MLS Cup 1996 was the inaugural edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level soccer league of the United States. Hosted at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on October 20, 1996, it was contested by D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 1996 season.
Both finalists finished in the top two spots of their respective conferences, with D.C. placing second in the East and Los Angeles atop the West. The two teams also had identical win–loss records in the first two rounds of the playoffs, losing the opening match of the Conference Semifinals and winning the remaining four matches of both rounds. The final match was played in heavy rain due to the proximity of Hurricane Lili, which also inundated the field. The MLS Cup had an attendance of 34,643 spectators, falling short of the 42,000 people who paid for tickets, and included a large contingent of traveling D.C. supporters.
The match ended in a 3–2 victory for D.C. United, with a golden goal scored by Eddie Pope in overtime that followed a second-half comeback for the team. Los Angeles had taken a 2–0 lead in the 56th minute on goals by Eduardo Hurtado and Chris Armas, but conceded two goals to D.C. in the second half to force overtime. Marco Etcheverry assisted both goals, which began as free kicks that were headed into the goal by substitutes Tony Sanneh and Shawn Medved. Etcheverry went on to take the corner kick that led to Pope's goal and was named the man of the match. The finalists also earned a berth in the 1997 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and met in the semifinals, which ended in a victory for the Galaxy.
Venue
Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, was announced as the venue of the inaugural MLS Cup during a league press conference on August 29, 1996. The other finalist, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., was instead given hosting priority for the 1997 edition. The 58,098-seat stadium was the home venue of the New England Revolution and the New England Patriots of the National Football League. The league had planned to limit capacity to 33,000 seats for the championship, but canceled those plans as ticket sales reached more than 40,000 in the days prior to the cup.
Road to the final
Major League Soccer (MLS) was formed as the Division I league of the United States in the early 1990s during organization of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to comply with FIFA's hosting requirements. The league decided on a playoff format to determine its yearly champion in a fashion similar to other sports leagues in North America. It also adopted an Americanized version of the game's rules, including a shootout to decide tied matches (for which the winners earned one point) and a countdown clock to keep time.
The inaugural MLS season was delayed to 1996 and consisted of ten teams organized into two conferences, divided between east and west. Each team played 32 matches in the regular season, which ran from April to September, facing opponents from the same conference four times and outside of their conference three to four times. The top four teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, which were organized into three rounds and played from late September to October. The first two rounds, named the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, were home-and-away series organized into a best-of-three format with a hosting advantage for the higher seed. The winners of the Conference Finals advanced to the single-match MLS Cup final, which would be held at a predetermined neutral venue.
MLS Cup 1996 was contested by D.C. United, who finished second in the Eastern Conference, and the Los Angeles Galaxy, who finished first in the Western Conference. The two finalists played each other three times during the regular season, with the Galaxy winning away 2–1 on April 20 and at home 3–1 on May 5, D.C. winning 2–1 on August 18 at RFK Memorial Stadium. Both teams finished with a 4–1 record in the playoffs, losing only the opening match of the Conference Semifinals, and shared comparable records during the regular season.
D.C. United
Washington, D.C., was awarded an MLS franchise on June 15, 1994, which would play at RFK Memorial Stadium and later be named D.C. United. The league allocated U.S. defender Jeff Agoos, U.S. midfielder John Harkes, and Bolivian forwards Marco Etcheverry and Juan Berthy Suárez to D.C. United, which signed former University of Virginia Cavaliers coach Bruce Arena as its manager in January 1996. In the general player draft, D.C. was given the last pick and signed Salvadorian forward Raúl Díaz Arce in the first round, completing a trio of Latin American attackers, and several starting players in later rounds. With its two picks in the college draft, United selected defender Eddie Pope in the first round and midfielder Jesse Marsch in the third round; in the supplemental draft, D.C. used its single pick on Argentine midfielder Mario Gori.
D.C. United played in the inaugural league match against the San Jose Clash at Spartan Stadium on April 6, losing 1–0 to a goal by Eric Wynalda. The team went on to lose three more matches in April, including its home opener, before defeating the Dallas Burn on May 1 by a score of 3–1. In their next victory, 5–2 on May 15 against the Columbus Crew, newly added forward Steve Rammel scored the first hat-trick in league history while Etcheverry recorded three assists. D.C. went on to win three matches in a row to start June and earn the second-place spot in the Eastern Conference, trailing the Tampa Bay Mutiny by eight points. Bruce Arena spent part of his time in June and July as coach of the Olympic team, causing him to miss several D.C. matches.
The team remained in second place behind Tampa Bay for much of July and August, with a losing record, but was the fourth-highest scoring team in the league. The points gap between the two teams had increased to eleven at the beginning of August, but was reduced to five after D.C. United defeated the Mutiny three times. D.C. won four straight matches in late August and clinched a playoff berth, but still fell short of home-field advantage in the playoffs. The team finished the season with two more wins and two losses, retaining its second-place spot with a 16–16 record.
