Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer
	Major League Soccer 2007 season
PAGENAME
Sport	Soccer
Continental FIFA Confederation	CONCACAF
National Confederation	U.S. Soccer Federation and Canadian Soccer Association
League Founded	1994
Inaugural season	1996
No. of teams	13 (14 in 2008)
Countries	USA; Canada
Current Champions	Houston Dynamo
Leading Scorer(s)	Jason Kreis (108), ; Jaime Moreno (108)
Official website	mlsnet.com

Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada. It is sanctioned by the professional divisions of both the United States Soccer Federation (USSF or U.S. Soccer) and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), which are both members of FIFA. MLS represents the top tier in the American Soccer Pyramid.

Competition format

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The MLS Cup.

The format for the 2007 season is as follows: the season runs from April to a championship match played November 18. The 13 teams are split into two conferences — the Western Conference has six teams, while the Eastern Conference has seven, including the league's newest addition, Toronto FC.

Each team plays 30 games, evenly divided among home and away matches. Each team will play every other team twice, home and away, for a total of 24 games. The remaining 6 games will all be intra-conference, with each club playing its fellow conference members an additional game. In the Western Conference, an additional game will be added to the above, highlighting a local or regional rivalry (Los Angeles vs. Chivas USA, Houston vs. FC Dallas, Salt Lake vs. Colorado).

At season's end, the top two teams of each conference will make the playoffs; in addition, the next four teams with the highest point totals, regardless of conference, will also be in the playoffs. In the event that a team which finishes fifth or lower in their conference qualifies, that team will be placed in the other conference's playoff bracket. In the first round of this knockout tournament, aggregate goals over two matches determine the winners; the Conference Championships are one match each, with the winner of each conference advancing to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws will be broken with 2 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule is not used.

The MLS Champion (winner of MLS Cup) qualifies for the next CONCACAF Champions' Cup. Furthermore, the team with the best record in the 30 game regular season wins the MLS Supporters' Shield and also qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. If the Supporters' Shield winner wins the MLS Cup, the runner-up to the Supporters Shield is the second qualifier.

The two MLS teams that qualify for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup have the ability to qualify for Copa Sudamericana if they make the final, and the FIFA Club World Cup if they win the championship. If an MLS team were to win Copa Sudamericana they would also play in Recopa Sudamericana. During the season, all MLS teams may also compete in the U.S. Open Cup (except Toronto), select international tournaments, and various exhibitions.

SuperLiga, a new MLS-Primera División de México competition, will also make up the 2007 season schedule, with most matches occurring midweek in July and August. FC Dallas, Los Angeles Galaxy, DC United and Houston Dynamo are expected to play at least three matches each.

History

MLS was formed on December 17, 1993, in fulfillment of Alan Rothenberg and the US Soccer Federation's promise to FIFA to establish a "Division One" professional football (soccer) league in exchange for the staging of the FIFA World Cup USA 1994 in the United States. The league began play in 1996 with ten teams and enjoyed promising attendance numbers in its first season. Numbers declined slightly after the first year, but have increased in subsequent years. The original 10 teams were divided into two conferences: the Eastern Conference (Columbus Crew, D.C. United, New England Revolution, NY/NJ MetroStars, and Tampa Bay Mutiny), and Western Conference (Colorado Rapids, Dallas Burn, Kansas City Wiz, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Clash).

Early years

The league was greeted with indifference by the American mainstream as the 1994 World Cup in the United States faded from memory. The early years gave rise to the Bruce Arena-led dynasty of DC United, a championship team in three of the league's first four seasons. It took the expansion Chicago Fire in 1998 to end United's stranglehold on MLS Cup, the championship game which featured several players that would prove to have an impact on MLS and American soccer.

After its first year of play, the league suffered from a decline in attendance. The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France saw the United States men's national soccer team, largely made up of American MLS players, eliminated from the first round and in last place among the 32 participating countries, casting doubt on the level of play in the American domestic league. Some of the survivors of the 1998 roster would, however, join new and upcoming players in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The league began to market itself on the talents of American players, experienced veterans and fresh talents alike. DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan were making names for themselves in Major League Soccer, while players like Brian McBride and Clint Mathis continued to prove their worth to their domestic and national teams.

