DPs for sale or rent... rooms to let 50 cents... OK, apologies to Roger Miller for that one. But, when Major League Soccer released the lists of players its existing 16 teams had made available for Wednesday’s expansion draft, the Designated Players jumped off the page. The Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers could each max out the three DPs allowed on their rosters in the first three rounds of the draft. Not that either would do that.

As the Colorado Rapids gathered on a platform placed at the centre of BMO Field, jumping up and down, surrounded by sky-blue confetti, holding the MLS Cup aloft, FC Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty stood on the field, staring at the celebration. The rest of his FC Dallas teammates, losers of a 2-1 decision after extra time in Toronto, had left the field. But McCarty stood and stared at the Rapids’ celebration. Wondering what could have been. Wondering what would have happened if a ball off the foot of Colorado sub Macoumba Kandji hadn’t taken a strange deflection off defender FC Dallas George John in the 108th minute and looped past the goal line. What could have happened in penalty kicks had John’s last-gasp effort at redemption, from point blank range, not been stopped by the outstretched hand of Rapids’ keeper Matt Pickens.

Basically, the league will look at a new format in which teams would start play in the fall, take a winter break, resume games in late February or March and finish the season in the spring.

Colorado Rapids coach Gary Smith wants MLS MVP David Ferreira to read the following quote. That was obvious at Saturday’s post-practice press conference at Toronto’s BMO Field, ahead of Sunday’s MLS Cup. “I think he’s feeling the pressure a little bit,” the Rapids coach deadpanned after being asked how his team planned to stop FC Dallas’ elite playmaker. “Everyone is …

David Ferreira doesn’t make Designated Player money. His salary was US$300,000 in 2010. And he’s on loan, from Brazilian side Atletico Paranaense. But he said through a translator Saturday after FC Dallas’ last pre-MLS Cup training session that he wants to remain with the Hoops and get a permanent deal done. “I hope to play many years here; I’m happy, they have treated me very well. I hope everything comes together so I can stay with this team.”

PHOTO: FC Dallas defender Ugo Ihemelu (3) trains with his team Saturday at Toronto’s BMO Field ahead of MLS Cup When it comes to national allegiances, Ugo Ihemelu is playing it cool. The FC Dallas defender has been to the U.S. national-team camp, played in a couple of friendlies, but he’s still hasn’t been capped in an official game that …

It’s a clean sweep for David Ferreira. The FC Dallas playmaker was named MLS Most Valuable Player in Toronto on Friday. In a tight race, Ferreira got 20 per cent of the votes, edging out Los Angeles Galaxy Edson Buddle, who finished second in the scoring race with 17 goals, and San Jose striker Chris Wondolowski, who led the league …

It is troubling that the only evidence the committee will have to work with comes from four shambolic years of TFC mismanagement. It’s like having to decide on new rules of the road based on the actions of one chronic drunk driver.

Four crests, three name changes and two stadium relocations later, Kansas City’s ownership group got it right. Sporting Kansas City’s President Robb Heineman announced today the re-branding of Major League Soccer’s KC franchise — the final step in the restructuring overhaul of the team that entered the league’s 1996 inaugural season as the Kansas City Wiz. It’s a massive transition, …

The playoffs bring excitement to fans. And Garber said it is what made MLS unique in the soccer world, that each team has “to have a chance every year to win some hardware, and win a championship game.”