccer Pyramids and is comprised of 14 clubs, although the league intends to expand to 16 clubs by 2010. Seasons run from late March or early April to November, with teams playing 30 games each.
A total of 16 clubs have competed in Major League Soccer, but only six have won the MLS Cup: D.C. United, Los Angeles Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes, Chicago Fire, Kansas City Wizards, and Houston Dynamo. The current Major League Soccer champions are the Houston Dynamo, who won their second title in the 2007 season.

Competition Format
The full schedule for the 2008 Major League Soccer season was announced in February 2008.
The basics of the 2008 season are as follows:
The regular season runs from March 29 to October 26, and the postseason runs from October 30 to November 23, culminating with the 2008 MLS Cup at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The 14 teams in the league are split into the Eastern and Western Conferences with seven teams each.
Each team plays 30 games over the course of 31 weeks, evenly divided between home and away matches. Each team plays every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 26 games. The remaining four games are intra-conference matches, often highlighting geographic and conference rivalries such as Los Angeles vs. Chivas USA, Dallas vs. Houston, and New England vs. New York.
With its win at the MLS Cup, the Houston Dynamo qualified for the final CONCACAF Champions' Cup. D.C. United also qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup by virtue of its winning the MLS Supporters' Shield for the top regular-season record.
SuperLiga, an MLS-Primera División de México competition, enters its second year during July and early August. Houston Dynamo (MLS Champion), New England Revolution (MLS runner-up), D.C. United (Supporters' Shield winner and Eastern Conference champion) and Chivas USA (Western Conference champion) will play in the 2008 tournament.
Four American teams will play in the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League in late 2008 and early 2009, with teams being determined using the same qualification scheme as SuperLiga. D.C. United and the Houston Dynamo will be automatically seeded into the group stage, while the New England Revolution and Chivas USA will play in a preliminary stage. In addition, Toronto FC may qualify the Canadian slot in the tournament after playing the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact of the United Soccer Leagues in a qualifying round
A Brief History

MLS was formed on December 17, 1993, fulfilling a promise to FIFA from Alan Rothenberg and the US Soccer Federation to establish a "Division One" professional soccer league in exchange for staging the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The league began play in 1996 with 10 teams, and enjoyed promising attendance numbers in its first season. Numbers declined going into the new millennium, but have rebounded in recent years.
The original 10 teams were divided into two conferences: the Eastern Conference (Columbus Crew, D.C. United, New England Revolution, NY/NJ MetroStars, and Tampa Bay Mutiny) and the Western Conference (Colorado Rapids, Dallas Burn, Kansas City Wiz, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash).
Resurgence

The 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea and Japan, in which the United States unexpectedly made the quarterfinal round based on wins against Portugal and Mexico, saw a resurgence in American soccer and in MLS. The 2002 MLS Cup, held four months after the World Cup final, set the championship attendance record with a sellout crowd at Gillette Stadium that saw the Los Angeles Galaxy win their first title. From 2001, both Los Angeles and the San Jose Earthquakes would hoist the trophy twice, while D.C. United returned to prominence in the 2004 MLS Cup, in the aftermath of an exciting Eastern Conference championship against the New England Revolution.
MLS drew international attention in 2004 with the D.C. United debut of 14-year-old Freddy Adu, who entered the league with much fanfare and was heralded as one of the top prospects in U.S. history.
MLS underwent a significant transition in the years leading up to the 2006 World Cup in Germany. After marketing itself on the talents of American players, the league saw some of its homegrown favorites depart for more prominent leagues in Europe. Tim Howard, goalkeeper for the MetroStars, was sent to Manchester United in one of the most lucrative contract deals in league history. DaMarcus Beasley of the Chicago Fire left for PSV Eindhoven, while Landon Donovan, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, was recalled back to Germany. Donovan's stint with the team was brief; prior to start of the 2005 season he was traded back to MLS to play with the Los Angeles Galaxy. In 2005 he led the Galaxy to its second MLS Cup.
Many American players, while factoring little in the national team picture, did make an impact in MLS. In 2005, Jason Kreis of the expansion Real Salt Lake became the first player in MLS history to score at least 100 career league goals. In Kansas City, goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi took the place of injured Tony Meola and helped the Wizards return to MLS Cup in 2004, with the team nearly clinching a playoff berth one season later. Herculez Gomez made a name for himself playing with the Galaxy in his first three MLS seasons, scoring the game-winning goal in the 2005 U.S. Open Cup final. In 2005, MLS created its Reserve Division, with each team's reserve squad playing 12 games, providing valuable playing time to develop non-starters on the team roster. The D.C. United Reserves in 2005 won the first Reserve Division title.

Clubs

Eastern Conference

Chicago Fire

1997
Columbus Crew
1995
D.C. United
1995
Kansas City Wizards
1995
New England Revolution
1995
New York Red Bulls
1995
Toronto FC
2006

Western Conference

CD Chivas USA
2004
Colorado Rapids
1995
FC Dallas
1995
Houston Dynamo
2005
Los Angeles Galaxy
1995
Real Salt Lake
2004
San Jose Earthquakes
1995

Conclusion

This is a challenging League to play, not only are you competing against the best America can offer, you also have the best Canadian teams in there to.
There are a lot of good players in America and the MLS has been a breading ground for a lot of premiership stars. So you will be working with a half decent standard. Also the league attracts a lot of Foreign stars for South America, although most European players there are either their as their career is ending or there not good enough for European Leagues.
If you fancy a challenge and can get you r head around a round robin series in a league format, then try the MLS.