Real Salt Lake will begin their title defense on the road in 2010. (Getty Images)

The schedule has been out for nearly a month now but as the preseason starts to come to a close and the real games get going we need to take a look down the road to see which games are going to be more important. This is the first of a few Major League Soccer season previews that I am going to do in the coming weeks before the new season by the way.

Today it is all about the schedule. Most of you know I am a big believer in how a good schedule can go a long way in predicting a teams success and failure. Instead of going through each club’s schedule like I used to do on here I’ll go another direction and throw out some key games each month for you to pay attention to.

If for some reason I missed a game you think is worth talking about here, feel free to mention it below.

March

Philadelphia Union at Seattle Sounders FC: First match of the year is always a big deal, especially since it is in Seattle as the Sounders host the new expansion Union. No doubt Qwest Field will be rocking for this one as the Sounders will want to get off to another hot start in 2010. Will Philadelphia find a way to pull the upset?

Real Salt Lake at San Jose Earthquakes: The title defense starts on the one place that RSL needs to improve on, the road.

Chicago Fire at New York Red Bulls: Opening of the beautiful Red Bull Arena. Will it be enough to help turn the Red Bulls around this year? We’ll have to see as their first test is a tough one, a team that has owned them the last couple years both home and away.

April

Chivas USA at LA Galaxy: With or without Landon Donovan this will still be a match to watch in 2010.

D.C. United at Philadelphia Union: First home game in Philadelphia has to be a big deal to the league and to the new club. My question will continue to be how well will they do at the gate since this game will be at the Linc and not in their smaller soccer stadium in Chester.

Real Salt Lake at LA Galaxy: We all love a good rematch. We get the first MLS Cup rematch very early this year.

Philadelphia Union at Toronto FC: First regular season game at BMO Field with natural grass on the pitch. Worth watching just for that reason alone.

Philadelphia Union at New York Red Bulls: Biggest reason to watch for me is to see if an expansion club will be better than the worst club from last year at this point in the season. Yes only a month in and I have a feeling this will be an intriguing matchup for a new rivalry.

May

New York Red Bulls at D.C. United: Atlantic Cup rivals clash at RFK.

FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo: I hate that this rivalry has two games so closely together early in the year. Can Houston continue their dominance over Dallas or will the up and coming Red Stripes finally get a quality result at Robertson Stadium?

Kansas City Wizards at D.C. United: Curt Onalfo’s old team faces his new team…which oddly enough his new team looks fairly similar to his old team.

FC Dallas at Chicago Fire: An old rivalry that really needs a boost, will this be the year more folks start caring about this rivalry around the league?

June

Seattle Sounders FC at Philadelphia Union: There’s some big event going on during June in South Africa but at the end of the month in Philly this will be a pretty big deal with the opening of PPL Park.

July

Real Salt Lake at Chicago Fire: Eastern conference final rematch, I’m sure the Fire remember the crappy feeling of losing on PKs.

Seattle Sounders FC at D.C. United: This has started to become a nice rivalry due to last year’s US Open Cup final. Look for that to pick up again this year in the regular season too!

Colorado Rapids at Toronto FC: At this point in the season we should know if Toronto has any shot at the playoffs or if it will be another rough summer stretch for the Reds.

August

Columbus Crew at Philadelphia Union: The league’s newest team plays host to one of the league’s best, or a club that should be one of the league’s best again this year.

Toronto FC at New York Red Bulls: Can Toronto get over that blowout loss that ended their season and playoff hopes last year?

Columbus Crew at Real Salt Lake: Think Guillermo Barros Schelotto will be sitting this one out? If he’s healthy I highly doubt it.

LA Galaxy at San Jose Earthquakes: I wonder what kind of rivalry this will be this season. Hopefully the Quakes will make it a little more interesting.

Philadelphia Union at D.C. United: The return match in this new rivalry. I really hope this turns out to be one of the better league rivalries after this season.

September

Seattle Sounders FC at New England Revolution: One of two things will happen, this will either be the start of a late season rally by the Revs or it will be a game that shows the Sounders can win games on those lovely long road trips cross country.

October

Toronto FC at Chivas USA: Preki and his Reds going on the road late in the year to face his old club. I’ve heard Chivas is kind of happy to be rid of him now days, we’ll see if that is the case on this late date in the season.

Columbus Crew at Toronto FC: I love a good rivalry late in the year.

Real Salt Lake at Colorado Rapids: The Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry usually decides who goes to the playoffs out of these two and who does not. I’d expect that to happen again this year.

FC Dallas at LA Galaxy: Last game on the season slate, will it be one that decides someone’s playoff fate?

