The 10 best teams in MLS history

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 07: Landon Donovan of the Los Angeles Galaxy plays against the New England Revolution and the Los Angeles Galaxy during the 2014 MLS Cup match at the at StubHub Center on December 7, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /

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SANDY, UT – NOVEMBER 6: Jamison Olave /

9. 2010 Real Salt Lake

This wasn’t the year they won MLS Cup (that was 2009), but it was the peak of Jason Kreis’s turn-of-the-decade Real Salt Lake. This was the Rimando-Olave-Beckerman-Morales-Sabario core that utilized the 4-4-2 diamond formation to its highest extent and shut opposing clubs down defensively, allowing the league’s lowest ever goal total at just 20.

Center-back Jamison Olave was the Defender of the Year and goalkeeper Nick Rimando probably should have been Goalkeeper of the Year. They finished second in the Western Conference with just four losses on the season, getting both CBs (Olave and Nat Borchers) named to the league best XI alongside Morales, who was an assist machine and “the straw that stirred the potent drink that was the RSL attack,” according to MLSsoccer.com.

This team might be best remembered for their CONCACAF Champions League exploits. They won their CCL group, the first American team to accomplish that, and played out an instant classic in Mexico City against Cruz Azul in late August. After taking a 3-1 lead in the 74th-minute, the Liga MX giants scored three times — including in the 88th and 89th minutes — to take a 4-3 lead in a monsoon. Will Johnson, ever the late hero, scored an incredible equalizer in stoppage time, but Cruz Azul scored again just seconds later to win 5-4 and devastate an RSL team looking for the first American club win in Mexico.

Their success in that competition was unparalleled at the time.

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