最新杏吧原创

Even if you have watched a lot of soccer, get up early to watch the Premier League, watched every World Cup game possible last year, routinely have gone to see 最新杏吧原创 University play, Major League Soccer is a slightly different beast. And if you haven鈥檛 paid much attention to soccer at all, then compared to MLB or the NHL, MLS is really different.

So for the soccer aficionado and the soccer newbie, here鈥檚 a guide to help you get up to speed for the start of 最新杏吧原创 City SC on Feb. 25. For a few, all of this will be old hat, and congratulations, you can skip to the next page (or read this and gloat over your superior knowledge). But for a lot of people, this is the unfamiliar stuff you have to understand if you鈥檙e going to be questioning the coach or the sporting director (what they call the GM in soccer) or the referee.

From the basic to the esoteric, here鈥檚 a guide to Major League Soccer:

The rules of the game

On the field

Points: Teams get three points for a win, one point for a tie, no points for a loss.

Overtime: In the regular season, there isn鈥檛 any. Games end as ties. There is overtime in the playoffs.

Players: Teams can suit up 20 players for a game, 11 starters and nine substitutes. Teams are allowed five substitutions but have to use them in three windows. (Making a sub at halftime does not count as one of the windows.) Unlike in college soccer, a substituted player cannot return.

Concussions: MLS also allows teams to substitute for up to two extra players in case of suspected concussions. If a team uses an extra concussion substitute, the opposing team will receive an equal number of additional substitutions.

Timing: Two 45-minute halves, plus stoppage or injury time, which is time added to the 45 minutes by the referee to make up for stoppages in play. The fourth official, the one who sits or stands at midfield during the game, will hold up a sign when the game clock, which runs up from 0:00, hits 45 or 90, to indicate the minimum time that will be added. (If you鈥檙e in the stadium, it wouldn鈥檛 hurt to look at your watch at that moment and note the time because the scoreboard clock will stop and you鈥檙e on your own on knowing when the game is over.) Stoppages during stoppage time could lead to extra time being added. Even once that number has been reached, the referee, who keeps the time on his watch on the field, usually won鈥檛 blow the final whistle if one team has an imminent scoring opportunity.

Timeouts: None, though in conditions of extremely hot weather, teams will be given hydration breaks about 30 minutes into each half.

Running the show: Games have one referee, who is in charge of most everything. He is aided by two assistant referees (once referred to as linesmen), who run the sidelines carrying flags. They are in charge of calling offsides or ruling when the ball has gone out of bounds. Offsides, the rule that causes the most confusion, is when an attacking player is beyond the next-to-last defender (in most cases, the last player other than the goalie, but not always) at the moment a ball is played forward. (Though it鈥檚 permitted if the offside player isn鈥檛 involved in the play.) The assistant referee will raise his flag to indicate the offside, though since the advent of video assistant referee, or VAR, they usually will let the play continue to its conclusion before raising their flag in case replays prove them wrong. (Sometimes the margins are very tight.) A ball is out of bounds when it completely crosses the side or end line; it doesn鈥檛 have to be on the ground. A ball in the air that curves over the line and then back in is considered to have gone out. Imagine the sideline extending infinitely up into space. But it has to be completely over the line. As long as the ball remains inbounds, the player touching it can be out of bounds. It鈥檚 the location of the ball that matters.

Discipline: If the referee feels a player has committed a foul that is a bit more serious than normal, or has committed a lot of little fouls and won鈥檛 stop, or says something to the ref or another player, he can give that player a yellow card. Only the referee can do it, though assistant referees will sometimes wave their flags to indicate what they think is a potential yellow card. But it鈥檚 the referee鈥檚 decision; assistant referees can鈥檛 give them out. A yellow card is a warning not to do it again. Two yellow cards in one game lead to ejection, and ejected players cannot be replaced; teams have to play with 10 men (or less) for the remainder of the game. A player committing an extremely serious and dangerous foul can receive a red card, which means immediate ejection. This is often called a straight red card, to differentiate it from a player who gets a red for his second yellow card. Penalties on the defense that occur in the 18-yard box, regardless of what the player who was fouled was doing at the time, earn penalty kicks, with any player on the fouled team getting to take the shot from 10 yards out. The goalie can move side to side on the goal line, but not forward, before the kick is taken, and if a save is made, the ball is still live and can be scored on a rebound. Players cannot enter the penalty area until the ball has been struck. It still happens a lot.