The league's continuing bad financial situation led to the departure of then MLS Commissioner Doug Logan after the end of the 1998 season in favor of former NFL International head Don Garber, whose leadership would later prove to be instrumental in securing the league's future. In the front office, construction of new "soccer-specific" stadiums for the league's teams, largely financed by the benefactors in Lamar Hunt and Phil Anschutz became the policy for the league's survival, following the model laid down by Lamar Hunt through the construction of Columbus Crew Stadium in 1999.

On the field, the early wave of international players that had joined MLS at its inception drifted into retirement or moved on to other teams around the world. The run up to the World Cup in 2002 would see a gradual shift in league philosophy towards the development of American talent, and would eventually prove beneficial to American soccer. Donovan, who was loaned from German club Bayer Leverkusen to the San Jose Earthquakes, had an immediate impact with the team, scoring a goal in the 2001 MLS Cup to force overtime in their eventual championship win over the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Resurgence

The World Cup in Korea and Japan, in which the United States unexpectedly made the quarterfinal round based on wins against Portugal and Mexico, saw a resurgence in American soccer and in MLS. The 2002 MLS Cup, held four months after the World Cup final, set the championship attendance record with a sellout crowd at Gillette Stadium that saw the Los Angeles Galaxy win their first title. From 2001, both Los Angeles and the San Jose Earthquakes would hoist the trophy twice, while DC United returned to prominence in the 2004 MLS Cup, in the aftermath of an exciting Eastern Conference Championship against the New England Revolution. That year would also witness the professional debut of Freddy Adu, who entered the league with much fanfare and heralded as one of the top prospects in the United States.

The years leading up to the next World Cup in Germany marked significant transition in MLS. A league that had marketed itself on the talent of American players saw some of its best and brightest leave for more prominent leagues in Europe. Tim Howard, goalkeeper for the MetroStars, was sent to Manchester United for one of the most lucrative contracts in league history. DaMarcus Beasley of the Chicago Fire went to Holland, while Landon Donovan, on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, was recalled back to Germany. Donovan's rather brief stint with the team was quickly aborted, resulting in a trade back to MLS, this time with the Los Angeles Galaxy prior to start of the 2005 season. Donovan would then go on to lead the Galaxy to its second MLS Cup in 2005.

Other American players who did not factor for the national team would, however, make an impact for their respective MLS teams. Jason Kreis of the expansion Real Salt Lake became the first player in MLS history to score at least 100 league goals in 2005. In Kansas City, goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi took the place of injured Tony Meola and helped the Wizards return to MLS Cup in 2004, with the team nearly clinching a playoff berth one season later. Herculez Gomez made a name for himself playing with the Galaxy in his first three seasons in MLS, scoring the game-winning goal in the 2005 US Open Cup final. In 2005, the MLS also created its Reserve Division, with each team's reserve squad playing 12 games, helping to provide valuable playing time to develop non-starters on the team roster. The DC United Reserves won the first Reserve Division title in 2005.

2006-present

The 2006 season confirmed Major League Soccer as a stable product of both American and international soccer. Piotr Nowak, once a Chicago Fire player, managed the All-Star team to a win in the 2006 All-Star Game over Chelsea F.C., while former-Liverpool player Steve Nicol led his team to MLS Cup for the third time in five years. Bob Bradley, whose reputation was scarred by disappointing results when coaching the MetroStars, turned around the second-year Chivas USA, who in their inaugural season finished last among all teams in the league. Among players, Jaime Moreno continued to display his veteran experience, while Christian Gomez and Dwayne De Rosario excelled for DC United and Houston Dynamo, respectively. The Dynamo, who moved from San Jose prior to the season, took the championship in their first season in Houston. The title game featured names familiar to many American soccer fans; Taylor Twellman scored for the first time in three championship games in overtime, while Brian Ching scored the equalizer only moments later, sending the game into a penalty kick shootout where goalkeeper Pat Onstad secured the win for Houston Dynamo.

