The 2000 Major League Soccer season was the fifth season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 88th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 22nd with a national first-division league.
The 2000 season marked the first time in league history (and the first season of American first division soccer since 1974), that ties were allowed to stand. Following a ten-minute sudden death extra time, rather than going to a penalty shoot-out, a point was awarded to both teams. Additionally, the league was divided into three separate divisions, the East, Central and West divisions.
The San Jose Clash rebranded as the Earthquakes, a throwback to the NASL team of the same name.
The regular season began on March 18, and concluded on September 9. The 2000 MLS Cup Playoffs began on September 14, and concluded with MLS Cup 2000 on October 15. The Kansas City Wizards won their first MLS Cup with a victory over the Chicago Fire.
Overview
Season format
The season began on March 18 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 15. The 12 teams were split into three divisions. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their division four times, for a total of 12 games. The remaining schedule consisted of three games against four select opponents in one of the other divisions, and two games against the remaining four teams.
The eight teams with the most points qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The quarterfinals and semifinals 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. The winner of MLS Cup, and the runner-up, qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.
Stadiums and locations
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! Team
! Stadium
! Capacity
|-
| Chicago Fire
| Soldier Field
| 66,944
|-
|-
| Colorado Rapids
| Mile High Stadium
| 76,273
|-
| 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
|-
| Miami Fusion
| Lockhart Stadium
| 20,450
|-
|-
| New England Revolution
| Foxboro Stadium
| 60,292
|-
| MetroStars
| Giants Stadium
| 80,200
|-
| San Jose Earthquakes
| Spartan Stadium
| 30,456
|-
| Tampa Bay Mutiny
| Raymond James Stadium
| 69,218
|}
Personnel and sponsorships
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: left;"
|-
! Team
! Head coach
! Captain
! Shirt sponsor
|-
| Chicago Fire
| Bob Bradley
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
|-
| Colorado Rapids
| Glenn Myernick
|
|
|-
| Columbus Crew
| Tom Fitzgerald
|
| Snickers
|-
| D.C. United
| Thomas Rongen
|
| MasterCard
|-
| Dallas Burn
| Dave Dir
|
|
|-
| Kansas City Wizards
| Bob Gansler
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| Los Angeles Galaxy
| Sigi Schmid
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| MetroStars
| Octavio Zambrano
| Tab Ramos
| New York Life
|-
| Miami Fusion
| Ray Hudson
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| New England Revolution
| Fernando Clavijo
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| San Jose Earthquakes
| Lothar Osiander
| John Doyle
| Yahoo! Sports
|-
| Tampa Bay Mutiny
| Tim Hankinson
|
|
|}
Coaching changes
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Team!! Outgoing coach!! Manner of departure!! Date of vacancy!! Incoming coach!! Date of appointment
|-
| Miami Fusion
| Ivo Wortmann
| Fired
| May 8, 2000
| Ray Hudson
| May 8, 2000
|}
Standings
Eastern Division
Central Division
Western Division
Overall standings
Fixtures and results
Note: * = Match required extra time
MLS Cup Playoffs
Bracket
- Points system<br>Win = 3 Pts.<br>Loss = 0 Pts.<br>Draw = 1 Pt.
- ASDET*=Added sudden death extra time (game tie breaker)<br>SDET**=Sudden death extra time (series tie breaker)<br>Teams will advance at 5 points.
Quarterfinals
Kansas City Wizards advance 7–1 on points.
----
Chicago Fire advance 6–3 on points.
----
MetroStars advance 6–0 on points.
----
Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6–0 on points.
Semifinals
Chicago Fire advance 6-3 on points.
----
Kansas City Wizards advance 1–0 in series overtime (SDET) after 4–4 tie on points.
