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2002 Major League Soccer season

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The 2002 Major League Soccer season was the seventh season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 90th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 24th with a national first-division league.

2002 Major League Soccer season
Season2002
MLS CupLos Angeles Galaxy (1st title)
Supporters' ShieldLos Angeles Galaxy (2nd shield)
2003 CONCACAF Champions' CupLos Angeles Galaxy
New England Revolution
San Jose Earthquakes
Matches played140
Goals scored421 (3.01 per match)
Top goalscorerCarlos Ruiz
Los Angeles Galaxy
Goals: 24
Highest attendanceColorado Rapids
Season: 289,663
Game Avg.: 20,690
Lowest attendanceSan Jose Earthquakes
Season: 156,104
Game Avg.: 11,150
Total attendance2,215,019
Average attendance15,822
← 2001
2003 →
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Locations of teams for the 2002 Major League Soccer season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

According to FC Dallas president Dan Hunt, the entire league nearly folded during the 2001 offseason.[1] The owners agreed to shut down the league on a conference call in November 2001, but within two days Lamar Hunt convinced the other owners to give the league another year.

On January 8, 2002, the league folded two of its teams, both of which were in Florida. The Miami Fusion ceased operations after only four years of existence due to low attendance and an unfavorable stadium deal. The Tampa Bay Mutiny also ceased operations due to the lack of local ownership. Additionally, the league eliminated the Central Division and returned to the original two-conference alignment.

Two new stadiums opened this season. The Colorado Rapids moved into Invesco Field at Mile High and the New England Revolution moved into CMGI Field, which was renamed Gillette Stadium on August 5. Additionally, due to renovations at Soldier Field, the Chicago Fire played at Cardinal Stadium in the western suburb of Naperville.

In an effort to lower costs, the number of games was reduced from 32 to 28, marking the fewest games played in league history. The playoffs were also reformatted as the teams with the 8 highest point totals qualified regardless of conference affiliation.

The regular season began on March 23, and concluded on September 22. The 2002 MLS Cup Playoffs began on September 25, and concluded with MLS Cup 2002 on October 20. After three previous losses in the final, the Los Angeles Galaxy won their first MLS Cup with a victory over the New England Revolution.

Overview

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Season format

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The season began on March 23 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 20. The 10 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 28 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference, and one designated opponent from the opposite conference, four times, and the remaining teams in the opposite conference twice.

The top eight teams regardless of conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The first round and conference finals were played as a three game series, and the first team to 5 points advanced. The winners of the conference finals advanced to MLS Cup.

The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup and the runner-up qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Stadiums and locations

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Main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums
Team Stadium Capacity
Chicago Fire Cardinal Stadium 15,000
Colorado Rapids Invesco Field at Mile High 76,125
Columbus Crew Columbus Crew Stadium 22,555
D.C. United RFK Stadium 46,000
Dallas Burn Cotton Bowl 92,100
Kansas City Wizards Arrowhead Stadium 81,425
Los Angeles Galaxy Rose Bowl 92,542
MetroStars Giants Stadium 80,200
New England Revolution CMGI Field 68,756
San Jose Earthquakes Spartan Stadium 30,456

Personnel and sponsorships

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Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire   Bob Bradley —
Colorado Rapids   Tim Hankinson
Columbus Crew   Greg Andrulis Pepsi
D.C. United   Ray Hudson —
Dallas Burn   Mike Jeffries
Kansas City Wizards   Bob Gansler —
Los Angeles Galaxy   Sigi Schmid —
MetroStars   Octavio Zambrano   Tab Ramos
New England Revolution   Fernando Clavijo —
San Jose Earthquakes   Frank Yallop   Jeff Agoos Yahoo! Sports

Coaching changes

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Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointment
New England Revolution   Fernando Clavijo Fired May 23, 2002   Steve Nicol May 23, 2002

Standings

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Eastern Conference

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Pos Team
 Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 New England Revolution 28 12 14 2 49 49 0 38 MLS Cup Playoffs
2 Columbus Crew 28 11 12 5 44 43 +1 38
3 Chicago Fire 28 11 13 4 43 38 +5 37
4 MetroStars 28 11 15 2 41 47 −6 35
5 D.C. United 28 9 14 5 31 40 −9 32
Source: MLS