The 2007 season saw the MLS debut of David Beckham, whose signing has been seen as a coup for American soccer. David Beckham's signing by the Los Angeles Galaxy was made possible by the Designated Player Rule. He has been followed by three more designated players, including Cuauhtémoc Blanco to the Chicago Fire, and Claudio Reyna and Juan Pablo Ángel to Red Bull New York. The Red Bulls' use of two designated players has boosted the club tremendously, with both players already improving the team's on-field performance considerably.

The departure of Clint Dempsey to Fulham, and the New York Red Bulls' debut of former United States captain Claudio Reyna, highlights an exchange of top prospects to Europe for experienced veterans to the United States. Several other well-known foreign players have followed Beckham and other designated players to MLS for the 2007 season, including Guillermo Barros Schelotto (to Columbus), Luciano Emilio (to D.C.), Ronald Waterreus (to New York), and Abel Xavier (to Los Angeles Galaxy).^[1] Former United States coach Bruce Arena will face his first full season in MLS since leaving DC United to manage the national team, while Taylor Twellman has committed himself in the long-term to the Revolution.

Poor starts to the season for the league's once-considered elite teams have contrasted with strong performances by the likes of FC Dallas and the New York Red Bulls. Toronto FC, the league's newest addition, became the last team in the league to earn a point or score a goal in the 2007 season, until sellout crowds at their new BMO Field helped propel them to two straight victories. In the Western Conference, Dallas and the Colorado Rapids have led the way, ahead of a weak field of teams, including both Los Angeles franchises and Real Salt Lake, the last team in the league to notch a win this season. Recently, after poor starts, the defending MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo and the Supporters Cup Champion D.C. United have gone on streaks and returned to last season's form, with the Dynamo going on an impressive shutout run of 7 consecutive games where they have not given up a single goal to their opponents, tallying a league record 726 consecutive minutes of scoreless time.

Organization

Major League Soccer has been known more for its front office and management dealings than its on-field product. [1] In the off-season, expansion, contraction and rebranding have become buzzwords for the league and its fans. Recently the league has started to focus on improving the quality of play its teams produces on the field via new rules like the Designated Player Rule and through the creation of a league-wide youth development system.[2]

"Game First"

The 2007 MLS offseason is considered by some to be its most productive,[3] and there have been a number of changes for the league, bringing about a slow rise in its standings both financially and athletically. The league announced a youth development initiative,[4] which will require youth development teams for all the league's teams, to help the league develop "home-grown" talent on its own. The hope is that by being able to sign up to 2 of its own youth players to the senior team each year that the league's teams will have an incentive to improve the quality and talent pool of the league organically and also benefit from the transfer fees they may bring. Perhaps the first example of a success in "home-grown" talent development is the New York Red Bulls' Josmer Altidore, who has risen to prominence as one of the league's most skilled young strikers.

Furthering the development of the league was the decision to create the Designated Player Rule, which allows for a league team to pay up to two players a salary beyond that covered in the salary cap at their own expense. Following David Beckham to MLS are a host of veteran players, including Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Claudio Reyna, Juan Pablo Angel, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Abel Xavier. Following the creation of the Designated Player Rule, the league announced in conjunction with the La Primera División del Futbol Mexicano (Mexican First Division) that it would be creating a tournament called Superliga, which would start in 2007, with 4 teams from MLS and 4 from Mexico competing for a US$1 million prize to become the champions of North American club soccer.[5] These matches will initially only be covered in Spanish by Univision and Telefutura. Currently an English broadcaster has not signed to cover the tournament.

Following these announcements the league announced "Game-First", a series of initiatives aimed at improving the league in myriad of ways. One of the most immediate changes is the hiring of the first full-time professional referees in league history.[6]

Expansion, contraction and relocation

After starting with 10 teams, the league added two expansion teams in the 1998 season, adding the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion. However, following the 2001 season, Miami and Tampa Bay Mutiny were disbanded and the league contracted back to ten teams.