A player who is ejected is also suspended for the next game. In MLS, a player receiving a fifth yellow card will be suspended for the next game. Additional suspensions follow the eighth and 11th yellow cards, though there are also procedures to have yellow cards come off your record for extended runs of good behavior.

Scores: Unlike other North American sports, when you鈥檙e watching a game on TV, the score bug will list the home team on the left (or on top) rather than the right. This brings the broadcast in line with the protocol used in the rest of the world. The same for when games are listed in print; the home team is on the left. When a score is listed in print, you will sometimes see a score in parentheses behind it. That鈥檚 the halftime score.

More timing: Since the scoreboard time is not the official game time, when a team scores, when it happened is referred to by which minute it happened in rather than the exact scoreboard time like in hockey. If a goal is scored when the clock reads 30:10听鈥� 30 minutes and 10 seconds into the game听鈥� the goal is said to have happened in the 31st minute. (A goal happening between 0:00 and 1:00 would be in the first minute.) A goal listed with a plus-sign after it means it happened in stoppage time. So a goal that happened two minutes into first-half stoppage time would be listed as 47+, to differentiate it from a goal that came two minutes into the second half, which would be listed as 47.

Playoffs: The top seven teams in each conference qualify for the postseason. The team with the most points in each conference gets a first-round bye and the other teams play in a knockout tournament. Though the format has changed over the years, sometimes with a two-game total goal series, in 2022, the league had just one game for each team in each round. The championship game, MLS Cup, is played at the home of the team with the better record.

Last season, it took 47 or 48 points to make the playoffs, depending on the conference. In the Western Conference, which 最新杏吧原创 City SC is in, LAFC had the most points, followed by Austin, Dallas, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Nashville, Minnesota and Salt Lake City. With City SC entering the league, Nashville has been moved to the Eastern Conference.

Off the field

Salary cap: Major League Soccer has a salary cap, which in 2022 was $4.9 million for 20 players on the senior roster. That number would get you a good player in the NHL and an average player in MLB. Teams also have a 10-player supplemental roster consisting generally of younger players who don鈥檛 count against the cap. The cap is both hard and soft. Teams are allowed to have three players who exceed the maximum salary of $612,500, who are called designated players. These players can make as much as a team wants to pay them, and only count $612,500 against the salary cap. Teams can pay additional players above the league maximum, but the league has systems in place, discussed below, that allow them to pay the player鈥檚 salary down to the league maximum.

International players: MLS teams are given eight spots on their roster for international players听鈥� those who aren鈥檛 American citizens or don鈥檛 have a green card. (There are different rules for the league鈥檚 three Canadian teams.) But teams can acquire unused international spots from other teams, so in effect, there鈥檚 no limit on how many international players you can have.

Generation adidas: A program through which top college players are paid by MLS to leave college early and turn pro. A GA player doesn鈥檛 count against the salary cap or require a spot on the senior roster.

Homegrown players: When a team signs a player who has spent at least one season in the club鈥檚 academy system, that player is considered Homegrown and, like Generation adidas players, doesn鈥檛 count against the senior roster or the salary cap.

General allocation money: When City SC traded away the No. 1 pick in the MLS draft, it got in return General Allocation Money or GAM. The MLS salary cap can make acquiring players from other leagues difficult. So the league gives teams a certain amount of money every year, referred to as GAM, which it can spend to cover transfer fees or to bring a player鈥檚 salary down to where it fits under the league maximum. In 2022, the base GAM was $1.625 million, though teams can get more for certain reasons. GAM can be traded.

TAM: The league also has TAM, or targeted allocation money, which is another pot of money given to teams by the league to pay down the salaries of new or re-signed players to the league maximum. This year it's $2.72 million per team. TAM can't be traded.

Bonus games: There are 34 games in the MLS schedule, but City SC will take part in two additional competitions during the season that aren鈥檛 part of league play. One is the U.S. Open Cup, a tournament that includes amateur teams plus professional teams at all levels in a knockout competition. Many 最新杏吧原创 fans are familiar with the Open Cup since recent local teams, like AC 最新杏吧原创 or 最新杏吧原创 FC, took part. Since City SC is in MLS rather than a lower division, City SC will enter later in the competition and not be playing teams above it. Since the early rounds of the Open Cup are played within the framework of the regular season, usually on a Wednesday, it鈥檚 not uncommon for MLS teams to play backups in these matches to keep the best players for the MLS matches on the weekend.

