The 2014 Major League Soccer season was the 102nd season of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

-sanctioned

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in the United States and Canada, the 36th with a national first-division league, and the 19th season of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. This season featured 19 total clubs (16 from the United States and 3 from Canada), each playing 34 matches during the regular season. The 2014 Regular Season started on March 8 with

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

, the defending

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

champion, playing at the

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

. The 2014 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was held on August 6 in

Providence Park Providence Park (formerly Jeld-Wen Field; PGE Park; Civic Stadium; originally Multnomah Stadium; and from 1893 until the stadium was built, Multnomah Field) is an outdoor soccer venue located in the Goose Hollow neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

(hosted by the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

) and featured a team of MLS All-Stars against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

, the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

champions for the past two seasons. The game resulted in a 2–1 victory for the MLS All-Stars. The regular season ended on October 26;

won the Supporters' Shield and the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

went on to win the MLS Cup.

Teams, stadiums, and personnel

Schedule

Teams played 34 games: 17 at home and 17 away. The nine Western Conference teams faced each West club three times, with the home teams reversed from the previous year. The 10 Eastern Conference teams played 7 East teams three times (home teams reversed from 2013) and two East teams twice. Eastern and Western Conference teams played each other once, with the home team reversed from previous year.

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

* On October 29, 2013,

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

announced a 10-year contract with LifeVantage to become their jersey sponsor effective January 1, 2014. They replaced

XanGo Xango, LLC, (sometimes stylized as XANGO and XanGo) was a privately owned Lehi, Utah-based multi-level marketing company founded in 2002. It was acquired by Zija International in May 2017. The company marketed and distributed Xango juice, a blen ...

, which had been their sponsor since the 2006 season. * On February 10, 2014,

announced a partnership with

Providence Health & Services Providence Health & Services (since 2016: Providence St. Joseph Health) is a not-for-profit, Catholic health care system operating multiple hospitals across seven states, with headquarters in Renton, Washington. The health system includes 51 ho ...

to rename their stadium to

, which had been called JELD-WEN Field since 2011. * On February 24, 2014,

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

announced a multi-year jersey sponsorship with

Leidos Leidos, formerly known as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), is an American defense company, defense, Aerospace manufacturer, aviation, information technology (Lockheed Martin IS&GS), and biomedical research company headquart ...

. * On May 1, 2014,

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

announced a multi-year jersey sponsorship with Ciao Telecom. * On July 1, 2014, following two years without jersey sponsorship,

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

announced a multi-year jersey sponsorship with

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

. Note: All teams use

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...

as kit manufacturer.

Player transfers

Major League Soccer employs twelve methods to acquire players. These mechanisms are the following: (a) via

allocation Allocation may refer to: Computing * Block allocation map * C++ allocators * Delayed allocation * File allocation table * IP address allocation * Memory allocation * No-write allocation (cache) * Register allocation Economics * Asset alloca ...

; (b) via the

Designated Player Rule The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

; (c) via the annual SuperDraft; (d) via trade; (e) placing a discovery claim; (f) via the Homegrown Player Rule; (g) via the annual Re-Entry Draft; (h) via the annual Waiver Draft; (i) through weighted lottery; (j) through an "extreme hardship" call-up; (k) by replacing a player who has been placed on the Season Ending Injury List; (l) by replacing a player who has been placed on the Disabled List.

Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2013 season, taking playoff performance into account. Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season. ^{On January 14, 2014, Philadelphia Union acquired the No. 1 ranking and Ethan White

Norris Ethan White (born January 1, 1991) is a former American soccer player who plays as a defender. He last played for New York City FC in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Early career
In high school, White was a four-year starter for the Bethe ...
from D.C. United in exchange for the No. 6 allocation ranking and Jeff Parke

Jeff Parke (born March 23, 1982) is an American former soccer player. He played 11 seasons in Major League Soccer, appearing in over 250 matches.
Youth

Parke played for powerhouse youth club FC Delco. He then played four years of college soccer ...
.} ^{On December 11, 2013, Seattle Sounders acquired the No. 2 allocation ranking from Chivas USA in exchange for the No. 13 allocation ranking and Tristan Bowen