Following the 2004 season, the league expanded again, adding Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA. The two new teams were placed in the Western Conference, with the Kansas City Wizards moving to the Eastern Conference. At the conclusion of the 2005 season, the San Jose Earthquakes were relocated to Houston and renamed Houston Dynamo. However, the Earthquakes' name and history were not transferred. Houston is considered an expansion team. MLS added Toronto FC for the 2007 season with the plan to have three more expansion teams by the 2010 season. The first of these was announced July 18 2007 with the return of the San Jose Earthquakes for the 2008 season.^[2]

At the 2007 State of the League address, Commissioner Don Garber provided an official list of candidate cities for future expansion.^[3] The list includes Atlanta, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, a second team in the New York area, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis and Vancouver.

Team names

For more information on MLS team names, see the individual team entries.

Originally, in the style of other US sports, teams were given nicknames at their creation such as the Columbus Crew. DC United and Miami Fusion FC were the two exceptions that adopted more traditional names. However, new teams such as FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, and Toronto FC have been adopting names similar to popular European clubs.

Stadiums

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This file may be deleted after Thursday, 23 August 2007.

When the league was started, most clubs played in stadiums built specifically for NFL or NCAA (college) football. This was based on the record attendances achieved at the 1994 FIFA World Cup. However, this turned out to be a considerable expense to the league because of modest attendance and poor lease deals. To provide better facilities as well as to control revenue for the stadium, a major goal of MLS management is to build its own stadiums, which are often called soccer-specific stadiums.

Since 1999, the league has seen the construction and completion of six venues specifically designed for soccer. Lamar Hunt broke new ground in this endeavor by financing the construction of Columbus Crew Stadium. The Los Angeles Galaxy followed four years later with the opening of The Home Depot Center in 2003. The new venue played host to two consecutive MLS Cups, until FC Dallas' Pizza Hut Park opened in 2005 and hosted the next two championships. Chicago Fire began playing their home games in Toyota Park in 2006, a venue that witnessed the MLS All-Stars defeating Chelsea F.C. in the All-Star Game, and a US Open Cup championship for the Fire in their first season in the stadium. 2007 saw the opening of Dick's Sporting Goods Park for the Colorado Rapids, and BMO Field for the expansion Toronto FC.

File:PHP 2005.jpg

Pizza Hut Park, home of F.C. Dallas.

Future plans include new venues for Red Bull New York and Real Salt Lake by 2008, while DC United, the Kansas City Wizards, and San Jose Earthquakes are actively searching for ways to finance and build their respective stadiums.

The move to soccer-specific stadiums has been seen by many as essential to building up attendance and fan support for MLS. So far, every club that has built its own stadium has not only seen its game attendance rise, but also has helped MLS to come closer to the ultimate goal of profitability. Thanks to their new stadium, the Los Angeles Galaxy became the first club to make a profit, and were followed in 2006 by FC Dallas. With the league's new TV rights for the 2007 season, several more clubs are projected to be profitable.

Other MLS teams will, in the foreseeable future, continue to play in larger stadiums designed for football. The New England Revolution play in Gillette Stadium, whose primary tenant is the NFL's New England Patriots, and Houston Dynamo play in Robertson Stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. Houston Dynamo has secured an agreement with city officials that has entered them into negotiations to build a soccer-specific stadium in downtown Houston near Minute Maid Park, home of MLB's Houston Astros. The New England Revolution has also expressed interest in securing their own soccer-specific stadium.

Media coverage

At the outset, MLS signed deals for coverage on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, while Univision broadcast matches in Spanish. The original Univision deal lapsed after a few years, leaving only the ABC/ESPN family of networks as the league's national broadcasters. Fox Sports World (later rebranded as Fox Soccer Channel in 2005), Fox Sports en Español and HDNet began airing matches in 2003.

With the addition of Toronto FC, coverage of MLS expanded into Canada in 2007. The CBC, The Score and Rogers Sportsnet all have agreed to cover MLS matches featuring Toronto FC.

The league's MLS Direct Kick package, which broadcasts out-of-market matches, has been expanded to ensure that every league match is broadcast. Univision and its family of networks resumed MLS broadcasts in 2007 as well, with most matches airing on Telefutura and Galavision on Sunday afternoons and evenings.