The other competition is the Leagues Cup, a tournament that includes all the teams in MLS and Mexico鈥檚 Liga MX. MLS will stop league play in late July for the tournament, which will include first-round group play and then an elimination format, like the World Cup. City SC is in a group with the Columbus Crew of MLS and Club America of Liga MX. The schedule hasn鈥檛 been announced yet, but all games will be played in the U.S. or Canada, so Club America will play 最新杏吧原创 at CityPark.

It鈥檚 not an issue for City SC yet, but four teams in the league will also take part in the CONCACAF Champions League, a tournament consisting of the top teams in domestic leagues throughout the region. The MLS participants are the MLS Cup champion, the winner of the Supporters鈥� Shield for the best regular season record, the winner of the other conference, and the winner of the Open Cup. In the 14 seasons of the tournament鈥檚 current format, only one MLS team, the Seattle Sounders, has won. Mexican clubs have won the others. One of the reasons for that is the early rounds are often held in January or February when MLS teams are still in their preseason.

Also in the summer of 2023 will be the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the regional championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament will be held in the United States and while venues for the tournament听鈥� whose final usually pits the United States and Mexico听鈥� CityPark is a likely candidate to host a doubleheader somewhere in the tournament, which starts June 26 and runs through July 16.

Also sprinkled throughout the soccer season are FIFA international match dates. These are dates set aside by FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, for national teams to play, increasingly in continental tournaments. While domestic leagues around the world usually shut down on these dates, MLS often doesn鈥檛. But if a player is called in for a match on one of these dates, teams are obligated to let them go to play for their country. So it鈥檚 possible that, at some point in the season, a City SC player may up and leave for a week. (Players sometimes turn down invitations if they fear it will hurt their status with their club team.) City SC has a handful of players听鈥� Joakim Nilsson (Sweden), Njabulo Blom (South Africa), Selmir Pidro (Bosnia) and Tim Parker and Niko Gioacchini (United States)听鈥� with national team experience, but only Nilsson has been called in recently. City SC would likely be happy if any of its players were doing well enough to get the attention of their country鈥檚 national team.

How do I watch? There is no local television for City SC games (or any MLS games). All league games are broadcast online on Apple TV: $12.99 a month or $79 for the season if you鈥檙e a subscriber, $14.99 a month, $99 for the season if you鈥檙e not. The league says a 鈥渓imited number鈥� of games will be made available for free on the Apple TV app. A small number of games will also be televised on FOX, either on the FOX network (Channel 2 in 最新杏吧原创) or on cable on FS1.

Glossary

A lot of terms and names will get thrown around that take some getting used to:

FIFA: Federation International de Football Association, the French name for soccer鈥檚 international governing body. (Association Football is another name for soccer.) It has a well-earned reputation for corruption.

CONCACAF:听The unwieldy acronym for the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. It too has a well-earned reputation for corruption. It consists of 41 members, some of which, generally islands in the Caribbean, are not independent nations. It also, somewhat inexplicably, includes Suriname and Guyana, which are in South America.

There are five other regional confederations: CONMEBOL (South America), UEFA (Europe), AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa) and OFC (Oceania, though Australia joined AFC so it can face better competition).

MLS Next Pro: In 2022, MLS began a developmental league called MLS Next Pro. (It also has an academy system, for high school-aged players, called MLS Next.) The league is designed to serve in a transitional phase for players who are out of the academy system but not ready for MLS. Most, but not all, MLS teams are represented in the league. City SC鈥檚 entry is called City2. In addition to having young players working their way up, players on the senior roster in need of a game, either because of injury or not getting playing time, can be sent down. City2, which started play last season, reached the Next Pro finals but lost.

USL Championship: In the American soccer pyramid, MLS is the first division league, and the USL Championship is the second division, or top minor league, though the two leagues are not connected. MLS teams can loan a player to USL Championship teams if they don鈥檛 expect to need the player that season and want them to get better competition than they would get in MLS Next Pro, which is the third division.

