In picking an MLS All-Decade Team, we're not picking the best of the best who have played in America's league since 2000. The criteria are clear: Which players achieved the most, preferably both as individuals and as members of successful teams, in MLS during the 10 seasons from 2000 to '09?

By this rationale, players who went onto bigger things -- such as Tim Howard and Clint Dempsey -- after a relatively short stay are passed over in favor of those who made MLS their career, more or less. But several players who have moved on are included. It all depends.

This insistence on success, rather than simple persistence, will rule out a few staunch veterans who consistently answered the bell but seldom drew official honors, and MLS originals whose careers wound down before the decade ended. Marco Etcheverry, for example, just wasn't what he was in his last four seasons ('00-03) than the quartet that preceded it.