MLS Cup
Player statistics
Goals
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Player !! Club !! Goals
|-
|1
| align="left"| Mamadou Diallo
| align="left"| Tampa Bay Mutiny
|26
|-
|2
| align="left"| Ante Razov
| align="left"| Chicago Fire
|18
|-
| rowspan="3"|3
| align="left"| Clint Mathis
| align="left"| Los Angeles Galaxy <br> MetroStars
| rowspan="3"|16
|-
| align="left"| Diego Serna
| align="left"| Miami Fusion
|-
| align="left"| Adolfo Valencia
| align="left"| MetroStars
|-
| rowspan="3"|6
| align="left"| Ariel Graziani
| align="left"| Dallas Burn
| rowspan="3"|15
|-
| align="left"| Dante Washington
| align="left"| Columbus Crew
|-
| align="left"| Wolde Harris
| align="left"| New England Revolution
|-
| 9
| align="left"| Alex Comas
| align="left"| MetroStars
| 13
|-
| rowspan="2"|10
| align="left"| Miklos Molnar
| align="left"| Kansas City Wizards
| rowspan="2"|12
|-
| align="left"| Jaime Moreno
| align="left"| D.C. United
|}
Hat-tricks
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Player !! Club !! Against !! style="text-align:center"| Result !! Date
|-
| Ante Razov || Chicago Fire || Miami Fusion || style="text-align:center;"|3–0||rowspan=2|
|-
| Jaime Moreno || D.C. United || Colorado Rapids || style="text-align:center;"| 5–2
|-
| Diego Serna || Miami Fusion || Tampa Bay Mutiny || style="text-align:center;"| 4–1 ||
|-
| Mamadou Diallo || Tampa Bay Mutiny || MetroStars || style="text-align:center;"| 4–3 ||
|-
| Clint Mathis<sup>5</sup> || MetroStars || Dallas Burn || style="text-align:center;"| 6–4 ||
|-
| Mamadou Diallo || Tampa Bay Mutiny || Columbus Crew || style="text-align:center;"| 4–3 ||
|-
| Diego Serna<sup>4</sup> || Miami Fusion || MetroStars || style="text-align:center;"| 4–1 ||
|-
| Diego Serna || Miami Fusion || D.C. United || style="text-align:center;"| 6–2 ||rowspan=2|
|-
| Alex Comas || MetroStars || New England Revolution || style="text-align:center;"| 3–4
|}
Assists
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Player !! Club !! Assists
|-
| 1
| align="left"| Carlos Valderrama
| align="left"| Tampa Bay Mutiny
| 26
|-
| 2
| align="left"| Clint Mathis
| align="left"| Los Angeles Galaxy, <br> MetroStars
| 13
|-
| 3
| align="left"| Eric Quill
| align="left"| Tampa Bay Mutiny
| 11
|-
| rowspan="2"| 4
| align="left"| Martín Machón
| align="left"| Miami Fusion
| rowspan="2"| 10
|-
| align="left"| Steve Ralston
| align="left"| Tampa Bay Mutiny
|-
| rowspan="2"| 6
| align="left"| Preki
| align="left"| Kansas City Wizards
| rowspan="2"| 9
|-
| align="left"| Diego Serna
| align="left"| Miami Fusion
|-
| rowspan="4"| 8
| align="left"| Mark Chung
| align="left"| MetroStars
| rowspan="4"| 8
|-
| align="left"| Jason Kreis
| align="left"| Dallas Burn
|-
| align="left"| Adolfo Valencia
| align="left"| MetroStars
|-
| align="left"| Robert Warzycha
| align="left"| Columbus Crew
|}
Clean sheets
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Rank
!Player
!Club
!Clean<br>sheets
|-
|1
|align="left"| Tony Meola
|align="left"|Kansas City Wizards
|16
|-
|rowspan="3"|2
|align="left"| Joe Cannon
|align="left"|San Jose Earthquakes
|rowspan="3"|7
|-
|align="left"| Kevin Hartman
