2000 Major League Soccer season

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.

Major League Soccer

Season	2000
MLS Cup	Kansas City Wizards (1st title)
Supporters' Shield	Kansas City Wizards (1st shield)
CONCACAF Champions' Cup	Kansas City Wizards Chicago Fire
Matches played	192
Goals scored	612 (3.19 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mamadou Diallo Tampa Bay Mutiny Goals: 26
Longest winning run	MetroStars Games: 5 (1 Jul – 2 Aug)
Longest unbeaten run	Kansas City Wizards Games: 12 (25 Mar – 4 Jun)
Longest losing run	San Jose Earthquakes Games: 6 (15 Jul – 19 Aug)
Highest attendance	Los Angeles Galaxy Season: 326,392 Game Avg.: 20,400
Lowest attendance	Miami Fusion Season: 119,352 Game Avg.: 7,460
Total attendance	2,641,085
Average attendance	13,756
← 1999 2001 →

D.C. United

MetroStars

Miami

New England

Chicago

Columbus

Dallas

Tampa Bay

Colorado

Los Angeles

Kansas City

San Jose

Locations of teams for the 2000 Major League Soccer season
Western Division   Central Division   Eastern Division

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

Main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums

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
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

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	MetroStars	32	17	12	3	64	56	+8	54	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	New England Revolution	32	13	13	6	47	49	−2	45
3	Miami Fusion	32	12	15	5	54	56	−2	41
4	D.C. United	32	8	18	6	44	63	−19	30

Source: MLS

Central Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Chicago Fire	32	17	9	6	67	51	+16	57	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	Tampa Bay Mutiny	32	16	12	4	62	50	+12	52
3	Dallas Burn	32	14	14	4	54	54	0	46
4	Columbus Crew	32	11	16	5	48	58	−10	38

Source: MLS

Western Division

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kansas City Wizards	32	16	7	9	47	29	+18	57	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	Los Angeles Galaxy	32	14	10	8	47	37	+10	50
3	Colorado Rapids	32	13	15	4	43	59	−16	43
4	San Jose Earthquakes	32	7	17	8	35	50	−15	29

Source: MLS

Overall standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kansas City Wizards (C, S)	32	16	7	9	47	29	+18	57	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
2	Chicago Fire	32	17	9	6	67	51	+16	57
3	MetroStars	32	17	12	3	64	56	+8	54
4	Tampa Bay Mutiny	32	16	12	4	62	50	+12	52
5	Los Angeles Galaxy	32	14	10	8	47	37	+10	50
6	Dallas Burn	32	14	14	4	54	54	0	46
7	New England Revolution	32	13	13	6	47	49	−2	45
8	Colorado Rapids	32	13	15	4	43	59	−16	43
9	Miami Fusion	32	12	15	5	54	56	−2	41
10	Columbus Crew	32	11	16	5	48	58	−10	38
11	D.C. United	32	8	18	6	44	63	−19	30
12	San Jose Earthquakes	32	7	17	8	35	50	−15	29

Source: MLS
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head record; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored
(C) Champion; (S) Supporters' Shield

