in about every way possible, in teams, stadium development, public awareness, cult of personality, etc. -- at breakneck pace since then. The acceleration from school zone speed up to highway pace has been so fast, it can be difficult to track.
So here's a quick review, a scan of the MLS landscape, if you will, starting with the expanding ownership roster:
Andell Holdings completed its purchase of the Chicago Fire on Thursday, which further dilutes AEG's once-dominant MLS rule. At its zenith, the AEG umbrella covered the MetroStars, the Colorado Rapids, the Fire, the Los Angeles Galaxy, D.C. United and the San Jose Earthquakes.
Now, the shrinking AEG empire includes only the Galaxy and Houston Dynamo.
Meanwhile, the ownership roster still includes the HSG (Hunt Sports Group) and the Kraft Family, while it has added nine groups: Andell Holdings in Chicago; Victor MacFarlane and Will Chang with MacFarlane-Chang D.C. Soccer LLC; OnGoal LLC in Kansas City; Red Bull Ltd. in New York; Antonio Cue and Jorge Vergara at Chivas USA; Stan Kroenke with Kroenke Sports Enterprises in Denver; Dave Checketts in Salt Lake City; Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in Toronto; and, the recently introduced partnership of Lew Wolff and John Fisher.
Wolff and Fisher, control the league's 14th club, the San Jose Earthquakes. They are already bullish on stadium pursuit and will join MLS on the field next season. So quickly are owners being added now, Wolff and Fisher had to play the role of owner newbie for less than two months. They were introduced publicly during the MLS All-Star festivities in late July.
Also for "keeping score" purposes, MLS had just one dedicated soccer facility to begin the 2003 season, Crew Stadium in Columbus. Seven teams now play in six stadiums created specifically for MLS. By the end of next season, if things go as planned in Utah, eight teams will have a dedicated home. Construction is also underway for a Red Bull New York venue, set to open late next year or early in the 2009 season.
Clearly, the continued growth and diversification of the league's owner/investor pool means only bullish times ahead.
Bunker time for TFC?: The news is not good for Toronto FC, which is already trying to dig its way out of this league-record scoreless streak. Now, a practice-field foot injury to leading scorer Danny Dichio will keep him out of action for 2-4 weeks at least.
So for this week's trip to FC Dallas, the Canadian side will be without its top two goal producers, Dichio and the injured Jeff Cunningham. And they'll be without two of their top three assist men. Ronnie O'Brien remains sidelined and Andy Welsh has moved to England's Blackpool on a free transfer. Totaling up the statistical attrition: the players responsible for 11 of Toronto's 18 goals and for 12 of its 22 assists are unavailable.
Road matches for TFC lately have meant drawing two deep-lying lines, one in defense and one in the midfield, and hoping for something on the break with a lone striker, most likely Andrea Lombardo. Looks like more of the same this week in Frisco.
Eddie Pope's "farewell tour": At least Eddie Pope is honest about his failed efforts to carry on as usual.
The dean of U.S. defenders, a man who spent all 12 years of his professional career in Major League Soccer, is retiring at the end of the season. As he makes the final stops of his final campaign, beating back the nostalgia impulse has been tougher than he thought.
D.C. United certainly isn't helping matters. The club will honor Pope and Jaime Moreno at next week's home match against Real Salt Lake.
"I am trying not to, but I am doing it a little bit, to be honest," Pope said. "I'm trying not to think about all the 'last times.' Whether it is being in a certain stadium the last time, playing against a certain player that I respect, or a certain team, I'm trying not to think about it. But, really, it's impossible not to."
Charting the draws: So, which MLS side is the king of the tie? Columbus fans might tell you that their beloved Crew are, especially after seeing Colorado score late last week to manage a 1-1 draw. But maybe that's because so many Columbus draws have been at home over the last two years: 11 of 28 matches at Crew Stadium over the last two seasons have ended with teams even on the scoreboard.
But it's Dominic Kinnear's team down in Houston that has truly mastered the draw over the last few years in MLS. It dates back, in fact, to the club's days in San Jose. The Dynamo/Earthquakes have 49 ties over the last five seasons, which is right at 33 percent of its matches.
After that, Columbus is next 45 draws over the last five seasons, followed by 44 each for New York and New England.
The six-pointer: Columbus and Chicago meet on Saturday in the first "September Six-Pointer." That is, with the two clubs so close in the standings -- quite possibly scrapping it out for the eighth and final playoff spot -- a winner practically emerges from Crew Stadium on Saturday having gained a "six-point" edge between them.
In terms of the playoff race, it's the weekend's most significant contest.
Even though Columbus is at home, Chicago might have a slight edge based on recent form. About the time Columbus' early summer surge was relenting -- the Crew haven't won since July 22 and is 0-3-3 lately -- Chicago got its act together under new boss Juan Carlos Osorio. The Fire are 3-2-1 lately and forced the New York Red Bulls to work hard for a 1-0 win last week in New Jersey.
The Fire are playing with abundant confidence, and veteran defender C.J. Brown says Osorio's direct approach deserves a lot of the credit.
"He tells you exactly what he wants," Brown said. "If you don't play that way, you don't play."
He says Osorio manages to have fun on the training field and be serious at the same time, picking his moments to carefully manage that tricky balance.
"Everybody was given a clean sheet when he got here," Brown said. "He more or less told us, 'It's yours to ruin.'"
Steve Davis is a freelance writer who has covered Major League Soccer since its inception. Steve can be reached at BigTexSoccer@yahoo.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