Transfers: Very seldom do MLS teams make player-for-player trades. Usually, it鈥檚 a trade that involves targeted allocation money going the other way. (You may see this as purchasing the player, and you wouldn鈥檛 be wrong.) On the international market, players change teams through transfers, which involves one team purchasing a player from another team, often for millions and millions of dollars. That money goes to the team, not the player. The transferring player then negotiates a new contract with his new team. If a player reaches the end of his contract and doesn鈥檛 sign, he can change teams on what is called a free transfer. Most of the players on City SC were signed on a free transfer. While players can be moved within their league at any time, moves between leagues can only happen at certain times, called transfer windows. There are two each season, usually for four weeks in the offseason and two weeks in the middle of the season, which varies by country.

VAR: Video assistant referee. During MLS games, a VAR monitors a game on television, with the ability to view multiple camera angles on every play. If the VAR sees something that he thinks warrants extra scrutiny, either an offside call on a play that results in a goal, a possible foul in the penalty area, a direct red card, or a case of mistaken identity, he can buzz down to the referee, who will go to a monitor and review the play in question. The referee has the final say. Players and coaches can not request a play be reviewed.

History

Major League Soccer debuted in 1996 with 10 teams: New England Revolution, New York/New Jersey MetroStars, D.C. United, Tampa Bay Mutiny and Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference and Kansas City Wiz, Dallas Burn, Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash in the Western. (Tampa Bay was shut down by the league, San Jose moved to Houston and was replaced by an expansion team, and the MetroStars, Wiz and Burn changed their names.) 最新杏吧原创 City SC brings the team to 29 teams, 14 in the Western Conference, 15 in the Eastern.

Winners: The Galaxy have won the most titles, five, but the most recent was in 2014. D.C United is next with four, its most recent in 2004. Thirteen other teams have won one or two titles. Los Angeles FC, the second team in Los Angeles, is the reigning champion, having beaten Philadelphia Union on penalty kicks in the final.

Names: Early MLS teams followed the traditional North American standard of the city name and a nickname, though some of the initial ones were more abstract: Revolution, Mutiny, Crew, Galaxy, Clash, Burn. But as expansion rolled on, teams began to adopt European soccer conventions in their names. Some have just taken the city name and put SC (for Soccer Club) or FC (for Football Club) after it. Ten have gone with FC, even though the name of the league is Major League Soccer. 最新杏吧原创 City SC is one of three teams, along with New York City FC and Orlando City SC, to borrow from English clubs such as Manchester City or Leicester City and include City in their name. In addition to original team D.C. United, the league has Minnesota United and Atlanta United, taking a lead from English club Manchester United.

Extra honors: The team that finishes with the most points in the regular season听鈥� which in any European league would make you the champion, since they don鈥檛 do playoffs听鈥� receives the Supporters鈥� Shield.

Cracking the code

Just like in baseball, soccer has assigned certain numbers to certain positions, though that is complicated by teams using different configurations, which means the standard doesn鈥檛 always apply.

The standard system is:

1- Goalie

2- Right outside back

3- Left outside back

4- Center back

5- Center back

6- Defensive midfielder

7- Winger

8- Central midfielder

9- Striker

10- Central attacking midfielder

11- Winger

But City SC lines up a little differently. Their 1-5 matches the standard numbers, but they don鈥檛 consider their midfielders to be wingers, preferring to play them more centrally. City SC plays with two 6鈥檚, which they consider holding midfielders, or a 6 and an 8. With no wings, they don鈥檛 have a 7 or an 11, but three 10s. Under this configuration, the 6 and the 10 will get the most discussion.

Teams will describe their formations with a string of three or four numbers. City SC鈥檚 preferred formation is a 4-2-3-1. The goalie is assumed and not mentioned, and then the numbers start from the back and go forward. So in City SC鈥檚 case, they will use four defenders or backs, two holding midfielders, three attacking midfielders (the three 10s) and one striker, or forward. They may also go with a 4-2-2-2, with two 10s and two 9s. The numbers will also add up to 10 unless you鈥檙e talking about an in-game change after a player has been ejected.

Subscribe to the STL Soccer email newsletter to keep up with the latest news about 最新杏吧原创' MLS team