| Competition: | Major League Soccer |
| Season: | 2012 |
| Mlscup: | LA Galaxy (4th title) |
| Shield: | San Jose Earthquakes (2nd shield) |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League (U.S.) |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | San Jose Earthquakes LA Galaxy Houston Dynamo Sporting Kansas City (via U.S. Open Cup) |
| Continentalcup2: | Champions League (Canada) |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Toronto FC (via Canadian Championship) |
| Matches: | 323 |
| Total Goals: | 854 |
| League Topscorer: | Chris Wondolowski (27 goals) |
| Biggest Home Win: | SJ 5–0 RSL (July 14) DAL 5–0 POR (July 21) |
| Biggest Away Win: | CHV 0–4 LA (August 12) CHV 2–6 SEA (August 25) CHV 0-4 RSL (September 29) |
| Highest Scoring: | 8 goals: SJ 5–3 DC (May 2) POR 3–5 LA (July 14) CHV 2–6 SEA (August 25) |
| Longest Wins: | 7 matches:[1] Sporting KC |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 11 matches: Sporting KC (August 4 – October 24) |
| Longest Winless: | 14 matches: Toronto FC (July 28 – October 28) |
| Longest Losses: | 9 matches: Toronto FC (March 17 – May 19) |
| Highest Attendance: | 66,452 POR @ SEA (October 7) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 6,149 COL @ NE (May 2) |
| Average Attendance: | 18,807 |
| Prevseason: | 2011 |
| Nextseason: | 2013 |
The 2012 Major League Soccer season was the 17th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 100th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 34th with a national first-division league.
The Montreal Impact became the 19th MLS club, replacing a team of the same name that previously played in the NASL.
The regular season began on March 10 and concluded on October 28. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 31 and ended on December 1, when the LA Galaxy claimed their fourth league title by defeating the Houston Dynamo, 3–1, in MLS Cup. It was the first rematch in the Cup final since Houston defeated the New England Revolution in the 2006 and 2007 editions.
The season began on March 10 and concluded with MLS Cup on December 1. The 19 teams were split into two conferences, with 10 teams in the Eastern Conference and 9 teams in the Western Conference. Each team played 34 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Western Conference teams played each conference rival three times, and played each Eastern Conference team once. Eastern Conference teams played seven of their conference rivals three times, the remaining two conference rivals twice, and each Western Conference team once.
The top three teams in each conference earned a bye to the conference semifinals, while the next two teams with the most points in each conference earned wild card berths. The wild card round included two single-elimination matches where the winners advanced to the conference semifinals. In all rounds, draws were broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.
The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup, and the runner-up, also qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League. An additional berth in the Champions League was also awarded to the winner of the U.S. Open Cup. If a team qualified for multiple berths into the Champions League, then additional berths were awarded to the highest overall finishing MLS team(s) not already qualified. Also, Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and Montreal Impact, as Canadian-based teams, could not qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS, and had to instead qualify through the Canadian Championship.
See main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
See main article: List of Major League Soccer transfers 2012. Major League Soccer employs no fewer than 12 methods to acquire players. These include: signing players on transfers/free transfers as is done in most of the world; via trades; drafting players through mechanisms such as the MLS SuperDraft, MLS Supplemental Draft, or MLS Re-Entry Draft; rarely used methods which cover extreme hardship and injury replacement; signing players as Designated Players or Homegrown Players; placing a discovery claim on players; waivers; and methods peculiar to MLS such as through allocation or a weighted lottery.[2]
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 2011 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.[2]
| Original Ranking | Club | Date Allocation Used | Player Signed | Player Nation | Previous Club | Club Nation | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February 17, 2012 |  | [3] | |||||
| 2 | June 26, 2012 |  |  | [4] | ||||
| 3 | August 27, 2012 |  | [5] | |||||
| 4 | Seattle Sounders FC∞ | September 14, 2012 | | [6] | ||||
| 5 | ||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||
| 7 | ||||||||
| 8 | ||||||||
| 9 | ||||||||
| 10 | ||||||||
| 11 | March 28, 2012 | | [7] | |||||
| 12 | ||||||||
| 13 | August 8, 2012 | | [8] |
Montreal immediately traded Johnson to Seattle in exchange for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle.
