Fireworks are dead ahead for the 12th season of MLS

	After fortifying its attack with potent striker Luciano Emilio (center), D.C. United is the clear favorite to go to MLS Cup XII. Tony Quinn/MLS/WireImage.com
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What's ahead for Major League Soccer as the league enters a 12th season chock full of new superstars? Here are my predictions.

Eastern Conference

Is the real D.C. United the team that dominated last season, losing only three times in its first 26 games? Or the one that limped to the finish line, winning only once in its last seven before bowing out of the playoffs with a whimper?

Either way, new manager Tom Soehn inherits the league's most dynamic team and its most dangerous. D.C. added to its Latin empire with Brazilian attacker Luciano Emilio and playmaker Helbert Frederico Carreiro da Silva, known simply as Fred (not to be confused with Brazilian international and Lyon striker Fred).

But expect the New England Revolution to take D.C. to the wire. Clint Dempsey may be gone, but the Revs actually did better without him in the lineup down the stretch last season, reaching their third MLS Cup final. The Chicago Fire also have the numbers to make another strong run this year, but don't expect infamous head case Cuauhtémoc Blanco to blend in seamlessly when the Mexican superstar arrives in July.

The biggest surprise of the East may be the New York Red Bulls, who have reshuffled their roster for Bruce Arena's first full season as coach. Expect 17-year-old striker Josmer Altidore to break out as the league's biggest young star while former U.S. national-team captain Claudio Reyna emerges as a midfield anchor in his MLS debut. Arena will also look to add a big-name attacker in June, when the European season is over.

Western Conference

The City of Angels could become the fever-pitched, two-team town MLS envisioned when it added Chivas USA in 2004. The rejuvenated Galaxy and retooled Goats (along with FC Dallas and reigning champion Houston Dynamo) should sprint to the finish in one of the tightest races in memory.

But the team to beat will be the Galaxy, who boast the talent and resolve to prove last season -- the first time L.A. failed to make the playoffs -- was an aberration.

Expect Landon Donovan and new attacker Nate Jaqua to keep opposing defenses busy until July, when David Beckham arrives. If the team can successfully integrate the superstar into the central midfield, the Galaxy may well have the ability to completely run other teams off the pitch. Don't write off Dwayne De Rosario, Brian Ching and Houston, however, who will be typically strong in defense of their title.

Across the hall at the Home Depot Center, Chivas USA still boasts a quality side, although one that must make do with the return to Mexico of Francisco Palencia and Juan Pablo García. But the team's big offseason splash -- Amado Guevara -- could be the true wild card. A new start away from chilly New York may be what the Honduran needs to recapture his reputation as the most dangerous attacker in the league.

Playoffs

It had become an annual tradition to belittle the MLS playoff system, in which nearly all of the league's teams (13 total this year, with expansion Toronto FC) reached the postseason and the best regular-season clubs rarely meet in the title game. So the league tweaked it a bit this year, limiting the playoffs to the two conference champions, the two runners-up and four more teams with the best records in the hopes that the cream would rise. We'll see about that.

The Galaxy will struggle to adjust to Beckham's midseason arrival, allowing Houston to grab the West's best record. In the East, Soehn will have learned from the mistakes of ex-United coach Peter Nowak, as D.C. saves up some of its energy for the playoffs and lets steady New England claim the top spot.

But when the playoffs begin, the two most successful teams in league history will again rise to the top. United will get its revenge against New England in a hard-fought Eastern final, while the Galaxy will outlast Houston in a scrappy, low-scoring affair in the Western final.

MLS Cup XII will be full of fireworks, however -- in the waning minutes, Beckham sends in a picture-perfect cross to Donovan, who buries it past Troy Perkins for a 3-2 L.A. victory. The league suits go nuts in celebration of the star-studded finale. The fans and players keep complaining about the flawed playoff system.

Reprinted from the April issue of SI Latino. To subscribe to SI Latino, go here.