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	CHI	COL	CLB	DAL	DC	KC	LA	MIA	NE	MTS	SJ	TB
Chicago Fire	—	1–2	3–1	4–3	3–2	3–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	3–1	4–1	5–1
—	2–1	3–1	4–0	—	—	—	2–1	—	—	—	0–0*
Colorado Rapids	2–1*	—	0–0*	1–0	2–5	0–5	1–0*	1–2	2–1	1–3	0–1	1–0
1–1*	—	—	—	—	1–1*	1–0*	3–1	—	—	2–0	—
Columbus Crew	0–2	2–3	—	2–1	1–1*	2–0	2–2*	2–0	3–1	0–2	2–1*	1–2
2–3	—	—	1–1*	—	—	—	—	4–1	—	2–1	3–4
Dallas Burn	4–2	0–1	2–1	—	3–0	4–1	1–1*	1–1*	2–1	4–6	2–1	1–0
3–0	—	3–2	—	1–0	—	4–2	—	—	—	—	2–3
D.C. United	3–2	1–1*	1–2	3–2	—	0–0*	0–4	2–1*	1–3	2–3*	0–1	2–2*
—	—	—	2–0	—	—	1–2	2–6	2–0	3–2*	—	—
Kansas City Wizards	4–3	3–0	3–1	0–0*	2–0	—	2–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–0
—	3–1	—	—	—	—	1–5	—	—	0–1	2–0	1–0
Los Angeles Galaxy	1–1*	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	0–0*	—	2–0	2–2*	0–2	1–1*	2–1
—	1–0*	—	0–1	1–2	1–1*	—	—	—	—	2–1	—
Miami Fusion	0–3	2–0	2–4	0–3	1–0*	0–0*	3–5	—	1–1*	3–1	0–0*	2–3
4–2	4–1	—	—	3–1	—	—	—	2–1	4–1	—	—
New England Revolution	1–1*	3–4	1–1*	1–2	2–1*	0–1	2–1	1–1*	—	0–2	2–1	2–1
—	—	2–1	—	1–0	—	—	2–0	—	4–3	3–0	—
MetroStars	4–1	5–3	0–1	2–1	3–2	1–2	0–1	4–2	4–2	—	0–0*	3–2*
—	—	—	—	2–2*	0–0*	—	2–1	2–1*	—	—	0–3
San Jose Earthquakes	1–1*	4–2	1–2	5–0	2–2*	0–0*	0–0*	3–1	2–2*	2–0	—	1–2
—	1–2	3–0	—	—	0–3	0–3	—	1–2	—	—	—
Tampa Bay Mutiny	0–1	4–2	5–1	3–1	3–0	1–2	2–0	1–4	1–0	0–2	4–0	—
3–3*	—	3–1	2–1	—	2–2*	—	—	—	4–3*	—	—

Source: FBREF.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Note: * = Match required extra time

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

	Quarterfinals							Semifinals							MLS Cup
	1	Kansas City Wizards (7 Points)	1	0	3
	8	Colorado Rapids (1 Points)	0	0	2
								1	Kansas City Wizards (SDET**) (4 Points)	0	1	1**
								5	Los Angeles Galaxy (ASDET*) (4 Points)	0	2*	0
	4	Tampa Bay Mutiny (0 Points)	0	2	x
	5	Los Angeles Galaxy (6 Points)	1	5	x
															1	Kansas City Wizards	1
															2	Chicago Fire	0
	2	Chicago Fire (6 Points)	2	1	6
	7	New England Revolution (3 Points)	1	2	0
								2	Chicago Fire (6 Points)	3	0	3
								3	MetroStars (3 Points)	0	2	2
	3	MetroStars (ASDET*) (6 Points)	2*	2	x
	6	Dallas Burn (0 Points)	1	1	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.

Quarterfinals

September 16, 2000
Game 1

Colorado Rapids	0–1	Kansas City Wizards
		Molnar 18'

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 8,682

September 20, 2000
Game 2

Kansas City Wizards	0–0	Colorado Rapids

INVESCO Field at Mile High
Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 8,789

September 24, 2000
Game 3

Colorado Rapids	2–3	Kansas City Wizards
Bravo 70', 90+' (pen.)		Henderson 11' Molnar 65' Gomez 69'

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 4,156

Kansas City Wizards advance 7–1 on points.

---

September 15, 2000
Game 1

New England Revolution	1–2	Chicago Fire
Harris 50'		Wright 54' (o.g.) Kovalenko 73'

Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 10,476

September 19, 2000
Game 2

Chicago Fire	1–2	New England Revolution
Kovalenko 83'		Wynalda 18' Wright 86'

Foxboro Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts
Attendance: 10,723

September 22, 2000
Game 3

New England Revolution	0–6	Chicago Fire
		Razov 5', 65' Stoichkov 14', 17' Nowak 45'+ George 75'

Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 5,972

Chicago Fire advance 6–3 on points.

---

September 15, 2000
Game 1

Dallas Burn	1–1 (AET) 0–1 (ASDET)	MetroStars
Rhine 57'		Mathis 34' Valencia 100'

Giants Stadium
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Attendance: 14,868

September 20, 2000
Game 2

MetroStars	2–1	Dallas Burn
Mathis 53', 81'		Rodríguez 82' (pen.)

Cotton Bowl
Dallas, Texas
Attendance: 7,555

MetroStars advance 6–0 on points.

