2002 Major League Soccer season

2002 Major League Soccer season
Season	2002
MLS Cup	Los Angeles Galaxy (1st title)
Supporters' Shield	Los Angeles Galaxy (2nd shield)
Matches played	140
Goals scored	421 (3.01 per match)
Top goalscorer	Carlos Ruiz; Los Angeles Galaxy; Goals: 24
Highest attendance	Colorado Rapids; Season: 289,663; Game Avg.: 20,690
Lowest attendance	San Jose Earthquakes; Season: 156,104; Game Avg.: 11,150
Average attendance	MLS; Season: 2,215,019; Game Avg.: 15,822
	← 2001 2003 →

The 2002 Major League Soccer season was the seventh season of competition for Major League Soccer.

On January 8, 2002, MLS folded two of its teams. The Miami Fusion F.C. ceased operations after only four years in existence due to low attendance and an unfavorable stadium deal. The Tampa Bay Mutiny also ceased operations due to the lack of local ownership. MLS eliminated the Central Division and returned to its original two-conference alignment.

According to FC Dallas president Dan Hunt, the entire league nearly folded during the 2001 offseason.[1] 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.

Standings

Conference

Eastern Conference	GP	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
y – New England Revolution	28	12	14	2	49	49	0	38
x – Columbus Crew	28	11	12	5	44	43	+1	38
x – Chicago Fire	28	11	13	4	43	38	+5	37
MetroStars	28	11	15	2	41	47	–6	35
D.C. United	28	9	14	5	31	40	–9	32

Western Conference	GP*	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
s – Los Angeles Galaxy	28	16	9	3	44	33	+11	51
x – San Jose Earthquakes	28	14	11	3	45	35	+10	45
x – Dallas Burn	28	12	9	7	44	43	+1	43
x – Colorado Rapids	28	13	11	4	43	48	–5	43
x – Kansas City Wizards	28	9	10	9	37	45	–8	36

Top eight teams with the highest points clinch play-off berth, regardless of conference.
x = Playoff berth
y = Conference Winner (Season)
s = Supporters Shield/Conference winner (Season)
New England Revolution wins first tiebreaker vs. Columbus Crew (head-to-head: 2-1-1)
Dallas Burn wins first tiebreaker vs. Colorado Rapids (head-to-head: 2-1-1)

Overall

Pos	Club	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	Head-to-head
1	Los Angeles Galaxy (SS) (W1)	28	16	9	3	44	33	+11	51	2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup, 2002 MLS Cup Playoffs, 2003 U.S. Open Cup
2	San Jose Earthquakes	28	14	11	3	45	35	+10	45	2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup¹, 2002 MLS Cup Playoffs, 2003 U.S. Open Cup
3	Dallas Burn	28	12	9	7	44	43	+1	43	2002 MLS Cup Playoffs, 2003 U.S. Open Cup	DAL: 7 pts COL: 4 pts
4	Colorado Rapids	28	13	11	4	43	48	–5	43		DAL: 7 pts COL: 4 pts
5	New England Revolution (E1)	28	12	14	2	49	49	0	38		NE: 7 pts CLB: 4 pts
6	Columbus Crew	28	11	12	5	44	43	+1	38		NE: 7 pts CLB: 4 pts
7	Chicago Fire	28	11	13	4	43	38	+5	37
8	Kansas City Wizards	28	9	10	9	37	45	-8	36
9	MetroStars²	28	11	15	2	41	47	–6	35
10	D.C. United²	28	9	14	5	31	40	–9	32

Source: MLSSoccer.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head record; 3rd goal difference; 4th number of goals scored.
(SS) = MLS Supporters' Shield; (E1) = Eastern Conference champion; (W1) = Western Conference champion
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs, but not yet to the particular round indicated; (E) = Eliminated from playoff-contention.

