The 1998 Major League Soccer season was the third season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 86th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 20th with a national first-division league.
The Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion played their inaugural seasons as the league's first two expansion teams.
The NY/NJ MetroStars dropped the New York/New Jersey from their name and rebranded as just MetroStars, with no city, state or regional name attached to it.
The regular season began on March 15, and concluded on September 27. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on September 30, and concluded with MLS Cup on October 25. Chicago became the first expansion team to win MLS Cup and the first to win it in its inaugural season.
Overview
Season format The season began on March 15 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 25. The 12 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference four times, for a total of 20 games. The remaining schedule consisted of two games against each team from the opposite conference.
The top four teams from each conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The conference semifinals and finals were played as a best-of-three series, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws were broken by penalty shootout if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.
The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield and qualified automatically for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup, and the runner-up, also qualified for the Champions' Cup.
Stadiums and locations
Team Stadium Capacity Chicago Fire Soldier Field 66,944 Colorado Rapids Mile High Stadium 76,273 Columbus Crew Ohio Stadium 102,329 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 Miami Fusion Lockhart Stadium 20,450 New England Revolution Foxboro Stadium 60,292 San Jose Clash Spartan Stadium 30,456 Tampa Bay Mutiny Houlihan's Stadium 74,301
Personnel and sponsorships Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsor Chicago Fire Bob Bradley — Colorado Rapids Glenn Myernick Columbus Crew Tom Fitzgerald Snickers D.C. United Bruce Arena MasterCard Dallas Burn Dave Dir Kansas City Wizards Ron Newman — Los Angeles Galaxy Octavio Zambrano — MetroStars Bora Milutinović Tony Meola Fujifilm Miami Fusion Ivo Wortmann — New England Revolution Walter Zenga — San Jose Clash Brian Quinn John Doyle Honda Tampa Bay Mutiny Tim Hankinson
Coaching changes Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointment Tampa Bay Mutiny John Kowalski Resigned June 6, 1998 Tim Hankinson June 8, 1998 Miami Fusion Carlos Cordoba Fired July 24, 1998 Ivo Wortmann July 25, 1998 New England Revolution Thomas Rongen Fired August 24, 1998 Walter Zenga August 24, 1998 MetroStars Alfonso Mondelo Fired September 21, 1998 Bora Milutinović September 21, 1998
Standings
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Overall standings
MLS Cup Playoffs
Bracket The ties were a best of three series.
Conference semifinals
Eastern Conference
D.C. United advance 2–0, to the Conference Finals.
Columbus Crew advance 2–0, to the Conference Finals.
Western Conference
Los Angeles Galaxy advance 2–0, to the Conference Finals.
Chicago Fire advance 2–0, to the Conference Finals.
Conference finals
Eastern Conference
D.C. United advance 2–1, to MLS Cup
Western Conference
Chicago Fire advance 2–0, to MLS Cup
MLS Cup
Player statistics Goals RankPlayerClubGoals1 Stern JohnColumbus Crew262 Cobi JonesLos Angeles Galaxy193 Roy LassiterD.C. United18 Raúl Díaz ArceNew England Revolution5 WéltonLos Angeles Galaxy176 Jaime MorenoD.C. United167 Giovanni SavareseMetroStars148 Wolde HarrisColorado Rapids13 Mauricio CienfuegosLos Angeles Galaxy Ronald CerritosSan Jose Clash