The 2007 season was the first in the fledgling league's history in which every regular season match was telecast live, and the majority indeed were shown on national networks. "MLS Primetime Thursday" on ESPN networks featured a live match for the first time on Thursdays each week, and Fox Soccer Channel's "MLS Saturday" expanded to a 3-hour format, with both a pregame and postgame show wrapped around the featured match each week. Additionally, Fox Soccer Channel produces their own news on MLS and special original programs on players, such as "Beckham Unwrapped", a biographical update for summer 2007 on Galaxy's David Beckham.

Major League Soccer also offers streaming live video of some matches via their own website.

Profitability

Major League Soccer has lost more than $350 million since its founding, according to a report by BusinessWeek in 2004.^[4] However, there are positive signs for profitability in the near future. As soccer-specific stadiums are built, ownership expands and television coverage increases, MLS has managed to see their revenues increase while costs are kept to a minimum. The 2003 season saw the Los Angeles Galaxy make a profit in their first season at the Home Depot Center, while FC Dallas turned a profit in a similar fashion after moving into Pizza Hut Park in 2005. With the expansion of the league to 13 teams, the signing of the TV rights deal, and the construction of 2 more soccer specific stadiums, the Hindustan Times reports the league is expecting 5 teams to make a profit this season.[7]

Television coverage has consistently expanded throughout the league's history, with MLS brokering a deal with ESPN in 2006 for rights fees and greater presence across its networks. 2007 will also see a return of MLS to Univision and its Spanish-language networks. They will join Fox Soccer Channel and HDNet as MLS' national outlets, while the league has mandated that every league game receive television coverage, if not nationally, then by at least locally in one of the two teams' cities.

In 2007, MLS started selling ad space on the front of jerseys to go along with the league-wide sponsorship partners who are already advertising on the back of club jerseys, following the practice of international soccer.[8] The league has established a floor of $500,000 per shirt sponsorship, with the league receiving a flat fee of $200,000 per deal. When Red Bull purchased the New York club, their deal included an agreement to have the Red Bull logo on the front of the team's jerseys. In 2007, Real Salt Lake was the first to feature a sponsor, XanGo, a nutritional supplement juice. Quickly following that were deals between L.A. Galaxy and Herbalife, Toronto FC and Canadian financial institution BMO, as well as Chivas USA and Mexican concrete company Comex.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber said on May 11, 2006 that he expects the league's clubs to be profitable by 2010 overall. He stated that FC Dallas and LA Galaxy are already profitable, with several other clubs nearing profitability.^[5].

Recently there have been some potential investors expressing reservations about the MLS leadership's decisions on bringing in designated players and the raised franchise fee. One such potential MLS investor is Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanaue, who was quoted by ESPN: "But at this point to me the franchise fee has gone up to $30 million, plus there is the expectation of a stadium being built so it will cost someone another $30 million. So you're up to $60 million and you're going to lose money operationally. Operational costs and start-up costs are what's holding us back, that is fair to say. We have been looking for partners to do it with, but I won't do it alone."[9]

"Underlying the concerns of potential investors such as Mandaric and Hanauer is the belief that while there is good reason to be excited, money is still being lost. Beckham will count for nothing if crowds and viewing figures don't increase when the Galaxy aren't in town, or if his era doesn't produce the first crop of U.S. superstars."-ESPN's Andrew Rogers

Others, like FC Dallas President & General Manager Michael Hitchcock, while accepting the validity of the concerns, disagree on the future outlook of the league's finances. "We still have some teams losing money," he said, "but the positive thing is they are not losing lots of money because of our single entity structure. Expense on some levels are shared and revenues on some levels are shared. The losses are going down every year for the league. The financials for the league and the individual clubs are becoming more and more positive. We have a slow growth model and key to this is developing the American player and not wanting to dilute the product, which other leagues in the U.S. have done and made the mistake of expanding too quickly."[10]

The Las Vegas Sun, in an interview with MLS President Mark Abbott, noted that "the sale of D.C. United showed that MLS could be turning a major financial corner, with each of its teams eventually being independently owned and the likelihood of each soon playing in a soccer-specific stadium. Los Angeles and Dallas are now making money, and three more plan to be operating in the black by next season."[11] According to Don Garber in a statement made to the New York Times, the three newly profitable franchises are expected to be Chicago (Fire), Denver (Colorado Rapids), and Toronto (FC) [12].

