2004 Major League Soccer season

2004 Major League Soccer season

Season	2004
MLS Cup	D.C. United (4th title)
Supporters' Shield	Columbus Crew (1st shield)
2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup	D.C. United Kansas City Wizards
Matches played	150
Goals scored	392 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Brian Ching San Jose Earthquakes Goals: 12 Eddie Johnson Dallas Burn Goals: 12
Biggest home win	NE 6–1 COL
Biggest away win	LA 0–3 NY DAL 0–3 NE CHI 0–3 COL
Highest scoring	SJ 5–5 NY
Longest winning run	Columbus Crew Games: 4 (05/15 – 06/06) Columbus Crew Games: 4 (09/04 – 09/25)
Longest unbeaten run	Columbus Crew Games: 18 (07/03/2004)
Longest losing run	Dallas Burn Games: 4 (05/08 – 05/29)
Highest attendance	Los Angeles Galaxy Season: 357,137 Game Avg.: 23,809
Lowest attendance	Dallas Burn Season: 136,319 Game Avg.: 9,088
Total attendance	2,333,797
Average attendance	15,559
← 2003 2005 →

D.C. United

MetroStars

Columbus

Chicago

New England

Colorado

Dallas

Los Angeles

Kansas City

San Jose

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Locations of teams for the 2004 Major League Soccer season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

The 2004 Major League Soccer season was the ninth season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 92nd season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 26th with a national first-division league.

After playing one season in the suburb of Southlake, the Dallas Burn returned to the Cotton Bowl.

D.C. United signed 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in their season opener becoming the youngest player in North American sports history. The Columbus Crew emerged as a dominant team in the second half of the regular season, running off an MLS-record 18-game unbeaten streak en route to winning the Supporters' Shield.

The regular season began on April 3, and concluded on October 17. The 2004 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 22, and concluded with MLS Cup 2004 on November 14. D.C. United won their record 4th league title by defeating the Kansas City Wizards in MLS Cup.

Overview

Season format

The season began on April 3 and concluded with MLS Cup on November 14. The 10 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 30 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference, and two designated opponents from the opposite conference, four times, and the remaining teams in the opposite conference twice.

The top four teams from each conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. In the first round, aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners. The conference finals were played as a single match, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws were broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks 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. Additionally, 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	61,500
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	Home Depot Center	27,000
MetroStars	Giants Stadium	80,200
New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	68,756
San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium	30,456

Personnel and sponsorships

Team	Head coach	Captain	Manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	Dave Sarachan		Puma	Honda
Colorado Rapids	Tim Hankinson		Atletica	—
Columbus Crew	Greg Andrulis	Robin Fraser	Adidas	Sierra Mist
D.C. United	Piotr Nowak		Adidas	—
Dallas Burn	Colin Clarke		Atletica	RadioShack
Kansas City Wizards	Bob Gansler		Adidas	U.S. Soccer Foundation
Los Angeles Galaxy	Sigi Schmid		Nike	Budweiser
MetroStars	Bob Bradley	Eddie Pope	Nike	—
New England Revolution	Steve Nicol		Reebok	Sierra Mist
San Jose Earthquakes	Dominic Kinnear	Jeff Agoos	Nike	Yahoo! en Español

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
Los Angeles Galaxy	Sigi Schmid	Fired	August 16, 2004	Steve Sampson	August 18, 2004

Standings

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Columbus Crew	30	12	5	13	40	32	+8	49	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	D.C. United	30	11	10	9	43	42	+1	42
3	MetroStars	30	11	12	7	47	49	−2	40
4	New England Revolution	30	8	13	9	42	43	−1	33
5	Chicago Fire	30	8	13	9	36	44	−8	33

Source: MLS

Western Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kansas City Wizards	30	14	9	7	38	30	+8	49	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	Los Angeles Galaxy	30	11	9	10	42	40	+2	43
3	Colorado Rapids	30	10	9	11	29	32	−3	41
4	San Jose Earthquakes	30	9	10	11	41	35	+6	38
5	Dallas Burn	30	10	14	6	34	45	−11	36

Source: MLS

Overall standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Columbus Crew (S)	30	12	5	13	40	32	+8	49
2	Kansas City Wizards	30	14	9	7	38	30	+8	49	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
3	Los Angeles Galaxy	30	11	9	10	42	40	+2	43
4	D.C. United (C)	30	11	10	9	43	42	+1	42	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
5	Colorado Rapids	30	10	9	11	29	32	−3	41
6	MetroStars	30	11	12	7	47	49	−2	40
7	San Jose Earthquakes	30	9	10	11	41	35	+6	38
8	Dallas Burn	30	10	14	6	34	45	−11	36
9	New England Revolution	30	8	13	9	42	43	−1	33
10	Chicago Fire	30	8	13	9	36	44	−8	33

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

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

MLS Cup

E1

Columbus

0

1

E4

New England (wins 2–1 agg.)

1

1

E4

New England

3

Eastern Conference

E2

D.C. United (wins 4–3 on PK's)

3*

E2

D.C. United (wins 4–0 agg.)

2

2

E3

MetroStars

0

0

E2

D.C. United

3

W1

Kansas City

2

W1

Kansas City (wins 3–2 agg.)

0

3

W4

San Jose

2

0

W1

Kansas City

2

Western Conference

W2

Los Angeles

0

W2

Los Angeles (wins 2–1 agg.)

0

2

W3

Colorado

1

0

Conference semifinals

October 23, 2004

Columbus Crew	0–1	New England Revolution
	Report	John 25'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 5,679

Referee: N/A

October 31, 2004

New England Revolution	1–1	Columbus Crew
Twellman 81'	Report	Buddle 90+2'

Crew Stadium
Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 15,224

Referee: Alex Prus

New England Revolution advance 2–1 on aggregate.

