Real Salt Lake notebook: MLS still working toward new CBA

The week of MLS Cup is a week to celebrate, and the buildup to Sunday's match between Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles won't be any different.

Unlike some years though, there's some nervousness about what's going to happen at the end of the season.

The collective bargaining agreement between MLS and the players union expires on Jan. 31, 2010, the day before teams typically report to training camp.

In his annual pre-MLS Cup conference call with the media on Monday, commissioner Don Garber addressed the topic and reiterated that any talk of a strike or work stoppage is extremely premature at this point.

"I expect this will be a difficult agreement to finalize, but I'm very confident that we will be able to reach a productive agreement with our players and I know both we and the union are committed to do that," said Garber, who said the two sides have met a half a dozen times in the past sixth months.

The commissioner said the league has no plans to compromise some of its key points in upcoming negotiations though.

"The league will not agree to a CBA that's gonna negatively impact our ability to continue to grow this sport in the United States and in Canada," he said. "We've been very committed to doing that and quite successful I might add in the last 14 years, and we're not going to comprise any of the key issues that we're discussing confidentially in this agreement in order to avoid a stoppage."

BEST XI ANNOUNCED: MLS released its annual Best XI on Monday as voted on by the players, coaches, general managers and the media.

Colorado's Conor Casey and FC Dallas' Jeff Cunningham were named top forwards. L.A.'s Landon Donovan, New England's Shalrie Joseph, Houston's Stuart Holden, Toronto's Dwayne DeRosario and Seattle's Freddie Ljungberg were named top midfielders.

The top defenders are Columbus' Chad Marshall, Chicago's Wilman Conde and Houston's Geoff Cameron, while Zach Thornton of Chivas USA was named the top keeper.

KUDOS TO RSL: In talking about some league topics, Garber took a brief moment to compliment Real Salt Lake.

"This is a team that's really impressed me and a lot of the people here in the league office with their very aggressive and stylish play. They really came to win in all their playoff matches. Jason (Kreis) really deserves a lot of credit in his turnaround of that team," said Garber.