Vancouver originally had the No. 2 ranking, but traded it to Philadelphia on June 26.
∞Toronto originally had the No. 4 ranking, but traded it to Seattle on September 14.
The remaining order after FC Dallas is: Vancouver Whitecaps FC (from Philadelphia), Toronto FC (from Seattle), Sporting Kansas City, Real Salt Lake, Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy. In the unlikely event that all clubs use an allocation, the order begins anew with Montreal Impact, Colorado Rapids, Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders FC.
Some players are assigned to MLS teams via a weighted lottery process. A team can only acquire one player per year through a weighted lottery. The players made available through lotteries include: (i) Generation adidas players signed after the MLS SuperDraft; and (ii) Draft eligible players to whom an MLS contract was offered but who failed to sign with the League prior to the SuperDraft.
The team with the worst record over its last 30 regular season games (dating back to previous season if necessary and taking playoff performance into account) will have the greatest probability of winning the lottery. Teams are not required to participate in a lottery. Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout.
The results of 2012 weighted lotteries thus far:
| Lottery Date | Player | Player Nation | Position | Winning Club | Other Clubs Participating | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 15, 2011 | MF | [9] | |||||
| September 13, 2012 | FW |
See main article: 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs.
| Month | Player | Club | Stats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | Thierry Henry | New York Red Bulls | 5G, 3A | |
| April | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | 3G | |
| May |  Dwayne De Rosario | D.C. United | 4G, 3A | |
| June | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | 3G | |
| July |  Robbie Keane | LA Galaxy | 5G, 4A | |
| August | Patrice Bernier | Montreal Impact | 3G, 3A | |
| September | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | 4G, 2A | |
| October | Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | 5G |
See main article: 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League and 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League. Prior to the start of the MLS regular season, Toronto FC defeated Los Angeles Galaxy while Mexican side Santos Laguna defeated Seattle Sounders FC in two of the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series. Toronto FC then lost 3–7 on aggregate in the semifinal with Santos Laguna.[10]
In the 2012–13 CCL, Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake earned group stage spots (the preliminary round has been eliminated). The Canadian representative, determined by the 2012 Canadian Championship, was Toronto FC.
At the end of the groups stages, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, and Houston Dynamo qualified for the quarterfinals, which will be played in March 2013.
See main article: 2012 MLS All-Star Game. The 2012 MLS All-Star Game was played on July 25 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, home stadium of the Philadelphia Union. As has been the format every year since 2005, the MLS All-Stars played an international club; the 2012 opponent was England's Chelsea FC, 2012 champions of both the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League and visiting side in the 2006 MLS All-Star Game (when they lost to the All-Stars, 1–0, at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois).[11] The MLS All-Stars won the game 3–2.
See main article: 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification.
For the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament, U.S. Soccer has increased the size of the main tournament from 40 to 64 clubs, assembling the competition so that all U.S.-based Major League Soccer clubs gain entry.[12] On August 8, 2012, Sporting Kansas City defeated the Seattle Sounders on penalties to win the franchise's second open cup title.[13]
See main article: 2012 Canadian Championship.
The three Canadian-based MLS clubs, Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, along with NASL club FC Edmonton, competed for the Voyageurs Cup, Canada's national championship trophy. The tournament is organized in a knockout format with two-legged ties in both the semifinals and final, with the away goals rule in place. Toronto defeated Vancouver in the finals, their fourth consecutive national championship, and qualified for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League.
See main article: 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The MLS Cup playoffs took place after the conclusion of the regular season. For 2012, the playoff structure underwent several changes:
Peter Nowak and John Hackworth
John Spencer and Gavin Wilkinson
Jamaica
Liberia
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
Italy