The Chicago Fire won a coin flip Friday and will have the first pick in the Nov. 6 Major League Soccer expansion draft.
The Fire and the Miami Fusion will start play next year as MLS expands to 12 teams.
For the draft, each existing team will make 10 players available. Each time a team loses a player, it can withdraw one other player from the pool. No team can lose more than three players.
Rose Bowl: The MLS Cup is headed west to the Rose Bowl.
The MLS awarded its championship game to Los Angeles, where a league-high 900,000 fans have watched the Galaxy at home over the last two years.
Los Angeles is the first West Coast site for the game. Last year, the inaugural MLS Cup attracted 34,643 fans in a pouring rain at Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts, while Sunday’s title match in Washington between D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids is a sellout of 56,000-plus and could break RFK Stadium’s all-time attendance mark for a sporting event.
The league also named D.C. United president and general manager Kevin Payne as executive of the year. United won a league-record 21 regular-season games this year.
The major postseason awards will be announced at a banquet Saturday night. United has already said that its coach, Bruce Arena, will be named coach of the year.
Liverpool bound?: Major League Soccer confirmed talks with Liverpool about a possible transfer of U.S. international goalkeeper Brad Friedel, while his MLS coach said Friday the loss of Friedel would be “devastating.”
Published reports have said Friedel is close to being transferred to the English Premier League team for $1.6 million.
MLS deputy commissioner Sunil Gulati confirmed that the league has talked to Liverpool. “There are still some hurdles to clear,” he said, “one of which is getting a work permit.”
Columbus coach Tom Fitzgerald said he would hate to lose his star goalkeeper.
“It would be a devastating blow for our team and the league to lose a goalkeeper of his caliber,” Fitzgerald said at a press conference. “I think Brad is one of the top 10 goalkeepers in the world.”
Friedel, 26, would probably be unable to join Liverpool until after the United States’ World Cup qualifying matches are completed Nov. 16.