Tristan Bowen (born January 30, 1991) is an American professional soccer player. Bowen was the first ever homegrown player in MLS history.
Career
Youth
Bowen, who was homeschooled, forwent college although he was offered a scholarship to UCLA, ...
.} ^{∞ On July 23, 2014, Houston Dynamo acquired the then-no. 1 allocation ranking (original ranking number 3) and allocation money from Toronto FC in exchange for the then-no. 14 allocation ranking (original ranking number 16) and Warren Creavalle

Warren Creavalle (born August 14, 1990) is a former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, central midfielder or rightback. Born in the United States, he represented Guyana at senior international level, after representing the United S ...
.} ^{On July 29, 2014, Los Angeles Galaxy acquired the then-No. 3 allocation ranking (original ranking number 6) from D.C. United in exchange for the then-No. 11 allocation ranking (original ranking number 14), a second-round selection in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft

The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Januar ...
, and Kofi Opare.}

Managerial changes

Ownership changes

Rule changes

The rules for the 2014 season are largely identical as those in 2013, with one major exception. For the first time in league history, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

will be used in two-legged MLS Cup playoff matches. MLS will use the version of the rule employed in

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

competitions, which is applied only at the end of regular time of the second leg and ''not'' after extra time. MLS has also tweaked the tiebreaker rules for the league standings. The first tiebreaker remains total wins, but the second and third tiebreakers have been swapped—goal difference is now second and goals scored is third. All other tiebreakers remain the same as in 2013. More minor changes include the following: * The so-called "Special Discovery Signing" has been standardized. Under this provision, each team is allowed to

amortize Amortization or amortisation may refer to: * The process by which loan principal decreases over the life of an amortizing loan * Amortization (accounting), the expensing of acquisition cost minus the residual value of intangible assets in a syste ...

the total acquisition costs for one player, including the transfer fee, over the length of his contract without making him a Designated Player. * Regulations for loans between MLS teams have been formalized. Each team may loan out one player per season to another league team, with the loan deal being finalized no later than the close of the primary transfer window (May 12 in 2014). The player must be no older than 24 at the time of the loan, must stay on the receiving team's roster for the entire season, and cannot play against the team that loaned him out. Deals may include an option to buy. * Players who have trained for at least one year in a team's youth system, and have trained for at least 80 days with the team's academy in that year, may be signed to a first professional contract without being subject to the MLS SuperDraft. The salary cap for 2014 has also been adjusted upward. The team salary cap, which as in previous years covers the first 20 of the 30 available roster spots, has increased to $3.1 million. The cap charge for a Designated Player is now $387,500, up from $368,750 last season. Midseason Designated Player signings carry a cap charge of $193,750. The minimum salaries for "off-budget" players (roster spots 21–30, including Generation adidas players) have also increased from last season.

Standings

Conference tables

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall table

Note: the table below has no impact on playoff qualification and is used solely for determining host of the MLS Cup, certain CCL spots, the Supporters' Shield trophy, seeding in the 2015 Canadian Championship, and position in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft. The conference tables are the sole determinant for teams qualifying for the playoffs.

Tie-breaking

The teams are awarded three points for a win, one point for a tie (draw) and zero points for a loss. If teams have an equal number of points the following tie-breaking procedures apply: The second and third tiebreakers, goal differential and goals scored, have swapped places from the 2013 season. # Most wins # Goal differential (GD) # Goals for (GF) # Fewest disciplinary points # Road goals # Road goal differential # Home goals # Home goal differential # Coin toss (two teams) or drawing of lots (three or more)

MLS Cup Playoffs

Statistics

:''Full article:

MLS Golden Boot The MLS Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Audi Golden Boot") has been awarded since the 2005 season to Major League Soccer's regular–season leading scorer. The award replaced the MLS Scoring Champion Award that was awarded since the le ...

Top scorers

Source:

Top assists

Source:

Top goalkeepers

(Minimum 1,500 minutes played) Source:

Individual awards

Monthly awards

Weekly awards

The player of the week is voted on by North American sports journalists. All other weekly and monthly awards are decided by an online fan vote.