---

September 14, 2000
Game 1

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–0	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Vanney 61' (pen.)

Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, Florida

Attendance: 5,583

September 20, 2000
Game 2

Tampa Bay Mutiny	2–5	Los Angeles Galaxy
Diallo 21', 67'		Hendrickson 14' Kelly 19' Hernández 48' Cienfuegos 51' Jones 85'

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, California

Attendance: 13,581

Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6–0 on points.

Semifinals

September 26, 2000
Game 1

MetroStars	0–3	Chicago Fire
		Stoichkov 21' Kovalenko 35' Razov 84'

Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 7,141

September 30, 2000
Game 2

Chicago Fire	0–2	MetroStars
		Chung 40' Valencia 84'

Giants Stadium
East Rutherford, New Jersey
Attendance: 15,476

October 6, 2000
Game 3

MetroStars	2–3	Chicago Fire
Valencia 32', 36'		Brown 4' Stoichkov 31' Razov 88'

Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 10,133

Chicago Fire advance 6-3 on points.

---

September 29, 2000
Game 1

Los Angeles Galaxy	0–0	Kansas City Wizards

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 11,815

October 3, 2000
Game 2

Kansas City Wizards	1–1 (AET) 0–1 (ASDET)	Los Angeles Galaxy
McKeon 29'		Jones 16' Califf 93'

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, California
Attendance: 20,849

October 6, 2000
Game 3

Los Angeles Galaxy	0–1	Kansas City Wizards
		Molnar 22' (pen.)

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri
Attendance: 8,320

	0–1 series (SDET)
		Molnar 6'

Kansas City Wizards advance 1–0 in series overtime (SDET) after 4–4 tie on points.

MLS Cup

Main article: MLS Cup 2000

October 15, 2000

Kansas City Wizards	1–0	Chicago Fire
Molnar 11'

RFK Stadium
Washington, D.C.
Attendance: 39,159

Player statistics

Goals

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mamadou Diallo	Tampa Bay Mutiny	26
2	Ante Razov	Chicago Fire	18
3	Clint Mathis	Los Angeles Galaxy MetroStars	16
	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion
	Adolfo Valencia	MetroStars
6	Ariel Graziani	Dallas Burn	15
	Dante Washington	Columbus Crew
	Wolde Harris	New England Revolution
9	Alex Comas	MetroStars	13
10	Miklos Molnar	Kansas City Wizards	12
	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of Major League Soccer hat-tricks

Player	Club	Against	Result	Date
Ante Razov	Chicago Fire	Miami Fusion	3–0	May 6
Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	Colorado Rapids	5–2
Diego Serna	Miami Fusion	Tampa Bay Mutiny	4–1	June 21
Mamadou Diallo	Tampa Bay Mutiny	MetroStars	4–3	August 16
Clint Mathis5	MetroStars	Dallas Burn	6–4	August 26
Mamadou Diallo	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Columbus Crew	4–3	August 30
Diego Serna4	Miami Fusion	MetroStars	4–1	September 2
Diego Serna	Miami Fusion	D.C. United	6–2	September 9
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

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Tony Meola	Kansas City Wizards	16
2	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes	7
	Kevin Hartman	LA Galaxy
	Matt Jordan	Dallas Burn
5	Scott Garlick	Tampa Bay Mutiny	6
6	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire	5
7	Tim Howard	MetroStars	4
	David Kramer	Colorado Rapids
9	Jeff Causey	New England Revolution	3
	Mark Dougherty	Columbus Crew

Awards

Individual awards

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

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
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

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

Team	Games	Total	Average
Los Angeles Galaxy	16	326,392	20,400
D.C. United	16	297,279	18,580
MetroStars	16	281,938	17,621
New England Revolution	16	247,409	15,463
Columbus Crew	16	247,220	15,451
Chicago Fire	16	214,189	13,387
Dallas Burn	16	209,637	13,102
Colorado Rapids	16	201,280	12,580
San Jose Earthquakes	16	199,364	12,460
Tampa Bay Mutiny	16	151,232	9,452
Kansas City Wizards	16	145,793	9,112
Miami Fusion	16	119,352	7,460
Totals	192	2,641,085	13,756