|align="left"|LA Galaxy
|-
|align="left"| Matt Jordan
|align="left"|Dallas Burn
|-
|5
|align="left"| Scott Garlick
|align="left"|Tampa Bay Mutiny
|6
|-
|6
|align="left"| Zach Thornton
|align="left"|Chicago Fire
|5
|-
|rowspan="2"|7
|align="left"| Tim Howard
|align="left"|MetroStars
|rowspan="2"|4
|-
|align="left"| David Kramer
|align="left"|Colorado Rapids
|-
|rowspan="2"|9
|align="left"| Jeff Causey
|align="left"|New England Revolution
|rowspan="4"|3
|-
|align="left"| Mark Dougherty
|align="left"|Columbus Crew
|-
|}
Awards
Individual awards
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%"
!Award!!Player!!Club
|-
|Most Valuable Player|| Tony Meola||Kansas City Wizards
|-
|Defender of the Year|| Peter Vermes||Kansas City Wizards
|-
|Goalkeeper of the Year|| Tony Meola||Kansas City Wizards
|-
|Coach of the Year|| Bob Gansler||Kansas City Wizards
|-
|Rookie of the Year|| Carlos Bocanegra||Chicago Fire
|-
|Comeback Player of the Year|| Tony Meola||Kansas City Wizards
|-
|Scoring Champion|| Mamadou Diallo||Tampa Bay Mutiny
|-
|Goal of the Year|| Marcelo Balboa||Colorado Rapids
|-
|Fair Play Award|| Steve Ralston||Tampa Bay Mutiny
|-
|Humanitarian of the Year|| Abdul Thompson Conteh||San Jose Earthquakes
|}
Best XI
{| class="wikitable"
!Goalkeeper
!Defenders
!Midfielders
!Forwards
|-
| Tony Meola, Kansas City
| Robin Fraser, LA Galaxy <br> Greg Vanney, LA Galaxy<br> Peter Vermes, Kansas City
| Chris Armas, Chicago <br> Piotr Nowak, Chicago <br> Steve Ralston, Tampa Bay<br> Hristo Stoichkov, Chicago<br> Carlos Valderrama, Tampa Bay
| Mamadou Diallo, Tampa Bay<br> Clint Mathis, MetroStars
|- style="background:#f4f4f4;"
|}
Player of the Month
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Week!!Player!!Club
|-
|April|| Miklos Molnar|| Kansas City Wizards
|-
|May|| Tony Meola|| Kansas City Wizards
|-
|June|| Clint Mathis|| MetroStars
|-
|July|| Dante Washington|| Columbus Crew
|-
|August|| Clint Mathis|| MetroStars
|-
|September|| Diego Serna|| Miami Fusion
|}
Attendance
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%"
!Team
!Games
!Total
!Average
|-
|Los Angeles Galaxy
|align=center|16
|align=center|326,392
|align=center|20,400
|-
|D.C. United
|align=center|16
|align=center|297,279
|align=center|18,580
|-
|MetroStars
|align=center|16
|align=center|281,938
|align=center|17,621
|-
|New England Revolution
|align=center|16
|align=center|247,409
|align=center|15,463
|-
|Columbus Crew
|align=center|16
|align=center|247,220
|align=center|15,451
|-
|Chicago Fire
|align=center|16
|align=center|214,189
|align=center|13,387
|-
|Dallas Burn
|align=center|16
|align=center|209,637
|align=center|13,102
|-
|Colorado Rapids
|align=center|16
|align=center|201,280
|align=center|12,580
|-
|San Jose Earthquakes
|align=center|16
|align=center|199,364
|align=center|12,460
|-
|Tampa Bay Mutiny
|align=center|16
|align=center|151,232
|align=center|9,452
|-
|Kansas City Wizards
|align=center|16
|align=center|145,793
|align=center|9,112
|-
|Miami Fusion
|align=center|16
|align=center|119,352
|align=center|7,460
|-
|Totals
|align=center|192
|align=center|2,641,085
|align=center|13,756
|}
References
- MLS Site