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
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 Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsor Chicago Fire Bob Bradley — Colorado Rapids Glenn Myernick Columbus Crew Tom Fitzgerald Snickers D.C. United Thomas Rongen MasterCard Dallas Burn Dave Dir Kansas City Wizards Bob Gansler — Los Angeles Galaxy Sigi Schmid — MetroStars Octavio Zambrano Tab Ramos New York Life Miami Fusion Ray Hudson — New England Revolution Fernando Clavijo — San Jose Earthquakes Lothar Osiander John Doyle Yahoo! Sports Tampa Bay Mutiny Tim Hankinson
Coaching changes 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 systemWin = 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.
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 Rank Player Club Goals1 Mamadou Diallo Tampa Bay Mutiny262 Ante Razov Chicago Fire183 Clint Mathis Los Angeles Galaxy MetroStars16 Diego Serna Miami Fusion Adolfo Valencia MetroStars6 Ariel Graziani Dallas Burn15 Dante Washington Columbus Crew Wolde Harris New England Revolution 9 Alex Comas MetroStars 1310 Miklos Molnar Kansas City Wizards 12 Jaime Moreno D.C. United
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Ante Razov Chicago Fire Miami Fusion 3–0 Jaime Moreno D.C. United Colorado Rapids 5–2 Diego Serna Miami Fusion Tampa Bay Mutiny 4–1 Mamadou Diallo Tampa Bay Mutiny MetroStars 4–3 Clint Mathis5 MetroStars Dallas Burn 6–4 Mamadou Diallo Tampa Bay Mutiny Columbus Crew 4–3 Diego Serna4 Miami Fusion MetroStars 4–1 Diego Serna Miami Fusion D.C. United 6–2 Alex Comas MetroStars New England Revolution 3–4
Assists Rank Player Club Assists 1 Carlos Valderrama Tampa Bay Mutiny 26 2 Clint Mathis Los Angeles Galaxy, MetroStars 13 3 Eric Quill Tampa Bay Mutiny 11 4 Martín Machón Miami Fusion 10 Steve Ralston Tampa Bay Mutiny 6 Preki Kansas City Wizards 9 Diego Serna Miami Fusion 8 Mark Chung MetroStars 8 Jason Kreis Dallas Burn Adolfo Valencia MetroStars Robert Warzycha Columbus Crew
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Tony MeolaKansas City Wizards162 Joe CannonSan Jose Earthquakes7 Kevin HartmanLA Galaxy Matt JordanDallas Burn5 Scott GarlickTampa Bay Mutiny66 Zach ThorntonChicago Fire57 Tim HowardMetroStars4 David KramerColorado Rapids9 Jeff CauseyNew England Revolution3 Mark DoughertyColumbus Crew
Awards Individual awards
AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player Tony MeolaKansas City WizardsDefender of the Year Peter VermesKansas City WizardsGoalkeeper of the Year Tony MeolaKansas City WizardsCoach of the Year Bob GanslerKansas City WizardsRookie of the Year Carlos BocanegraChicago FireComeback Player of the Year Tony MeolaKansas City WizardsScoring Champion Mamadou DialloTampa Bay MutinyGoal of the Year Marcelo BalboaColorado RapidsFair Play Award Steve RalstonTampa Bay MutinyHumanitarian of the Year Abdul Thompson ContehSan Jose Earthquakes
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Tony Meola, Kansas City Robin Fraser, LA Galaxy Greg Vanney, LA Galaxy Peter Vermes, Kansas City Chris Armas, Chicago Piotr Nowak, Chicago Steve Ralston, Tampa Bay Hristo Stoichkov, Chicago Carlos Valderrama, Tampa Bay Mamadou Diallo, Tampa Bay Clint Mathis, MetroStars
Player of the Month WeekPlayerClubApril Miklos Molnar Kansas City WizardsMay Tony Meola Kansas City WizardsJune Clint Mathis MetroStarsJuly Dante Washington Columbus CrewAugust Clint Mathis MetroStarsSeptember Diego Serna Miami Fusion
Attendance TeamGames TotalAverageLos Angeles Galaxy 16326,392 20,400D.C. United 16297,279 18,580 MetroStars 16281,938 17,621 New England Revolution 16247,409 15,463Columbus Crew 16247,220 15,451 Chicago Fire 16214,189 13,387 Dallas Burn 16209,637 13,102 Colorado Rapids 16201,280 12,580 San Jose Earthquakes 16199,364 12,460 Tampa Bay Mutiny 16151,232 9,452 Kansas City Wizards 16145,793 9,112Miami Fusion 16119,352 7,460Totals1922,641,08513,756
References
MLS Site