Some of the highlights of this year’s schedule as passed on by the league:

• All 240 games will be televised
• One third of the games will be broadcast live by a national TV network:
  • 25 games will air live in high definition on ESPN2, and all of those, plus one game onESPN, will be simulcast on ESPN360 and in Spanish ESPN Deportes. This is the fourth year of an eight-year partnership between MLS and ESPN.
  • 31 games will be televised live in high definition on Fox Soccer Channel (FSC) and feature 30-minute pre- and post-game shows for a three-hour programming window. Most games on FSC will be simulcast in Spanish on Fox Sports en Español (FSE) in a two-hour broadcast window. Fox’s MLS schedule includes four Sunday matches from July 18 to Aug. 8.
  • 23 games will be broadcast live on TeleFutura, most on Saturdays starting at 4 p.m. ET.
• 75 percent of games will be played on Saturdays; 85 percent of games will be played on weekends.
• A two-week break in the MLS season aligns with the group phase of the FIFA World Cup. The last match before this break is D.C. United at Seattle Sounders FC at 10 p.m. ET (ESPN2).
• Red Bull Arena will host its first League match March 27 when the New York Red Bulls face the Chicago Fire at 7 p.m. ET (live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN360.com).
• The first MLS game to be played on natural grass at BMO Field in Toronto will be Toronto FC’s April 15 match against Philadelphia Union at 7 p.m. ET (live on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN360.com).
• On Sunday, June 27, Philadelphia Union will open the ninth stadium built specifically for an MLS club. The grand opening of the venue in Chester, Pa., will be a match against Seattle Sounders FC at 5 p.m. ET (live on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN360.com).
• SuperLiga 2010 will take place this summer with the Chicago Fire, Chivas USA, Houston Dynamo, and the New England Revolution representing MLS alongside four clubs from Mexico’s Primera A. Full details of the tournament will be announced in the coming weeks.
• he 2010 MLS All-Star Game will showcase top players from both conferences against a popular international club at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas in late July or early August. The date and opponent for the game will be announced at a later date, but it will be broadcast live by ESPN2 and TeleFutura.

I won’t go into each team’s schedule just yet, that will be a rundown later on here as the season comes closer. I am a big believer in what the schedule means for each club. Some of the weeknight games do upset me in markets like Dallas, Colorado, and New England. I point those clubs out because it always seems like they struggle at the gate on week night games more than others (though I’m always willing to be proven wrong if someone can point out someone worse).

What do you make of your club’s schedule? Love it? Hate it? Let’s hear it.

Yes, the first home game for Union will be at Lincoln Financial Field and not the new Chester Stadium. Union officials said yesterday that they went ahead and booked the Linc for their home opener instead of working out a way to spend the first few weeks of their expansion season on the road. A trade off indeed but it works out.

I love the league going to some rivalry games to kick off the new season next year. Dallas and Houston along with games like New York and Chicago from the new Red Bull Arena should be a good way to start a new season. Plus what seems to be an annual thing now between Columbus and Toronto is also on the First Kick menu.

Below are the rest of the home openers throughout the league.

REGULAR SEASON – WEEK 1
First Kick presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods – Thursday, March 25, 2010
Philadelphia Union at Seattle Sounders FC, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2/Deportes, ESPN360.com)

Saturday, March 27, 2010
Toronto FC at Columbus Crew, 4 p.m.
Chicago Fire at New York Red Bulls, 7 p.m. (ESPN2/Deportes, ESPN360.com)
D.C. United at Kansas City Wizards, 8:30 p.m.
Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Real Salt Lake at San Jose Earthquakes, 9 p.m.
New England Revolution at LA Galaxy, 11 p.m. (Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Sports en Español)

Sunday, March 28, 2010
Colorado Rapids at Chivas USA, Time TBD (TeleFutura)

REGULAR SEASON – WEEK 2
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Chicago Fire at Colorado Rapids, Time TBD
New England Revolution at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
Kansas City Wizards at Houston Dynamo, 8:30 p.m.

REGULAR SEASON – WEEK 3
Saturday, April 10, 2010
D.C. United at Philadelphia Union, 3 p.m. (Fox Soccer Channel/Fox Sports en Español)
Toronto FC at New England Revolution, 7:30 p.m.
San Jose Earthquakes at Chicago Fire, 8:30 p.m.
Seattle Sounders FC at Real Salt Lake, 9 p.m.

Philadelphia’s front office are keeping their options open as to the site of the first kick in 2010. Right now the likely destination for the first Union game will be at a NFL venue, Lincoln Financial Field.

This stadium hosted both Gold Cup and international friendlies this summer and is no stranger to soccer. Sure its disappointing to hear that Union won’t be in their new stadium at the start of next year but if they can pack in a good chunk of fans at this venue like Seattle did to open their expansion season this year it could be a good thing.

Word has it the opening kick schedule for next season could be out in a couple weeks too. Steve Goff reported this morning that it has undergone a couple different revisions as of late.

The two week break will be during the group phase of the World Cup starting June 11 through the June 25. MLS does not plan to schedule games on the days of either World Cup Semifinal nor the World Cup Final.

“The decision to stop League play during the group phase of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is part of MLS’ commitment to deepen its connection with the millions of soccer fans in the United States and Canada,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. “The World Cup will be a focal point for all MLS fans and several MLS players will compete with their national teams at the tournament.”

The league also announced something that most of us expected all along for next year since the league would be at an even 16 clubs with Philadelphia joining the fold. We will now have a balanced schedule with clubs facing one another twice, one home and one away.

And another nugget the league dropped on us the season will start March 25 and run through October 24. The MLS Cup Playoffs will culminate in the championship match, MLS Cup 2010, on November 21.

Back to the short break in action next year though. A lot of folks have been hammering MLS for not breaking during big international dates but it looks like the league was able to finally be able to get some time off during the sport’s most important tournament.