M.L.S. Preview: Five Dates to Circle on the Calendar Major League Soccer's 17th season opens with five games Saturday, two Sunday and one Monday. Until kickoff, the Goal blog is looking ahead to the season five items at a time. With a kickoff this weekend and a plan for its first December final, Major League Soccer will begin the longest season in league history on Saturday. Here are five dates to circle on your soccer calendar. April 7: The first regular-season meeting between the expansion Montreal Impact and Toronto F.C. will take place at Montreal's Olympic Stadium - oh, sorry, the Stade Olympique - on the first Saturday in April. M.L.S. and the teams are probably hoping it develops into something akin to the Canadiens-Maple Leafs rivalry, but that one has a bit of a head start. Their first meeting in the N.H.L. took place in 1917. May 5: The first meeting between the Red Bulls and the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy since their bitter playoff series last year. This one will be at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The only way there will be a second is if the teams meet in the playoffs; they are only scheduled to play once in the regular season. July 1: That's the date the transfer window officially opens in most European leagues, though fans of Brek Shea and Juan Agudelo will be sweating long before then. The Olympic tournament, in which both hope to take part, runs until Aug. 11, which could buy some time - there could be more than a dozen M.L.S. players on the U.S. team if it qualifies - but the window slams shut on Aug. 31. By that point, expect some of those players to be packing their bags. July 25: Philadelphia will host the All-Star Game, and once again it will pit the M.L.S. stars against an international opponent. This is one of the benefits of the league's owning a giant marketing company. Last year, the M.L.S. stars were humbled by Manchester United, 4-0. Hope for an opponent of equal value - and for a better result. It might be worth pursuing a non-European club or a carefully selected continental one, too, since the European championship in June will shorten the summer for some of soccer's biggest names as it is. Dec. 1: No more neutral sites. The final game of the longest M.L.S. season to date will be held at the home stadium of whichever finalist had highest point total in the regular season. If you believe FIFA Soccer 12, that will be the Galaxy. If you believe in your team, it could be at a stadium near you. Dare to dream, right? No one has lost a game yet.