Major League Soccer opened its second decade this past weekend with some pretty satisfying numbers. All 12 teams were in action, and the six games produced an average attendance of more than 22,000 fans.

More significant was the goal scoring, which averaged out at four per game. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is just that. It is very rare these days for any league anywhere in the world to feature even three goals per game. The vaunted English Premier League managed an average of just 2.56 goals per game last season, while the 2002 World Cup registered 2.52.

It gets better for MLS, for it was the home teams that were the big scorers, none more so than the Houston Dynamo. Playing its first-ever MLS game in Houston (the club had operated as the San Jose Earthquakes since 2000), the Dynamo swamped the Colorado Rapids 5-2, with Hawaiianborn Brian Ching scoring four times – something else you don’t see every day on a soccer field.

It hasn’t been an easy transformation for the Dynamo, which got off to a rocky start by first naming the new team Houston 1836. That name, which referred to the year Houston was founded but also recalled the bloody Mexican defeat at the battle of San Jacinto, was bitterly resented by local Mexican-American fans, the very people on whom the new club would be relying for solid support.

Sensibly, a change was made quickly, and the Dynamo was rewarded on Sunday with the sight of traffic tangles around Robertson Stadium, long lines at the ticket windows, and 25,462 enthusiastic fans in the seats.

A naming problem has also beset another MLS club – the New York Red Bulls, which have been known for the past 10 years as the MetroStars. In early March, when the club was bought by the Austrian company that manufactures the Red Bull energy drink, the MetroStars were tossed in dustbin of soccer history and the New York Red Bulls were born. The New York identification brought cries of protest from some New Jersey pols. A spokesman for Gov. Jon S. Corzine pointed out: “This is a team that sells its products in New Jersey, draws its fan base from New Jersey, and receives funding from New Jersey.”

A harder line came from George Zoffinger, president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, who threatened to banish the team from Giants Stadium, where it has played throughout its 10-year existence. “They will not play in our stadium unless they have New Jersey in their name,” Zoffinger said.

Red Bull let it be known that the $100 million it is reported to have invested in the team had a lot to do with it being seen as a New York team. A spokesperson stated tersely, “The name of the team is New York Red Bulls.”

As both the New York Giants and the New York Jets play at Giants Stadium, the contretemps seems a trifle contrived. Anyway, $50 million of the Red Bull money is an investment in a soccerspecific stadium that Anschutz Entertainment Group (), the MetroStars’ former owners, is building in Harrison, N.J. The stadium is scheduled for a 2008 opening and will be known as Red Bull Arena.

On the field, the Red Bulls tried on Sunday to prove they are a reborn team, and that the barren trophyless decade of the MetroStars can be forgotten. A nice try. Down in D.C., before 23,028 fans, the Bulls – greatly helped by a colossal goalkeeping error from D.C. United’s Troy Perkins – romped to a 2-0 halftime lead. The soccer was lively and the Bulls’ two foreign stars, Amado Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff, were looking good. But the old MetroStar gremlins have not gone away. Things fell apart badly in the second half when D.C. United stormed back to tie the game.

A home team that managed to fight back and win its game was FC Dallas. At Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, 19,377 fans watched Dallas fall behind the Chicago Fire 2-1 before recovering with late goals from Roberto Mina and local boy Kenny Cooper. Carlos Ruiz, Dallas’s tricky Guatemalan forward, was a constant worry for the Chicago defense, and his two spectacular bicycle efforts underlined that he is just the sort of player that MLS needs: a goalscorer (though not on target in this game) and an entertainer.

Dallas coach Colin Clarke was so confident of Ruiz’s goal-scoring and goal-provoking talents that he traded away another proven goal-scorer, Eddie Johnson, to the Kansas City Wizards. On Saturday Johnson scored his first goal for the Wizards in a 3-1 dismantling on the Columbus Crew.

Out in Los Angeles, where Chivas-USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy share the Home Depot Center (another AEG stadium – soccer-specific, of course), the crowds were good – 27,000 for Saturday’s Galaxy vs. New England Revs game, 20,739 for Chivas vs. Real Salt Lake Sunday – but the quality of the games varied starkly.

Chivas-USA, last season’s worst team with only four wins in 32 games, has been radically revamped.The original idea of its Mexican owners to field an all-Hispanic team has been abandoned. Bob Bradley – after three fruitless years trying to breathe life into the MetroStars – is the new coach, and he fields a team with a majority of non-Hispanic players. It did well enough on Sunday with a 3-0 win over Real. But Real were a poor team last year with five wins, and they still look like a poor team.

The less Hispanic, more direct style introduced by Bradley worked well for Ante Razov, who scored two powerfully struck goals, but the highlight of the game was the artistry of Juan Pablo Garcia’s goal, a measured chip that soared swiftly over goalkeeper Scott Garlick and dipped just under the crossbar. But Bradley will not be fooled – the Real defending was too poor to be a true test for his new-look Chivas.

Saturday’s game at the HDC was in stark contrast to the other five MLS openers, which were lively and full of goals. The Galaxy and the Revs, who played a classic yawner that ended 1-0 to the Galaxy in last season’s MLS Cup, took up where they left off and produced another ugly, constipated game with little good soccer but a lot of scrappy midfield play and plenty of tactical fouling. Again, there was only one goal.

MLS must hope that the miserly, mean-spirited game played by the Galaxy and the Revs was the opening day aberration, and that its 11th season will thrive instead on the attacking, goal-scoring soccer featured in the other five openers.

pgardner@nysun.com