McCarthy's Musings: Breaking Down the Schedule

By Kyle McCarthy

Major League Soccer released its 2009 regular season schedule today with some fan fare and a dash of intrigue. After months of rumors swirling around about how the league would deal with international dates and international tournaments, MLS put those whispers to rest and unveiled its 225-game arrangement this afternoon.

Here are a few of the highlights:

About Those International Dates...: MLS tried to avoid conflicts with midweek qualifiers and mostly accomplished that goal. Lighter schedules will help for the Saturday qualifiers against El Salvador (Sep. 9 – three games) and in Honduras (Oct. 10 – three games), but there's a full slate on tap for the March 27 game in El Salvador and June 6 tilt against Honduras. The other tournaments are also a mixed bag: the Confederations Cup doesn't benefit from any weekend breaks, while the Gold Cup benefits from one non-Saturday game MLS for the entire month of July.

SuperLiga Respite: Chicago, Chivas USA, Kansas City and New England have two weeks off at the end of June, presumably to accommodate a revamped SuperLiga schedule.

The “Here's Hoping We Can Actually Advance At Least One Team Out of the Champions League Prelims This Year” Arrangement: The CONCACAF Champions League qualifiers are scheduled to be played as mid-week matches during the last week in July and the first week in August. The MLS schedule threw out a mixed bag for the two MLS teams involved in the qualifying round: New York doesn't play a league match between July 25 and Aug. 9, but D.C. United plays July 25 (away), Aug. 1 (away) and Aug. 8 (home).

Swing Your Partner Round and Round: With a 30-game schedule, every team plays every other team home and away plus two games against designated teams. The three-game partners:

East

Chicago: D.C. United, Columbus

Columbus: Toronto FC, Chicago

D.C. United: Kansas City, Chicago

Kansas City: New England, D.C. United

New England: Kansas City, New York

New York: New England, Toronto FC

Toronto FC: Columbus, New York

West

Chivas USA: Los Angeles, Seattle

Colorado: Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas

FC Dallas: Houston, Colorado

Houston: FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake

Los Angeles: Chivas USA, San Jose

Real Salt Lake: Colorado, Real Salt Lake

San Jose: Seattle, Los Angeles

Seattle Sounders FC: San Jose, Chivas USA

The “We Hope Beckham and Donovan Aren't Leaving” Caveat: ESPN2 selects Los Angeles for six games this season and prays it won't have to run advertisements with Eddie Lewis and Edson Buddle as the main attractions. Fox Soccer Channel (five games) and Telefutura (three games) cross their fingers too.

Prepare the Bratwurst and Leave It at the Ticket Counter for Mr. Schmid: Seattle travels to Columbus on Oct. 3.

We'll Never Support Locks Like Those Again: Dwayne De Rosario returns to Houston with Toronto FC on May 30.

Television Loves a Good Soap Opera: All three editions of the SuperClasico will air on national television. FSC gets the July 11 encounter, while ESPN2 picks up the Apr. 11 and Aug. 29 tilts.

A Clear Sign That Soccer Isn't Meant to be Played in New England in March and April: The Revolution plays five of its first seven matches on the road.

You'll Struggle to Find Us on ESPN2, But Catch Us in the Playoffs Instead: Kansas City makes one ESPN2 appearance (Apr. 23 against New York), but enjoys four of its final six games at home.

We Should Thank Blanco and McBride for Eliminating Our Need for a Local TV Deal: Chicago plays 16 of its 30 matches on national television (six on Telefutura, five on ESPN2, four on FSC/FSE and one on ESPN).

If We Played in Chicago, You'd Call Us the Cubbies: Toronto schedules 11 of its 15 home games during the afternoon – with two matches yet to be scheduled and both likely to be in the afternoon – in order to accommodate Canadian television.

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kylemccarthy@gmail.com.