The 1996 Major League Soccer season was the inaugural season of Major League Soccer. It was the 84th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 18th with a national first-division league.
Overview
Preparation for first season Major League Soccer had originally intended to begin competitive action in 1995. Various difficulties forced the league to postpone its first season until 1996. In preparation for its first season, the league began signing what it called marquee players, beginning with Tab Ramos on January 3, 1995. Beginning in October 1995, the league apportioned the marquee players in the MLS Inaugural Allocations. Each team received two national team and two foreign players in the allocation. The league then invited about 250 players to a tryout the second week of January 1996 on the campus of UC Irvine.Pro Soccer Combine Begins Today at UC Irvine On February 6 and 7, 1996, the league held its 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft in which the ten teams selected 160 players over sixteen rounds. The Columbus Crew selected Brian McBride with the first pick of the draft. On March 4, 1996, the league then held the 1996 MLS College Draft followed by the 1996 MLS Supplemental Draft later that day. Despite the numerous drafts, the teams were not obligated to sign only players from the drafts.1996 draft - latimes.com
Preseason The preseason began the first week of March. The teams reduced their rosters to twenty-two players by March 25 and had to make a final roster reduction to eighteen by April 15.RAPIDS RELEASE THREE PLAYERS The teams had a $1,200,000 salary cap with no player allowed to receive more than $192,500. In order to promote American players, teams were limited to five foreigners on the roster.
Season Each of the 10 MLS teams played 32 games. A regulation win was worth three points, a shootout win one point, and zero points for a loss in any manner. Fear of alienating fans with tied games had led the league to adopting the shootout when games ended even. The league also adopted a countdown clock instead of running clock, unlike IFAB's standards. The league also divided the teams equally into two conferences – Eastern and Western.
The league began its first season on Saturday, April 6, 1996, when the San Jose Clash hosted D.C. United at Spartan Stadium. ESPN carried the game live which the Clash won on a goal by Eric Wynalda. That goal was selected as the Goal of the Year. The regular season ended on September 22. The playoffs began two days later.
Stadiums and locations
Team Stadium Capacity 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 Wiz Arrowhead Stadium 81,425 Los Angeles Galaxy Rose Bowl 92,542 New England Revolution Foxboro Stadium 60,292 NY/NJ MetroStars Giants Stadium 80,200 San Jose Clash Spartan Stadium 30,456 Tampa Bay Mutiny Houlihan's Stadium 74,301
Personnel and sponsorships Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsor Colorado Rapids Roy Wegerle Budweiser Columbus Crew Tom Fitzgerald Doctor Khumalo Snickers D.C. United Bruce Arena MasterCard Dallas Burn Dave Dir AT&T Kansas City Wiz Ron Newman AT&T Los Angeles Galaxy Lothar Osiander Budweiser New England Revolution Frank Stapleton BIC NY/NJ MetroStars Carlos Queiroz Peter Vermes Fujifilm San Jose Clash Laurie Calloway John Doyle Honda Tampa Bay Mutiny Thomas Rongen Bandai
Coaching changes Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointmentNY/NJ MetroStars Eddie FirmaniFiredMay 24, 1996 Carlos QueirozMay 30, 1996Columbus Crew Timo LiekoskiResignedAugust 2, 1996 Tom FitzgeraldAugust 2, 1996Colorado Rapids Bob HoughtonFiredSeptember 10, 1996 Roy WegerleSeptember 13, 1996
Standings
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Overall standings
MLS Cup Playoffs
Bracket
Best of Three series winners will advance.
Conference semifinals Eastern Conference
D.C. United wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals.
Tampa Bay Mutiny wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals.
Western Conference
Kansas City Wiz wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals.
Los Angeles Galaxy wins series 2–1, advances to Conference finals.
Conference finals Eastern Conference
D.C. United wins series 2–0, advances to MLS Cup.
Western Conference
Los Angeles Galaxy wins series 2–0, advances to MLS Cup.