^Note 1 – Since Los Angeles Galaxy won MLS Cup 2002 and the Supporters' Shield, San Jose Earthquakes qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup by finishing as Supporters' Shield runners-up.
^Note 2 – Since MetroStars and D.C. United finished outside of the top eight in the league standings, they enter the U.S. Open Cup in the third round proper rather than fourth.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

Conference Semi-finals					Conference Finals					MLS Cup 2002

1	Los Angeles Galaxy (ASDET)* (6 Points)	3*	1	5
8	Kansas City Wizards (3 Points)	2	4	2
					1	Los Angeles Galaxy (6 Points)	4	1	x

					5	Colorado Rapids (0 Points)	0	0	x
4	Dallas Burn (4 Points)	4	0	1

5	Colorado Rapids (SDET) (4 Points)**	2	1	1**
										1	Los Angeles Galaxy (ASDET)*	1
										2	New England Revolution	0
2	New England Revolution (6 Points)	2	1	2
7	Chicago Fire (3 Points)	0	2	0
					2	New England Revolution (5 Points)	0	1	2

					6	Columbus Crew (2 Points)	0	0	2
3	San Jose Earthquakes (0 Points)	1	1	x

6	Columbus Crew (6 Points)	2	2	x

Points system
Win = 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.

Conference Semi-finals

September 25, 2002

Kansas City Wizards	2–3 (AET)	Los Angeles Galaxy
Preki 25' Brown 70'		Ruiz 62' (pen.) 99' Jones 85'

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, California

Attendance: 14,585

September 28, 2002

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–4	Kansas City Wizards
Albright 71'		Simutenkov 19' Quill 37' Preki 70' Fabbro 73'

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri

Attendance: 9,484

October 2, 2002

Kansas City Wizards	2–5	Los Angeles Galaxy
Klein 47' Preki 72'		Ruiz 34' 66' Jones 45'+, 62' Tennyson 90+3'

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, California

Attendance: 14,713

Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6-3 on points.

September 26, 2002

Chicago Fire	0–2	New England Revolution
		Twellman 13' Hernández 60'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 6,306

September 29, 2002

New England Revolution	1–2	Chicago Fire
Kamler 28'		Razov 43' (pen.), 76'

Cardinal Stadium
Naperville, Illinois

Attendance: 9,434

October 2, 2002

Chicago Fire	0–2	New England Revolution
		Kamler 12' Twellman 65'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 6,954

New England Revolution advance 6–3 on points.

September 26, 2002

Columbus Crew	2–1	San Jose Earthquakes
Buddle 38' García 81'		Donovan 54'

Spartan Stadium
San Jose, California

Attendance: 8,069

September 28, 2002

San Jose Earthquakes	1–2	Columbus Crew
Graziani 58'		García 50' McBride 81'

Columbus Crew Stadium
Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 13,004

Columbus Crew advance 6–0 on points.

September 25, 2002

Colorado Rapids	2–4	Dallas Burn
Valderrama 2' Spencer (Pen) 75'		Morrow 26' Kreis 49' Deering 68' Martínez 70'

Cotton Bowl
Dallas, Texas

Attendance: 6,360

September 28, 2002

Dallas Burn	0–1	Colorado Rapids
		Carrieri 78'

INVESCO Field
Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 9,637

October 2, 2002

Colorado Rapids	1–1	Dallas Burn
Spencer 22'		Rhine 6'

Cotton Bowl
Dallas, Texas

Attendance: 8,008

	1–0 series OT (ASDET)
Chung 1'

Colorado Rapids advance in series (sudden death) overtime, after 4–4 tie on points.

Conference Finals

October 5, 2002

Colorado Rapids	0–4	Los Angeles Galaxy
		Califf 21' Ruiz 24' 84' Hendrickson 71'

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, California

Attendance: 24,742

October 9, 2002

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–0	Colorado Rapids
Ruiz 64'

INVESCO Field
Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 12,367

Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6–0 on points.

October 6, 2002

Columbus Crew	0–0	New England Revolution

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 11,387

October 9, 2002

New England Revolution	1–0	Columbus Crew
Heaps 3'

Columbus Crew Stadium
Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 10,245

October 12, 2002

Columbus Crew	2–2	New England Revolution
McBride 80' Washington 85'		Ralston 17' Harris 47'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 9,216

New England Revolution advance 5–2 on points.

