Call it the American Soccer News First Kick special: We are giving away a free MLS jersey to one lucky reader. To enroll, all you have to do is post a comment in reply to this post with your prediction for who will win the 2009 Supporters’ Shield trophy. (For the uninitiated: the Supporters’ Shield is given to the MLS team that collects the most points over the course of the regular season.)

Simply voting in the poll below does not automatically qualify you. Nor do any of the below terms apply to people who vote in the poll. You have to reply with a comment and valid email address to do that.

The first winner will be drawn at 11pm (EDT) Wednesday night, April 22 at random and announced the morning of Thursday, April 23.

And what if you’re right? The correct answers will be tallied at the end of the season (or whenever the Shield is clinched) with a second winner drawn from that pool.

Disclaimers (please read this):

• The jersey has to be in stock on www.subside.us.com and up to the value of $69.99.
• Contestants data will be shared with a third party, specifically Subside Sports, which is sponsoring this contest.
• This giveaway is open to all american-soccer-news.com Internet visitors and comments posted by April 5, 2008.
• Only one entry per reader is allowed.

A final note of caution: Only one person predicted the Columbus Crew last year and he only did so because nobody else had named the team yet. There is every reason to believe this year’s Supporters’ Shield winner could come from the bottom of last year’s table as well.