MLS Cup
Player statistics Goals RankPlayerClubGoals1 Roy LassiterTampa Bay Mutiny272 Raúl Díaz ArceD.C. United233 Eduardo HurtadoLos Angeles Galaxy214 PrekiKansas City Wiz185 Brian McBrideColumbus Crew176 Steve RammelD.C. United147 Paul BravoSan Jose Clash13 Jason KreisDallas Burn Giovanni SavareseNY/NJ MetroStars Vitalis TakawiraKansas City Wiz
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Steve Rammel D.C. United Columbus Crew 5–2 Giovanni Savarese NY/NJ MetroStars Colorado Rapids 3–0 Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles Galaxy NY/NJ MetroStars 4–0 Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles Galaxy Colorado Rapids 3–1 Raúl Díaz Arce4 D.C. United Dallas Burn 6–1 Cobi Jones Los Angeles Galaxy Tampa Bay Mutiny 3–4 Roy Lassiter Tampa Bay Mutiny Colorado Rapids 3–1 Brian Maisonneuve Columbus Crew Kansas City Wiz 5–1
Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Marco EtcheverryD.C. United162 Eric WynaldaSan Jose Clash11 Carlos ValderramaTampa Bay Mutiny4 Mauricio CienfuegosLos Angeles Galaxy105 PrekiKansas City Wiz9 Mark ChungKansas City Wiz Tab RamosNY/NJ Metrostars8 Adrián PazColumbus Crew8 Roberto DonadoniNY/NJ MetroStars John HarkesD.C. United
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Tony MeolaNY/NJ Metrostars92 Mark DoddDallas Burn63 Jorge CamposLos Angeles Galaxy4 Brad FriedelColumbus Crew Aidan HeaneyNew England Revolution Tom LinerSan Jose Clash Dave SalzwedelSan Jose Clash8 Mark DoughertyTampa Bay Mutiny3 Garth LagerwayKansas City Wiz Mark SimpsonD.C. United
Awards
Individual awards AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player Carlos ValderramaTampa Bay MutinyDefender of the Year John DoyleSan Jose ClashGoalkeeper of the Year Mark DoddDallas BurnCoach of the Year Thomas RongenTampa Bay MutinyRookie of the Year Steve RalstonTampa Bay MutinyScoring Champion Roy Lassiter Tampa Bay MutinyGoal of the Year Eric WynaldaSan Jose Clash
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Mark Dodd, Dallas Leonel Álvarez, Dallas John Doyle, San Jose Robin Fraser, LA Galaxy Mauricio Cienfuegos, LA Galaxy Roberto Donadoni, MetroStars Marco Etcheverry, D.C. United Preki, Kansas City Carlos Valderrama, Tampa Bay Eduardo Hurtado, LA Galaxy Roy Lassiter, Tampa Bay
Player of the Month MonthPlayerClubStatsApril Mauricio Cienfuegos Los Angeles Galaxy 2GMay Carlos Valderrama Tampa Bay Mutiny 2G, 4AJune Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles Galaxy 7G, 1AJuly Jason Kreis Dallas Burn 5GAugust Marco Etcheverry D.C. United 1G, 8ASeptember Brad Friedel Columbus Crew 2GA
Weekly awards Player of the WeekWeekPlayerClubWeek 1 Eric Wynalda San Jose ClashWeek 2 Brian McBride Columbus CrewWeek 3 Marcelo Balboa Colorado RapidsWeek 4 Bo Oshoniyi Columbus CrewWeek 5 Giovanni Savarese NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 6 Brian McBride Columbus CrewWeek 7 Jorge Campos Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 8 Preki Kansas City WizWeek 9 John Doyle San Jose ClashWeek 10 Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 11 Mark Dodd Dallas BurnWeek 12 Mark Chung Kansas City WizWeek 13 Tony Meola NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 14 Raúl Díaz Arce D.C. UnitedWeek 15 Paul Bravo San Jose ClashWeek 16 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 17 Joe-Max Moore New England RevolutionWeek 18 Tony Meola NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 19 Adrián Paz Columbus CrewWeek 20 Marco Etcheverry D.C. UnitedWeek 21 Brad Friedel Columbus CrewWeek 22 Brian Maisonneuve Columbus CrewWeek 23 Frank Yallop Tampa Bay MutinyWeek 24 Brad Friedel Columbus Crew
Attendance
RankTeam 1 Los Angeles Galaxy 16 92,216 8,561 2 NY/NJ Metrostars 16 53,250 14,007 3 New England Revolution 16 38,633 11,009 4 Columbus Crew 16 31,550 12,832 5 San Jose Clash 16 31,728 10,894 6 Dallas Burn 16 35,250 7,338 7 D.C. United 16 35,032 7,360 8 Kansas City Wiz 16 21,141 8,062 9 Tampa Bay Mutiny 16 26,473 6,281 10 Colorado Rapids 16 21,711 6,013 Total 160 2,785,001 92,216 6,013
References
External links 1996 MLS Regular Season stats Soccer Hall of Fame