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.
According to FC Dallas president Dan Hunt, the entire league nearly folded during the 2001 offseason. 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
Season format 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
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 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 Steve Nicol — San Jose Earthquakes Frank Yallop Jeff Agoos Yahoo! Sports
Coaching changes 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
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Overall standings
MLS Cup Playoffs
Bracket
Points systemWin = 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
Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6-3 on points.
New England Revolution advance 6–3 on points.
Columbus Crew advance 6–0 on points.
Colorado Rapids advance in series (sudden death) overtime, after 4–4 tie on points.
Semifinals
Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6–0 on points.
New England Revolution advance 5–2 on points.
MLS Cup
Player statistics
Goals 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
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Ante Razov Chicago Fire New England Revolution 3–1 Bobby Rhine Dallas Burn Colorado Rapids 4–1 Mamadou Diallo4 MetroStars Los Angeles Galaxy 5–0 Chris Carrieri Colorado Rapids Chicago Fire 3–2 Carlos Ruiz Los Angeles Galaxy MetroStars 3–0 Taylor Twellman New England Revolution D.C. United 2–0
Assists 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 RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Joe CannonSan Jose Earthquakes82 Nick RimandoD.C. United7 Zach ThorntonChicago Fire4 Adin BrownNew England Revolution5 Jon BuschColumbus Crew Kevin HartmanLos Angeles Galaxy7 Scott GarlickColorado Rapids4 Tim HowardMetroStars9 Matt JordanDallas Burn3 Tony MeolaKansas City Wizards
Awards
Individual awards AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player Carlos RuizLos Angeles GalaxyDefender of the Year Carlos BocanegraChicago FireGoalkeeper of the Year Joe CannonSan Jose EarthquakesCoach of the Year Steve NicolNew England Revolution Rookie of the Year Kyle MartinoColumbus CrewComeback Player of the Year Chris KleinKansas City WizardsScoring Champion Taylor TwellmanNew England Revolution Goal of the Year Carlos RuizLos Angeles GalaxyFair Play Award Mark ChungColorado RapidsHumanitarian of the Year Steve JolleyMetroStars
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards 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 ClubGames TotalAverageColorado Rapids 14 289,663 20,690Los Angeles Galaxy 14266,664 19,047MetroStars 14254,174 18,155Columbus Crew 14243,999 17,429New 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 11,150Totals1402,215,01915,822
References
External links MLS Site