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Stern John Columbus Crew Miami Fusion 5–1 Cobi Jones Los Angeles Galaxy Colorado Rapids 7–4 Musa Shannon Tampa Bay Mutiny New England Revolution 3–4 Vitalis Takawira Kansas City Wizards New England Revolution 3–1 Martín Machón Los Angeles Galaxy Columbus Crew 3–1 Stern John Columbus Crew Chicago Fire 5–1 Harut Karapetyan Los Angeles Galaxy Dallas Burn 8–1 Roy Lassiter D.C. United Chicago Fire 4–1 Cobi Jones Los Angeles Galaxy Colorado Rapids 6–1 Stern John Columbus Crew Kansas City Wizards 5–3 Cobi Jones Los Angeles Galaxy New England Revolution 5–1 Diego Serna Miami Fusion New England Revolution 3–2 Preki Kansas City Wizards San Jose Clash 5–1
Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Eduardo HurtadoMetroStars142 Marco EtcheverryD.C. United133 Jerzy PodbrożnyChicago Fire124 Joe-Max MooreNew England Revolution115 Adrián PazColorado Rapids106 Ronald CerritosSan Jose Clash9 Paul DoughertyMetroStars Cobi JonesLos Angeles Galaxy910 players8
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Zach ThorntonChicago Fire82 Scott GarlickD.C. United7 Kevin HartmanLos Angeles Galaxy4 Mark DoddDallas Burn65 Mike AmmannKansas City Wizards5 Ian FeuerNew England Revolution David KramerSan Jose Clash8 Marcus HahnemannColorado Rapids4 Tony MeolaMetroStars Juergen SommerColumbus Crew
Awards
Individual awards AwardPlayerTeamMost Valuable Player Marco EtcheverryD.C. UnitedDefender of the Year Luboš KubíkChicago FireGoalkeeper of the Year Zach ThorntonChicago FireCoach of the Year Bob BradleyChicago FireRookie of the Year Ben OlsenD.C. UnitedScoring Champion Stern JohnColumbus CrewGoal of the Year Brian McBrideColumbus CrewFair Play Award Thomas DooleyColumbus Crew
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Zach Thornton, Chicago Thomas Dooley, Columbus Robin Fraser, LA Galaxy Luboš Kubík, Chicago Eddie Pope, D.C. United Chris Armas, Chicago Mauricio Cienfuegos, LA Galaxy Marco Etcheverry, D.C. United Piotr Nowak, Chicago Stern John, Columbus Cobi Jones, LA Galaxy
Player of the Month WeekPlayerClubMarch Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyApril Juergen Sommer Columbus CrewMay Piotr Nowak Chicago FireJune Ross Paule Colorado RapidsJuly Roy Lassiter D.C. UnitedAugust Stern John Columbus CrewSeptember Diego Serna Miami Fusion
Weekly awards Player of the WeekWeekPlayerClubWeek 1 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 2 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 3 Frank Klopas Chicago FireWeek 4 Jason Farrell Columbus CrewWeek 5 Stern John Columbus CrewWeek 6 Paul Bravo Colorado RapidsWeek 7 Tony Meola MetroStarsWeek 8 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 9 Vitalis Takawira Kansas City WizardsWeek 10 Peter Nowak Chicago FireWeek 11 Stern John Columbus CrewWeek 12 Jerzy Podbrożny Chicago FireWeek 13 Zach Thornton Chicago FireWeek 14 Roman Kosecki Chicago FireWeek 15 Luboš Kubík Chicago FireWeek 16 John Harkes D.C. UnitedWeek 17 Roy Lassiter D.C. UnitedWeek 18 Marco Etcheverry D.C. UnitedWeek 19 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 20 Stern John Columbus CrewWeek 21 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 22 Diego Serna Miami FusionWeek 23 Carlos Hermosillo Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 24 Josh Wolff Chicago FireWeek 25 Diego Serna Miami Fusion
Attendance
RankTeam 1 Los Angeles Galaxy 16 53,655 9,113 2 New England Revolution 16 35,462 13,074 3 Chicago Fire 16 37,122 7,598 4 MetroStars 16 56,404 8,826 5 D.C. United 16 23,631 9,755 6 Colorado Rapids 16 46,722 5,485 7 San Jose Clash 16 22,694 9,102 8 Columbus Crew 16 15,628 9,166 9 Dallas Burn 16 15,280 9,197 10 Tampa Bay Mutiny 16 22,704 4,473 11 Miami Fusion 16 20,450 6,127 12 Kansas City Wizards 16 13,146 4,130 Total 192 2,747,897 56,404 4,130
References MLS Site