Major League Soccer released its 2008 schedule on Thursday, once again ignoring the international calendar. U.S. and other internationals would now miss games the weekends of Sept. 6-7 and Oct. 11-12. Each team plays a total of 30 games, playing home and away games against each of the league’s 13 teams in addition to an extra four matches (two home, two away) against opponents from their conference. You can see the full schedule here.
The 2008 schedule was particularly welcome news to the Los Angeles Galaxy, which was forced to play 19 games in 12 weeks — 12 of them on the road — last year in order to capitalize on the arrival of David Beckham. No special exceptions or additions were made to the schedule this year. For example, L.A. did not qualify for this year’s SuperLiga; instead, last year’s top two finishers from the East and West — D.C. United, Houston Dynamo, Chivas USA and the New England Revolution — will represent MLS.
Earlier in the week, Beckham said he expects the 2008 season to be “more relaxed” than last year. “As you know, I came in halfway through the season and it was pretty tough to get in all the games that we had to get in and a lot of the players weren’t used to playing Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, so it was tough.” The Galaxy opens on March 29 away to Colorado, and then makes its home debut on April 3 against former coach Frank Yallop and the San Jose Earthquakes. Twenty of the Galaxy’s 30 games will be shown on national television.