In the first round of the playoffs, D.C. played the third-place New York/New Jersey MetroStars, with whom they had developed a rivalry. The first leg, played at Giants Stadium on September 24, was the first playoff match in league history and ended in a 2–2 draw in regular time. The MetroStars won the match 6–5 in a shootout, which lasted eleven rounds until captain Peter Vermes scored the winning goal. Vermes was originally scheduled to be the eighth kicker for the MetroStars, but requested to be moved to the eleventh round because of an injury; D.C. officials claimed that the move made him an ineligible kicker and disputed the result, which the league ruled was valid. United won the second leg at home with a lone goal by Marco Etcheverry in the 72nd minute, following several hard tackles and an ejection for D.C. striker Jaime Moreno, to set up the third leg at RFK Memorial Stadium. D.C. United took a 1–0 lead in the 65th minute of the match on a goal by Rammel off a deflection by several MetroStars defenders. The MetroStars responded with an equalizing goal in the 86th minute on a strike by Antony de Ávila, but conceded a penalty in the final minute of regular time after Rob Johnson tripped Etcheverry. Díaz Arce converted the penalty kick to give D.C. a 2–1 win and clinch their place in the Eastern Conference Final.
United faced the Tampa Bay Mutiny, the regular season champions with a home advantage, in the Eastern Conference Final, which was rescheduled due to stadium conflicts for both teams. D.C. hosted the first leg and took advantage of Tampa's missing defender Frank Yallop to win 4–1 after being tied 1–1 at halftime. Díaz Arce scored a hat-trick, while Rammel scored the winning goal with a header in the 54th minute. D.C. United went on to win 2–1 in the second leg hosted by Tampa Bay, with goals by Richie Williams and Díaz Arce in the second half to clinch an MLS Cup appearance.
Los Angeles Galaxy
Los Angeles was one of the original seven franchises awarded by MLS in 1994, and was owned by a group of investors led by banker Marc Rapaport. Former U.S. national team manager Lothar Osiander was hired as the first head coach of the Los Angeles franchise, which was named the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Galaxy had already acquired Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos, the league's first major international signing, and were also allocated American defender Dan Calichman, Salvadorian midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos, and Ecuadorian striker Eduardo Hurtado. Osiander selected several experienced national team members in the general draft, including defenders Robin Fraser and Curt Onalfo, and midfielder Jorge Salcedo. The team also filled its roster by adding midfielders Greg Vanney and Chris Armas and forwards Guillermo Jara and Ante Razov from the collegiate and supplemental drafts in early March. National team winger Cobi Jones also signed with the Galaxy as a marquee player and left the team with 23 players on its roster, which was cut to 18 to fall under league regulations.
The Galaxy debuted to a crowd of 69,255 spectators at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, and defeated the MetroStars 2–1. The team quickly took first place in the Western Conference by winning its first twelve matches, including the first eight without a shootout. The Galaxy led the league with 2.4 goals per game and 1.0 goals against average, with Eduardo Hurtado leading eleven goalscorers with seven goals. The winning streak was broken by the last-place Colorado Rapids on June 30, beginning a four-match losing streak that lasted through July and caused tension between the players and coaching staff.
Los Angeles alternated between wins and losses in early August before beginning a five-match losing streak that saw them fall to second place in the Western Conference behind the Kansas City Wiz. By the end of the month, the team had fallen to third place behind the Dallas Burn, but qualified for the playoffs ahead of Colorado and the San Jose Clash. Los Angeles climbed back into first place in mid-September with victories over San Jose and twice against Dallas to finish the regular season with a 19–13 record and 49 points atop the Western Conference and second overall in MLS. Hurtado finished second in scoring, with 21 goals and seven assists, and was named to the MLS Best XI alongside Marcos Cienfuegos and Robin Fraser.
The Galaxy faced the fourth-place San Jose Clash in the Conference Semifinals, who they won all four regular season matches against. The Clash hosted the first leg and won 1–0 on a headed goal by Tayt Ianni in the 36th minute, which came after several chances to score for the home side. Los Angeles tied the series at one match apiece with goals in the final six minutes by Fraser and Hurtado to win 2–0 in the second leg at the Rose Bowl. San Jose striker Eric Wynalda and defender Oscar Draguicevich were ejected late during the match after each being shown two yellow cards, and were suspended for the third leg. The Galaxy advanced to the Western Conference Final after a 2–0 victory in the third leg, with two goals scored in the first half by Hurtado and Cienfuegos from a controversial penalty kick called against Ben Iroha.