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October 23, 2004

D.C. United	2–0	MetroStars
Stewart 67' Eskandarian 88'	Report

Giants Stadium
East Rutherford, New Jersey

Attendance: 11,161

Referee: Kevin Stott

October 30, 2004

MetroStars	0–2	D.C. United
	Report	Moreno 85' Namoff 89'

RFK Stadium
Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 15,763

Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela

D.C. United advance 4–0 on aggregate.

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October 24, 2004

Kansas City Wizards	0–2	San Jose Earthquakes
	Report	De Rosario 40' Waibel 52'

Spartan Stadium
San Jose, California

Attendance: 8,659

Referee: Kevin Terry

October 30, 2004

San Jose Earthquakes	0–3	Kansas City Wizards
	Report	Stephenson 26' Ching 48' (o.g.) Jewsbury 90+2'

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri

Attendance: 10,022

Referee: Terry Vaughn

Kansas City Wizards advance 3–2 on aggregate.

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October 22, 2004

Los Angeles Galaxy	0–1	Colorado Rapids
	Report	Peguero 30'

INVESCO Field at Mile High
Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 8,028

Referee: Terry Vaughn

October 30, 2004

Colorado Rapids	0–2	Los Angeles Galaxy
	Report	Ruiz 30' Marshall 45+3'

Home Depot Center
Carson, California

Attendance: 20,026

Referee: Michael Kennedy

Los Angeles Galaxy advance 2–1 on aggregate.

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Conference finals

November 5, 2004

Los Angeles Galaxy	0–2	Kansas City Wizards
	Report	Arnaud 24', 68'

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri

Attendance: 11,931

Referee: Abiodun Okulaja

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November 6, 2004

New England Revolution	3–3 (AET)	D.C. United
Twellman 17' Ralston 44' (pen.) Noonan 85'	Report	Eskandarian 11' Moreno 21' Gomez 67'
Penalties
Ralston Reis Twellman Heaps Joseph Dempsey	3–4	Olsen Quaranta Adu Eskandarian Moreno Carroll

RFK Stadium
Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 21,201

Referee: Terry Vaughn

D.C. United advance 4–3 on penalties (3–3 after full time).

---

MLS Cup

Main article: MLS Cup 2004

November 14, 2004

Kansas City Wizards	2–3	D.C. United
Burciaga Jr. 6' Wolff 58' (pen.)	Report	Eskandarian 19' 23' Zotinca 26' (o.g.) Kovalenko  57'

Home Depot Center
Carson, California

Attendance: 25,797

Referee: Michael Kennedy

Player statistics

Goals

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Brian Ching	San Jose Earthquakes	12
	Eddie Johnson	Dallas Burn
3	Edson Buddle	Columbus Crew	11
	Pat Noonan	New England Revolution
	Damani Ralph	Chicago Fire
	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy
7	Alecko Eskandarian	D.C. United	10
	Amado Guevara	MetroStars
	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards
	John Wolyniec	MetroStars

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	José Cancela	New England Revolution	8
	Simon Elliott	Columbus Crew
	Amado Guevara	MetroStars
4	Landon Donovan	San Jose Earthquakes	7
5	Andreas Herzog	Los Angeles Galaxy	6
	Chris Klein	Kansas City Wizards
	Dema Kovalenko	D.C. United
	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United
	Richard Mulrooney	San Jose Earthquakes
	Ronnie O'Brien	Dallas Burn
	Andy Williams	Chicago Fire

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Jon Busch	Columbus Crew	10
	Joe Cannon	Colorado Rapids
3	Kevin Hartman	Los Angeles Galaxy	7
	Tony Meola	Kansas City Wizards
	Henry Ring	Chicago Fire
6	Pat Onstad	San Jose Earthquakes	6
7	Bo Oshoniyi	Kansas City Wizards	5
	Jonny Walker	MetroStars
9	Jeff Cassar	Dallas Burn	4
	Scott Garlick	Dallas Burn
	Nick Rimando	D.C. United

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Amado Guevara	MetroStars
Defender of the Year	Robin Fraser	Columbus Crew
Goalkeeper of the Year	Joe Cannon	Colorado Rapids
Coach of the Year	Greg Andrulis	Columbus Crew
Rookie of the Year	Clint Dempsey	New England Revolution
Comeback Player of the Year	Brian Ching	San Jose Earthquakes
Scoring Champion	Amado Guevara Pat Noonan	MetroStars New England Revolution
Goal of the Year	Dwayne De Rosario	San Jose Earthquakes
Fair Play Award	Eddie Pope	MetroStars
Humanitarian of the Year	Chris Henderson	Colorado Rapids

Best XI

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Joe Cannon, Colorado	Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City Robin Fraser, Columbus Ryan Nelsen, D.C. United Eddie Pope, MetroStars	Eddie Gaven, MetroStars Amado Guevara, MetroStars Ronnie O'Brien, Dallas Kerry Zavagnin, Kansas City	Brian Ching, San Jose Jaime Moreno, D.C. United

Attendance

Club	Games	Total	Average
Los Angeles Galaxy	15	357,137	23,809
D.C. United	15	258,484	17,232
MetroStars	15	257,923	17,195
Chicago Fire	15	257,295	17,153
Columbus Crew	15	253,079	16,872
Kansas City Wizards	15	222,235	14,816
Colorado Rapids	15	212,925	14,195
San Jose Earthquakes	15	195,015	13,001
New England Revolution	15	183,385	12,226
Dallas Burn	15	136,319	9,088
Totals	150	2,333,797	15,559