MLS Reserve Division

The MLS Reserve Division is a USA soccer league for the reserve teams of Major League Soccer, much like the English FA Premier Reserve League is to the FA Premier League.

It was inaugurated on April 9, 2005, with the first official reserve game being a 2-0 victory by Chivas USA over the host San Jose Earthquakes.

Reserve Division format

* Each MLS franchise fields a reserve division team and plays a 12-game schedule (six home, six away). All teams play a minimum of seven opposing reserve division teams at least once throughout the year. The reserve division standings consist of a single table with the team that finishes in first place at the end of the regular season earning the title of reserve division champions and a $20,000 team bonus.
* A total of 20 eligible players for the home team and 20 players for the visiting team may be placed on a club's game roster for any Reserve Division game with each team permitted to make up to six (6) substitutions.
* Suspensions attributable to yellow and red cards issued in Reserve Division games shall only be imposed for future Reserve Division matches and not for games during the MLS regular season. Conversely, suspensions attributable to yellow and red cards issued during MLS regular season games shall not apply to Reserve Division matches.
* Any player who receives four yellow cards during the Reserve Division season shall be suspended from the next Reserve Division game in which he may appear.
* No Player shall play more than 120 minutes in a Reserve Team match and any preceding match(es) that occur within a 60 hour period. Injury time is not considered a part of a player's maximum number of minutes played (e.g., if a player enters a game at halftime and the referee adds 2 minutes of stoppage time to the end of the second half, the player will be considered to have played 45 minutes since the 2 minutes of stoppage time is essentially added to make up for 'lost' time).
* A Reserve Division call-up or "Guest Player" with an MLS team may be eligible to appear in an MLS Reserve Division Game provided that he is properly registered with U.S. Soccer.

2008 Reserves

The following players have played official MLS Reserve Division games in 2008, but are not members of their team's main roster:

*Chicago Fire: Gerardo Alvarez, Steve Bode, Drew Degurian, Iradj Farahmand, Neil Hlavaty, Justin McGrane, Omar McFarlane, Josh Saunders, Danny Zwerling
*Chivas USA: Nick Blanco, Daniel Dobson, Cameron Dunn, Ian Etherington, Dan Gargan, William Molina, Erik Robert, Eder Robles, Matt Taylor, Mike Uremovich, Brent Whitfield
*Colorado Rapids: Daniel Antunez, Scott Campbell, Bryan Rueckner, Kwame Sarkodie, Adriano Sella, Seth Trembly, Kenny Uziogwe
*Columbus Crew: Eddie Hertsenberg, Ryan Kustos, Devon McKenny, Craig Neal, Steve Traeger
*DC United: Kenny Anaba, Dwight Barnett, Matt Britner, Jon Burklo, Greg Janicki, Laurent Manuel, Trevor McEachron, John O'Hara, Brandon Owens, Damien Pottinger, Grady Renfrow
*FC Dallas: Ever Alvarado, Ricardo Alves, Daniel De Geer, Alex Fichera, Josh McKay, David Monsalve, Dario Saintus, Patrick Shamu, Matt Wideman
*Houston Dynamo: Brian Farber, James Georgeff, Richie Kotschau, Craig Thompson
*Kansas City Wizards: Josh Howard, Amir Lowery, Geoff Miles, Andrew Wheeler, Yomby William
*Los Angeles Galaxy: Taylor Canel, Dan Cerwinske, Greg Folk, Vito Higgins, Jordan King, Rodrigo Lopez, Brandon Owens, Raul Palomares
*New England Revolution: Peter Anderson, Tom Day, Matt Handy, Steve Pagnotta, Gregg Robinson, Nicholas Tornaritis, Geoff Walker
*New York Red Bulls: Matt Avellino, Eric Brunner, Jonathan Giraldo, Gordon Howarth, Chuck Kim, Victor Kotynski, Matthew Mbuta, Angelo Rivilo, Jerrit Thayer, Murphy Wiredu
*Real Salt Lake: Adam Acosta, Ever Alvarado, Xavier Balc, Richie Bindrup, Zachary DeFrancis, Brad Earl, Steve Jolley, Steve McMurdy, Hector Rancon, Drew Van Wagenen
*San Jose Earthquakes: Javier Ayala-Hill, Scott Campbell, Brian Farber, Luciano Fucso, Mike Kelly, Adrian Melville, Mike Munoz, Julian Nash, Michael Ricketts, Erasmo Solorzano, Shaun Tsakiris
*Toronto FC: George Azcura, Marko Bedenikovic, Taylor Lord, Branko Majstrovic, David Monsalve, Joe Rini

Past winners

External links

* [http://web.mlsnet.com/mls/reserve/index.jsp MLS Reserve Division Official Site]
* [http://www.mysoccer.com/mls5/res0409.php MLS Reserve division kicks off April 9, 2005]