Kick Off: MLS To Start ’05 Season With Six Games

MLS To Kick Off Tenth Season With Six Games On Opening Day

MLS’ tenth season will start April 2 with six games, including the openers of expansion teams Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake, according to Becky Dubin Jenkins of USA TODAY. Chivas USA will host DC United at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, and the MetroStars will host Real Salt Lake (USA TODAY, 12/23). In DC, Steven Goff reports DC United will play their home opener April 9 against the Fire – five days before the Nationals make debut at RFK Stadium. United President Kevin Payne said that the infield at RFK “would be covered with a layer of grass that would be unrolled prior to soccer games.” Goff notes it will take two days “to transform the playing surface from baseball to soccer and three days from soccer to baseball” (WASHINGTON POST, 12/23). In Ft. Worth, Tobias Xavier Lopez reports that because of delays in the construction of the Frisco Soccer & Entertainment Center, FC Dallas will begin ’05 with “a string of road games before the stadium opens in May” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 12/23).