Western Conference

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Pos Team
 Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Los Angeles Galaxy 28 16 9 3 44 33 +11 51 MLS Cup Playoffs
2 San Jose Earthquakes 28 14 11 3 45 35 +10 45
3 Dallas Burn 28 12 9 7 44 43 +1 43
4 Colorado Rapids 28 13 11 4 43 48 −5 43
5 Kansas City Wizards 28 9 10 9 37 45 −8 36
Source: MLS

Overall standings

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Pos Team
 Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Los Angeles Galaxy (C, S) 28 16 9 3 44 33 +11 51 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
2 San Jose Earthquakes 28 14 11 3 45 35 +10 45
3 Dallas Burn 28 12 9 7 44 43 +1 43
4 Colorado Rapids 28 13 11 4 43 48 −5 43
5 New England Revolution 28 12 14 2 49 49 0 38 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
6 Columbus Crew 28 11 12 5 44 43 +1 38
7 Chicago Fire 28 11 13 4 43 38 +5 37
8 Kansas City Wizards 28 9 10 9 37 45 −8 36
9 MetroStars 28 11 15 2 41 47 −6 35
10 D.C. United 28 9 14 5 31 40 −9 32
Source: MLS
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head record; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (S) Supporters' Shield

MLS Cup Playoffs

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Bracket

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Quarterfinals Semifinals MLS Cup
             
1 Los Angeles Galaxy (ASDET)* (6 Points) 3* 1 5
8 Kansas City Wizards (3 Points) 2 4 2
1 Los Angeles Galaxy (6 Points) 4 1 x
5 Colorado Rapids (0 Points) 0 0 x
4 Dallas Burn (4 Points) 4 0 1
5 Colorado Rapids (SDET)** (4 Points) 2 1 1**
1 Los Angeles Galaxy (ASDET)* 1
2 New England Revolution 0
2 New England Revolution (6 Points) 2 1 2
7 Chicago Fire (3 Points) 0 2 0
2 New England Revolution (5 Points) 0 1 2
6 Columbus Crew (2 Points) 0 0 2
3 San Jose Earthquakes (0 Points) 1 1 x
6 Columbus Crew (6 Points) 2 2 x
  • Points system
    Win = 3 Pts.
    Loss = 0 Pts.
    Draw = 1 Pt.
  • ASDET*=Added Sudden Death Extra Time (Game tie breaker)
    SDET**=Sudden Death Extra Time (Series tie breaker)
    Teams will advance at 5 points.

Quarterfinals

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Kansas City Wizards2–3 (AET)Los Angeles Galaxy
Preki   25'
Brown   70'		 Ruiz   62' (pen.)   99'
Jones   85'
Attendance: 14,585
Los Angeles Galaxy1–4Kansas City Wizards
Albright   71' Simutenkov   19'
Quill   37'
Preki   70'
Fabbro   73'
Attendance: 9,484
Kansas City Wizards2–5Los Angeles Galaxy
Klein   47'
Preki   72'		 Ruiz   34'   66'
Jones   45'+,   62'
Tennyson   90+3'
Attendance: 14,713
  • Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6-3 on points.
Chicago Fire0–2New England Revolution
Twellman   13'
Hernández   60'
Attendance: 6,306
New England Revolution1–2Chicago Fire
Kamler   28' Razov   43' (pen.),   76'
Attendance: 9,434
Chicago Fire0–2New England Revolution
Kamler   12'
Twellman   65'
Attendance: 6,954
  • New England Revolution advance 6–3 on points.
Columbus Crew2–1San Jose Earthquakes
Buddle   38'
García   81'		 Donovan   54'
Attendance: 8,069
San Jose Earthquakes1–2Columbus Crew
Graziani   58' García   50'
McBride   81'
Attendance: 13,004
  • Columbus Crew advance 6–0 on points.
Colorado Rapids2–4Dallas Burn
Valderrama   2'
Spencer (Pen)   75'		 Morrow   26'
Kreis   49'
Deering   68'
Martínez   70'
Attendance: 6,360
Dallas Burn0–1Colorado Rapids
Carrieri   78'
Attendance: 9,637
Colorado Rapids1–1Dallas Burn
Spencer   22' Rhine   6'
Attendance: 8,008
 1–0 series OT (ASDET) 
Chung   1'
  • Colorado Rapids advance in series (sudden death) overtime, after 4–4 tie on points.

