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
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left"
|-
! 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
{| 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
| Tim Hankinson
|
|
|-
| Columbus Crew
| Greg Andrulis
|
| Pepsi
|-
| D.C. United
| Ray Hudson
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| Dallas Burn
| Mike Jeffries
|
|
|-
| 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
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| New England Revolution
| Steve Nicol
|
| align="center" colspan="1" style="background:#ececec; color:gray |—
|-
| San Jose Earthquakes
| Frank Yallop
| Jeff Agoos
| Yahoo! Sports
|}
Coaching changes
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! 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 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
- 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
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Player !! Club !! Goals
|-
| 1
| align="left"| Carlos Ruiz
| align="left"| Los Angeles Galaxy
| 24
|-
| 2
| align="left"| Taylor Twellman
| align="left"| New England Revolution
| 23
|-
| 3
| align="left"| Jeff Cunningham
| align="left"| Columbus Crew
| 16
|-
| rowspan="2"| 4
| align="left"| Ante Razov
| align="left"| Chicago Fire
| rowspan="2"| 14
|-
| align="left"| Ariel Graziani
| align="left"| San Jose Earthquakes
|-
| 6
| align="left"| Jason Kreis
| align="left"| Dallas Burn
| 13
|-
| rowspan="2"| 7
| align="left"| Mamadou Diallo
| align="left"| New England Revolution, <br> MetroStars
| rowspan="2"| 12
|-
| align="left"| Rodrigo Faria
| align="left"| MetroStars
|-
| rowspan="3"| 9
| align="left"| Chris Carrieri
| align="left"| Colorado Rapids
| rowspan="3"| 11
|-
| align="left"| Mark Chung
| align="left"| Colorado Rapids
|-
| align="left"| Chris Henderson
| align="left"| Colorado Rapids
|-
|}
Hat-tricks
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Player !! Club !! Against !! style="text-align:center"| Result !! Date
|-
| Ante Razov || Chicago Fire || New England Revolution || style="text-align:center;"| 3–1 ||
|-
| Bobby Rhine || Dallas Burn || Colorado Rapids || style="text-align:center;"| 4–1 ||
|-
| Mamadou Diallo<sup>4</sup> || MetroStars || Los Angeles Galaxy || style="text-align:center;"| 5–0 ||
|-
| Chris Carrieri || Colorado Rapids || Chicago Fire || style="text-align:center;"| 3–2 ||
|-
| Carlos Ruiz || Los Angeles Galaxy || MetroStars || style="text-align:center;"| 3–0 ||
|-
| Taylor Twellman || New England Revolution || D.C. United || style="text-align:center;"| 2–0 ||
|}
Assists
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Rank !! Player !! Club !! Assists
|-
| 1
| align="left"| Andy Williams
| align="left"| MetroStars
| 13
|-
| 2
| align="left"| Steve Ralston
| align="left"| New England Revolution
| 12
|-
| 3
| align="left"| Preki
| align="left"| Kansas City Wizards
| 8
|-
| rowspan="4"| 4
| align="left"| Mark Chung
| align="left"| Colorado Rapids
| rowspan="4"| 7
|-
| align="left"| Cobi Jones
| align="left"| Los Angeles Galaxy
|-
| align="left"| Antonio Martínez
| align="left"| Dallas Burn
|-
| align="left"| Carlos Valderrama
| align="left"| Colorado Rapids
|-
| rowspan="5"| 8
| align="left"| Ramiro Corrales
| align="left"| San Jose Earthquakes
| rowspan="5"| 6
|-
| align="left"| Dwayne De Rosario
| align="left"| San Jose Earthquakes
|-
| align="left"| Simon Elliott
| align="left"| Los Angeles Galaxy
|-
| align="left"| Bobby Rhine
| align="left"| Dallas Burn
|-
| align="left"| Joselito Vaca
| align="left"| Dallas Burn
|-
|}
Clean sheets
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Rank
!Player
!Club
!Clean<br>sheets
|-
|1
|align="left"| Joe Cannon
|align="left"|San Jose Earthquakes
|8
|-
|rowspan="2"|2
|align="left"| Nick Rimando
|align="left"|D.C. United
|rowspan="2"|7
|-
|align="left"| Zach Thornton
|align="left"|Chicago Fire
|-
|rowspan="3"|4
|align="left"| Adin Brown
|align="left"|New England Revolution
|rowspan="3"|5
|-
|align="left"| Jon Busch
|align="left"|Columbus Crew
|-
|align="left"| Kevin Hartman
|align="left"|Los Angeles Galaxy
|-
|rowspan="2"|7
|align="left"| Scott Garlick
|align="left"|Colorado Rapids
|rowspan="2"|4
|-
|align="left"| Tim Howard
|align="left"|MetroStars
|-
|rowspan="2"|9
|align="left"| Matt Jordan
|align="left"|Dallas Burn
|rowspan="2"|3
|-
|align="left"| Tony Meola
|align="left"|Kansas City Wizards
|-
|}
Awards
Individual awards
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%"
!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
{| class="wikitable"
!Goalkeeper
!Defenders
!Midfielders
!Forwards
|-
| Tim Howard, MetroStars
| Wade Barrett, San Jose<br> Carlos Bocanegra, Chicago<br> Alexi Lalas, LA Galaxy
| Mark Chung, Colorado <br> Ronnie Ekelund, San Jose<br> Óscar Pareja, Dallas<br> Steve Ralston, New England
| Jeff Cunningham, Columbus<br> Carlos Ruiz, LA Galaxy<br> Taylor Twellman, New England
|}
Attendance
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%"
!Club
!Games
!Total
!Average
|-
|Colorado Rapids
|align=center|14
|align=center|289,663
|align=center|20,690
|-
|Los Angeles Galaxy
|align=center|14
|align=center|266,664
|align=center|19,047
|-
|MetroStars
|align=center|14
|align=center|254,174
|align=center|18,155
|-
|Columbus Crew
|align=center|14
|align=center|243,999
|align=center|17,429
|-
|New England Revolution
|align=center|14
|align=center|236,973
|align=center|16,927
|-
|D.C. United
|align=center|14
|align=center|231,264
|align=center|16,519
|-
|Dallas Burn
|align=center|14
|align=center|183,702
|align=center|13,122
|-
|Chicago Fire
|align=center|14
|align=center|180,908
|align=center|12,922
|-
|Kansas City Wizards
|align=center|14
|align=center|171,568
|align=center|12,255
|-
|San Jose Earthquakes
|align=center|14
|align=center|156,104
|align=center|11,150
|-
|Totals
|align=center|140
|align=center|2,215,019
|align=center|15,822
|}
References
External links
- MLS Site