Ownership

MLS operates under a single-entity structure in which teams are centrally controlled by the league. In order to keep costs under control, revenues are shared among the league, and player contracts are negotiated by the league.

Some critics have regularly alleged that the league showed preferential treatment to big-market or profitable clubs with regards to player allocation and the salary cap. The league also fought a bitter legal battle with its players over its economic system, but this was eventually resolved with the players gaining some improved benefits in return for accepting the single entity structure. A court had also ruled that even absent their collective bargaining agreement, players could opt to play in other leagues if they were unsatisfied.

The league's controlled costs have attracted new ownership that can put more money into the league and improve it by focusing their money and attention on fewer clubs. Examples include the Anschutz Entertainment Group's sale of the MetroStars to Red Bull, "in excess of $100 million," according to the New York Times. MLS Commissioner Garber said to the Los Angeles Times that "the sale was part of a plan to have AEG decrease its holdings in MLS. We're pushing Hunt Sports to do the same thing."

It appears that Commissioner Garber and MLS management has said it is pushing these changes as part of a new ownership strategy, one in which each owner has a single club, and is better able to focus their resources upon that club, as with the owners of the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake. Commissioner Garber has stated that having multiple clubs owned by a single owner was a necessity in the first 10 years of MLS, but now that the league appears to be on the brink of overall profitability and has significant expansion plans, he wants each club to have its own owner.

In order to help bring this about, the league is now giving more incentive to be an individual club owner, with all owners now having the rights to any player they develop through their club's academy system, sharing the profits of Soccer United Marketing, MLS' media and marketing arm, and now for the first time, allowing owners to have individual club jersey sponsors, with the approval of the league office.

AEG, at one time, owned six teams in MLS, and have since sold the Colorado Rapids, MetroStars and DC United to new owners. AEG's remaining teams are the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Chicago Fire, and the Houston Dynamo. The other major owner-investor in MLS is Hunt Sports, which owns the Columbus Crew and FC Dallas, having sold the Kansas City Wizards in 2006 to a local ownership group.

With the sale of DC United in 2007 and announcement of the new San Jose Earthquakes, the league now has 11 owners for their 14 clubs.

Rule changes

MLS experimented with rule changes in its early years, although some of these had been used in the NASL and remain in effect for high school and college soccer. The clock, which counts up in international soccer, would instead count down and would stop on dead ball situations at the referee's discretion (especially after injuries). Once the clock hit 0:00, the half would be over. The other major change was the inception of "shootouts" to resolve tie games. If the game ended in a draw, a situation similar to a penalty shootout would ensue. A shootout attempt consisted of a player getting the ball 35 yards from the goal with five seconds to put it past the goalkeeper. Just like with penalty kicks, it was a best-of-five competition; if the score was still tied, the tiebreaker would head to an extra frame. The club that won the shootout would get one standings point (as opposed to three for the regulation win), the losing club zero.

MLS also featured a fourth "goalkeeper only" substitute until the end of the 2003 season when MetroStars coach Bob Bradley used a loophole in the rule to insert Eddie Gaven as an extra fourth field player substitute.

The rule changes, especially the shootout, failed to bring in a wider American audience and alienated some traditional fans. The shootout was eliminated after the 1999 season and the upward-counting clock (with added time at the referee's discretion) came into use in 2000. MLS experimented in settling tie games with golden goal overtime periods from 2000 to 2004 similar to those in college soccer (in MLS, the tie would stand if no club scored after ten minutes, rather than twenty minutes in college, and each club would get one point). Regular season overtime was phased out after the 2003 season, while starting in 2005 the playoff overtime rules were synchronized with new FIFA rules calling for a pair of fifteen minute, non-golden goal overtimes, followed by penalty kicks if necessary.

From 1996 to 2004, MLS playoff games did feature golden goals if a tie needed to be broken. Golden goals were scored in the 1996, 2001 and 2002 MLS Cups by D.C. United, San Jose Earthquakes and Los Angeles Galaxy, respectively.