Semifinals

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Colorado Rapids0–4Los Angeles Galaxy
Califf   21'
Ruiz   24'   84'
Hendrickson   71'
Attendance: 24,742
Los Angeles Galaxy1–0Colorado Rapids
Ruiz   64'
Attendance: 12,367
  • Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6–0 on points.
Columbus Crew0–0New England Revolution
Attendance: 11,387
New England Revolution1–0Columbus Crew
Heaps   3'
Attendance: 10,245
Columbus Crew2–2New England Revolution
McBride   80'
Washington   85'		 Ralston   17'
Harris   47'
Attendance: 9,216
  • New England Revolution advance 5–2 on points.

MLS Cup

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Main article: MLS Cup 2002
Los Angeles Galaxy1–0 (2OT)New England Revolution
Ruiz   113' Report
Attendance: 61,316
Referee: Kevin Terry

Player statistics

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Goals

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Rank Player Club Goals
1   Carlos Ruiz Los Angeles Galaxy 24
2   Taylor Twellman New England Revolution 23
3   Jeff Cunningham Columbus Crew 16
4   Ante Razov Chicago Fire 14
  Ariel Graziani San Jose Earthquakes
6   Jason Kreis Dallas Burn 13
7   Mamadou Diallo New England Revolution,
MetroStars 		12
  Rodrigo Faria MetroStars
9   Chris Carrieri Colorado Rapids 11
  Mark Chung Colorado Rapids
  Chris Henderson Colorado Rapids

Assists

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Rank Player Club Assists
1   Andy Williams MetroStars 13
2   Steve Ralston New England Revolution 12
3   Preki Kansas City Wizards 8
4   Mark Chung Colorado Rapids 7
  Cobi Jones Los Angeles Galaxy
  Antonio Martínez Dallas Burn
  Carlos Valderrama Colorado Rapids
8   Ramiro Corrales San Jose Earthquakes 6
  Dwayne De Rosario San Jose Earthquakes
  Simon Elliott Los Angeles Galaxy
  Bobby Rhine Dallas Burn
  Joselito Vaca Dallas Burn

Clean sheets

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Rank Player Club Clean
sheets
1   Joe Cannon San Jose Earthquakes 8
2   Nick Rimando D.C. United 7
  Zach Thornton Chicago Fire
4   Adin Brown New England Revolution 5
  Jon Busch Columbus Crew
  Kevin Hartman Los Angeles Galaxy
7   Scott Garlick Colorado Rapids 4
  Tim Howard MetroStars
9   Matt Jordan Dallas Burn 3
  Tony Meola Kansas City Wizards

Awards

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Individual awards

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Award Player Club
Most Valuable Player   Carlos Ruiz Los Angeles Galaxy
Defender of the Year   Carlos Bocanegra Chicago Fire
Goalkeeper of the Year   Joe Cannon San Jose Earthquakes
Coach of the Year   Steve Nicol New England Revolution
Rookie of the Year   Kyle Martino Columbus Crew
Comeback Player of the Year   Chris Klein Kansas City Wizards
Scoring Champion   Taylor Twellman New England Revolution
Goal of the Year   Carlos Ruiz Los Angeles Galaxy
Fair Play Award   Mark Chung Colorado Rapids
Humanitarian of the Year   Steve Jolley MetroStars

Best XI

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Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards
  Tim Howard, MetroStars   Wade Barrett, San Jose
  Carlos Bocanegra, Chicago
  Alexi Lalas, LA Galaxy 		  Mark Chung, Colorado
  Ronnie Ekelund, San Jose
  Óscar Pareja, Dallas
  Steve Ralston, New England 		  Jeff Cunningham, Columbus
  Carlos Ruiz, LA Galaxy
  Taylor Twellman, New England

Attendance

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Club Games Total Average
Colorado Rapids 14 289,663 20,690
Los Angeles Galaxy 14 266,664 19,047
MetroStars 14 254,174 18,155
Columbus Crew 14 243,999 17,429
New England Revolution 14 236,973 16,927
D.C. United 14 231,264 16,519
Dallas Burn 14 183,702 13,122
Chicago Fire 14 180,908 12,922
Kansas City Wizards 14 171,568 12,255
San Jose Earthquakes 14 156,104 11,150
Totals 140 2,215,019 15,822

References

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  1. ^ Yousuf, Saad (April 16, 2016). "MLS nearly folded in 2001 - FC Dallas president Dan Hunt". ESPN.com.
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