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The 2002 Major League Soccer season was the seventh season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 90th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 24th with a national first-division league.

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

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

Two new stadiums opened this season. The Colorado Rapids moved into Invesco Field at Mile High and the New England Revolution moved into CMGI Field, which was renamed Gillette Stadium on August 5. Additionally, due to renovations at Soldier Field, the Chicago Fire played at Cardinal Stadium in the western suburb of Naperville.

In an effort to lower costs, the number of games was reduced from 32 to 28, marking the fewest games played in league history. The playoffs were also reformatted as the teams with the 8 highest point totals qualified regardless of conference affiliation.

The regular season began on March 23, and concluded on September 22. The 2002 MLS Cup Playoffs began on September 25, and concluded with MLS Cup 2002 on October 20. After three previous losses in the final, the Los Angeles Galaxy won their first MLS Cup with a victory over the New England Revolution.

Overview

Season format

The season began on March 23 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 20. The 10 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 28 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference, and one designated opponent from the opposite conference, four times, and the remaining teams in the opposite conference twice.

The top eight teams regardless of conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The first round and conference finals were played as a three game series, and the first team to 5 points advanced. The winners of the conference finals advanced to MLS Cup.

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

Personnel and sponsorships

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	Bob Bradley		—
Colorado Rapids	Tim Hankinson
Columbus Crew	Greg Andrulis		Pepsi
D.C. United	Ray Hudson		—
Dallas Burn	Mike Jeffries
Kansas City Wizards	Bob Gansler		—
Los Angeles Galaxy	Sigi Schmid		—
MetroStars	Octavio Zambrano	Tab Ramos
New England Revolution	Steve Nicol		—
San Jose Earthquakes	Frank Yallop	Jeff Agoos	Yahoo! Sports

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
New England Revolution	Fernando Clavijo	Fired	May 23, 2002	Steve Nicol	May 23, 2002

Standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall standings

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

• 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

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

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

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

• Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6-3 on points.

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

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

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

• New England Revolution advance 6–3 on points.

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

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

• Columbus Crew advance 6–0 on points.

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

Dallas Burn	0–1	Colorado Rapids
		Carrieri 78'

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

	1–0 series OT (ASDET)
Chung 1'

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

Semifinals

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

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–0	Colorado Rapids
Ruiz 64'

• Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6–0 on points.

New England Revolution	1–0	Columbus Crew
Heaps 3'

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

• New England Revolution advance 5–2 on points.

MLS Cup

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

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
6	Jason Kreis	Dallas Burn	13
7	Mamadou Diallo	New England Revolution, MetroStars	12
	Rodrigo Faria	MetroStars
9	Chris Carrieri	Colorado Rapids	11
	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids
	Chris Henderson	Colorado Rapids

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Andy Williams	MetroStars	13
2	Steve Ralston	New England Revolution	12
3	Preki	Kansas City Wizards	8
4	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids	7
	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
	Antonio Martínez	Dallas Burn
	Carlos Valderrama	Colorado Rapids
8	Ramiro Corrales	San Jose Earthquakes	6
	Dwayne De Rosario	San Jose Earthquakes
	Simon Elliott	Los Angeles Galaxy
	Bobby Rhine	Dallas Burn
	Joselito Vaca	Dallas Burn

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes	8
2	Nick Rimando	D.C. United	7
	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire
4	Adin Brown	New England Revolution	5
	Jon Busch	Columbus Crew
	Kevin Hartman	Los Angeles Galaxy
7	Scott Garlick	Colorado Rapids	4
	Tim Howard	MetroStars
9	Matt Jordan	Dallas Burn	3
	Tony Meola	Kansas City Wizards

Awards

Individual awards

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

Best XI

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Tim Howard, MetroStars	Wade Barrett, San Jose Carlos Bocanegra, Chicago Alexi Lalas, LA Galaxy	Mark Chung, Colorado Ronnie Ekelund, San Jose Óscar Pareja, Dallas Steve Ralston, New England	Jeff Cunningham, Columbus Carlos Ruiz, LA Galaxy Taylor Twellman, New England

Attendance

References

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

External links

• MLS Site

• 2002 Major League Soccer season
• Major League Soccer seasons
• 2002 in American soccer leagues