Scoring

*First goal of the season:

Chad Barrett Chad Randall Barrett (born April 30, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Career College Born in San Diego, Barrett played two seasons of college soccer at UCLA and led the team in assists his seco ...

for

against

, 94 minutes (March 8, 2014) *Fastest goal of the season:

Javier Morales Javier Morales (born 10 January 1980) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a midfielder. He currently serves as an academy coach at Inter Miami CF. Career Argentina From 1998 to 2006, Morales played for four different clubs in the A ...

for

against

, 15 seconds (May 11, 2014) *Hat-tricks of the season:

Discipline

*First yellow card of the season:

Aurélien Collin Aurélien Collin (; born 8 March 1986) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He spent the majority of his career playing in Major League Soccer. He is currently an assistant coach with Major League Soccer side H ...

for

against

, 16 minutes (March 8, 2014) *First red card of the season:

Patrick Nyarko Patrick Nyarko (born January 15, 1986) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer. Career College After coming to the United States in 2005, Nyarko was a star forward and three-time All-ACC selection for the Virginia Tech Hokies soccer tea ...

for Chicago Fire against

, 86 minutes (March 16, 2014)

End-of-season awards

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

Source:

Coaches

Eastern Conference

* Chicago Fire:

Frank Klopas Fotios "Frank" Klopas ( el, Φώτιος «Φρανκ» Κλόπας; born September 1, 1966) is an American former Association football, football player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Following his retirement, he ser ...

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

Robert Warzycha Robert Warzycha () (born 20 August 1963) is a Polish former professional association football player. Warzycha had a long career in Europe, playing for teams in Poland, Hungary and England with Everton in the Premier League. He won two Polish ...

Ben Olsen Benjamin Robert Olsen (born May 3, 1977) is an American sports executive, Association football, soccer coach, and former professional player who was formerly the president of Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer club in the Nationa ...

Dominic Kinnear Dominic Kinnear (born July 26, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former player. On January 18, 2022, he was named an assistant coach by FC Cincinnati, his first coaching role since serving as the interim head coach of the LA Galaxy. As a p ...

* Montreal Impact:

Marco Schällibaum Marco Schällibaum (born 6 April 1962) is a Swiss football manager and former player. He is the manager of Swiss Challenge League side Yverdon-Sport FC. Playing career As a player Schällibaum played 15 years in the Swiss first division fr ...

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

Jay Heaps John Franklin "Jay" Heaps (born August 2, 1976) is an American former soccer player who currently serves as president and general manager of Birmingham Legion FC. He is a former head coach for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer ...

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

Mike Petke Mike Petke (born January 30, 1976) is an American former soccer player and coach who was most recently head coach of Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. Prior to his tenure with Real Salt Lake, he was head coach of the New York Red Bulls, ...

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

John Hackworth John Hackworth (born February 5, 1970, in Dunedin, Florida) is an American soccer coach who is currently Director of Coaching for St. Louis City SC of Major League Soccer and the interim head coach for the club's MLS Next Pro side. Player Hac ...

Peter Vermes Peter Joseph Vermes (; born November 21, 1966) is an American professional soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer. As of 2022, Vermes is currently the longest-tenured head c ...

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

Ryan Nelsen Ryan William Nelsen (born 18 October 1977) is a former New Zealand professional football player and former head coach of Major League Soccer side Toronto FC. Nelsen commonly played as a defender, and his professional career began in 1995. He ...

Western Conference

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

: José Luis Real *

Óscar Pareja Óscar Alexander Pareja Gómez (born 10 August 1968) is a Colombian professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Orlando City in Major League Soccer. Pareja is nicknamed ''El Generalito'', the Little Gene ...

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

Schellas Hyndman Schellas Hyndman (born November 4, 1951) is a retired soccer coach. He was previously head coach of FC Dallas in Major League Soccer. Despite having a limited career as a professional athlete, Hyndman is one of the most successful college socc ...

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...

Caleb Porter Caleb Porter (born February 18, 1975) is an American soccer coach who most recently served as the head coach of Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew from 2019 to 2022. He was previously head coach of the Portland Timbers from 2013 until 2017. ...

Jason Kreis Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami CF and as head coach of the United States under-23 team. He coached Orlando City S ...

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

Mark Watson Mark Andrew Watson (born 13 February 1980) is a British comedian and novelist. Early life Watson was born in Bristol to a Welsh mother and English father. He has younger twin sisters and a brother, Paul. He attended Bristol Grammar School, ...

Sigi Schmid Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American Association football, soccer Manager (association football), coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West ...

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

: Martin Rennie

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Major League Soccer Season 2014

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...