Garber gave an earlier and less formal state of the league address than he has in years past in a teleconference with reporters today.

Garber announced the MLS Best XI during the call, which includes one player apiece from the Galaxy and Chivas USA:

goalkeeper – Zach Thornton
defenders – Chad Marshall, Wilman Conde, Geoff Cameron
midfielders – Dwayne DeRosario, Landon Donovan, Stuart Holden, Shalrie Joseph, Freddie Ljungberg
forwards – Conor Casey, Jeff Cunningham

Other major talking points included:
*A reiteration MLS is looking to become a 20-team league. There will be 18 teams when Philadelphia (which is nearing the 8,500 season ticket mark) joins next season and Portland and Vancouver the year after that. MLS has had “productive discussions” about team No. 19 going to Montreal, but no real movement on the 20th franchise.

*That MLS is evaluating its playoff format and is considering following the lead of WPS and allowing the regular season winner to host the final:

“There’s support here in the league to strongly consider moving MLS Cup away from a designated site and into a market where the team that earns the right (to host the game) does so,” Garber said. “We think it’s a good idea, but we’re still working through the details to see if we can pull it off.”‘