MLS Cup

October 20, 2002

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–0 (2OT)	New England Revolution
Ruiz 113'	Report

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 61,316

Referee: Kevin Terry

Attendance

Club	Games	Season	Game Avg.
Colorado Rapids	14	289,663	20,690
Los Angeles Galaxy	14	266,664	19,047
MetroStars	14	254,174	18,155
Columbus Crew	14	243,999	17,429
New 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	11,150
OVERALL	140	2,215,019	15,822

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	14
6	Jason Kreis	Dallas Burn	13
7	Mamadou Diallo*	MetroStars	12
	Rodrigo Faria	MetroStars	12
9	Chris Carrieri	Colorado Rapids	11
	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids	11
	Chris Henderson	Colorado Rapids	11

Played for more than one team – Most Recent Team Listed*

Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy
Scoring Champion	Taylor Twellman (52 points)	New England Revolution
Defender of the Year	Carlos Bocanegra	Chicago Fire
Goalkeeper of the Year	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes
Rookie of the Year	Kyle Martino	Columbus Crew
Coach of the Year	Steve Nicol	New England Revolution
Comeback Player of the Year	Chris Klein	Kansas City Wizards
Goal of the Year	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy
Fair Play Award	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids
Humanitarian of the Year	Steve Jolley	MetroStars

gollark: AAAAH TOO MANY

gollark: I took... um, one of them, I guess.

gollark: A xenowyrm. Everyone loves xenowyrms. Except people who don't. https://dragcave.net/teleport/4b5598b7623c2625f7cb118e5abb8a78Zyu of Slight Messiness: https://dragcave.net/teleport/efdf5f88803b0c23401eb984b17debaf

gollark: I saw someone gifting a thing and thought "I should gift a thing" so: 2G ash!https://dragcave.net/teleport/26b5db2b06e5728b29d519bbb91dbbffIf you take it, say so or demons shall tear apart the very threads of space and time underpinning the structure of the universe to hunt you down and force you to pay for your evil crimes.

gollark: This name isn't even on a *nebula*.

References

Yousuf, Saad (April 16, 2016). "MLS nearly folded in 2001 - FC Dallas president Dan Hunt". ESPN.com.

External links

MLS Site

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Yousuf, Saad (April 16, 2016). "MLS nearly folded in 2001 - FC Dallas president Dan Hunt". ESPN.com.

1

2

Major League Soccer
Seasons 2020 season Records and statistics 100 or more goals Hat-tricks Players Association Rivalry cups History U.S. Soccer Canada Soccer
Eastern Conference	Atlanta United FC Chicago Fire FC FC Cincinnati Columbus Crew SC D.C. United Inter Miami CF Montreal Impact Nashville SC New England Revolution New York City FC New York Red Bulls Orlando City SC Philadelphia Union Toronto FC
Western Conference	Colorado Rapids FC Dallas Houston Dynamo LA Galaxy Los Angeles FC Minnesota United FC Portland Timbers Real Salt Lake San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders FC Sporting Kansas City Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Future teams	Austin FC (2021) Charlotte FC (2022) Sacramento Republic FC (2023) St. Louis City SC (2023)
Former teams	Tampa Bay Mutiny (1996–2001) Miami Fusion (1998–2001) Chivas USA (2005–2014)
Personnel	Foreign Capped International Designated Player Homegrown Player Generation Adidas Cup Transfers Coaches Owners
Competition	MLS Cup Playoffs Champions SuperDraft Stadiums Attendance Television Broadcasters MLS Cup
Associated competitions	All-Star Game Homegrown Game CONCACAF Champions League Campeones Cup Leagues Cup U.S. Open Cup Canadian Championship Reserve League eMLS Cup MLS is Back Tournament
Other	MLS performance in the CONCACAF Champions League Supporters' Shield
Category Portal Multimedia

2002 MLS season by team
SuperDraft All-Star Game Playoffs MLS Cup Transfers
Eastern	Chicago Fire Columbus Crew D.C. United New England Revolution MetroStars
Western	Colorado Rapids Dallas Burn Kansas City Wiz Los Angeles Galaxy San Jose Earthquakes