MLS closer to traditional soccer

There's a funky new look to the Major League Soccer standings this year, at least to the sport's uninitiated. FC Dallas? Chivas USA? Real Salt Lake? What's that all about? Is there a Fake Salt Lake somewhere?

But, to soccer fans, it's a warm familiar look — another sign the adolescent league has stopped trying to Americanize the beautiful game and is more determined than ever to march in step with the rest of the world as it begins its 10th season Saturday.

"It's part of the strategy," commissioner Don Garber said. "These are soccer teams. And if they're trying to look like the type of club the soccer fan is used to seeing, then more than likely those teams aren't called 'the Clash.' That could be the name of a lacrosse team. That could be the name of a rock band — and was."

For that matter, "Burn" was a baffling moniker to some. Now, the name Dallas Burn has been put to rest, replaced this season by FC Dallas, a timely change as the team prepares to move into a new soccer-specific stadium in August.

FC stands for Football Club, a common prefix or suffix used by storied clubs such as FC Barcelona (Spain), FC Porto (Portugal) and seemingly half the teams in the Netherlands. Fulham FC of England will be the international opponent for the MLS all-star game on July 30 at Columbus.

Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake are this year's expansion teams, welcome additions for a league that had to shut down franchises in Miami and Tampa Bay in 2002. MLS still operates very much in the red, but it is a 12-team league again.

Chivas USA will help change the financial outlook by tapping further into the Mexican community in the United States. Chivas USA — full name Club Deportivo Chivas USA — is being launched as a sister club of CD Guadalajara, one of Mexico's most popular teams. Chivas, or Goats, is CD Guadalajara's nickname.

Chivas USA will play at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., sharing the facility with the Los Angeles Galaxy and giving two MLS teams to an area not represented in the NFL.

"Chivas USA is going to be from the start just like Chivas in Mexico," said Jorge Vergara, who owns both clubs, "a team of excellence and an open door for Spanish speakers."

That's the kind of talk Garber wants to hear. If Mexicans across the country flock to stadiums when Chivas USA is in town, the team's draw will be comparable to the impact made by 14-year-old Freddy Adu of D.C. United last season. United averaged 23,686 fans on the road last year, more than 6,000 better than any other team.