1998 Major League Soccer season

1998 Major League Soccer season

Season	1998
MLS Cup	Chicago Fire
Supporters' Shield	Los Angeles Galaxy
Top goalscorer	Stern John Columbus Crew Goals: 26
Longest winning run	Chicago Fire Games: 11 (05/16 - 07/09)
Longest losing run	N.E. Revolution Games: 9 (05/13 - 07/04)
Highest attendance	Los Angeles Galaxy Season: 348,549 Game Avg.: 21,784
Lowest attendance	Kansas City Wizards Season: 129,163 Game Avg.: 8,073
Average attendance	MLS Season: 2,747,897 Game Avg.: 14,312
← 1997 season 1999 season →

The 1998 Major League Soccer season was the 3rd season of the league. Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion FC played their inaugural seasons as the first two MLS expansion teams. Chicago would became the first expansion team to win the MLS Cup and the first to win it in the inaugural year.

MLS Cup Playoffs

	Conference Semifinals							Conference Finals							MLS Cup '98
	1	D.C. United (a.e.t.), (3 - 2 S.O.)*	2	1*	x
	4	Miami Fusion	1	0	x
								1	D.C. United	2	2	3
	Eastern Conference
								2	Columbus Crew	0	4	0
	2	Columbus Crew (a.e.t.), (3 - 2 S.O.)*	5	2*	x
	3	MetroStars	3	1	x
															E	D.C. United			0
															W	Chicago Fire			2
	1	Los Angeles Galaxy	6	3	x
	4	Dallas Burn	1	2	x
								1	Los Angeles Galaxy	0	1	x
	Western Conference
								2	Chicago Fire (a.e.t.), (2 - 1 S.O.)*	1	2*	x
	2	Chicago Fire	2	1	x
	3	Colorado Rapids	1	0	x

• Best of Three series winners will advance.

Final standings

Eastern Conference	P	W	(sw)	(sl)	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
D.C. United	32	24	<7	3>	8	74	48	26	58
Columbus Crew	32	15	<0	5>	17	67	56	11	45
MetroStars	32	15	<3	4>	17	54	63	-9	39
Miami Fusion	32	15	<5	0>	17	46	68	-22	35
x-Tampa Bay Mutiny	32	12	<1	5>	20	46	57	-11	34
x-New England Revolution	32	11	<2	4>	21	53	66	-13	29

Western Conference	P	W	(sw)	(sl)	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Los Angeles Galaxy	32	24	<2	2>	8	85	44	41	68
Chicago Fire	32	20	<2	1>	12	62	45	17	56
Colorado Rapids	32	16	<2	2>	16	62	69	-7	44
Dallas Burn	32	15	<4	2>	17	43	59	-16	37
x-San Jose Clash	32	13	<3	5>	19	48	60	-12	33
x-Kansas City Wizards	32	12	<2	4>	20	45	50	-5	32

• The top four teams in each conference make the playoffs.

Wins (W) are worth 3 points.
Shootout Wins (SW) are worth 1 point, and is considered a Win in the standings.
Shootout Loss (SL) are worth 0 points, and is considered a Loss in the standings.
Loss (L) are worth 0 points.

Conference semifinals

Eastern Conference

September 30, 1998 Game 1	Miami Fusion	1 – 2	D.C. United	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 15,187

October 4, 1998 Game 2	D.C. United	0 – 0 3–2 (S.O.)	Miami Fusion	Lockhart Stadium Fort Lauderdale, Florida Attendance: 13,128

• D.C. United advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

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September 30, 1998 Game 1	MetroStars	3 – 5	Columbus Crew	Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 10,996

October 3, 1998 Game 2	Columbus Crew	1 – 1 3–2 (S.O.)	MetroStars	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, New Jersey Attendance: 11,686

• Columbus Crew advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

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Western Conference

October 1, 1998 Game 1	Dallas Burn	1 – 6	Los Angeles Galaxy	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 10,047

October 4, 1998 Game 2	Los Angeles Galaxy	3 – 2	Dallas Burn	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Attendance: 8,130

• Los Angeles Galaxy advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

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October 1, 1998 Game 1	Colorado Rapids	1 – 2	Chicago Fire	Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois Attendance: 12,610

October 5, 1998 Game 2	Chicago Fire	1 – 0	Colorado Rapids	Mile High Stadium Denver, Colorado Attendance: 6,582

• Chicago Fire advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

Conference finals

Eastern Conference

October 11, 1998 Game 1	Columbus Crew	0 – 2	D.C. United	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 17,755
			Sanneh  68' Etcheverry  78'

October 18, 1998 Game 2	D.C. United	2 – 4	Columbus Crew	Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 13,193
	Sanneh  65' Lassiter  77'		McBride  8',47' Dooley  37' John  81'

October 21, 1998 Game 3	Columbus Crew	0 – 3	D.C. United	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 21,453
			Agoos  12' Lassiter  44', 79'

• D.C. United advance 2-1, to MLS Cup '98

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Western Conference

October 10, 1998 Game 1	Chicago Fire	1 – 0	Los Angeles Galaxy	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 25,107
	Marsch  86'

October 16, 1998 Game 2	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 – 1 1–2 (SO)	Chicago Fire	Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois Attendance: 32,744
	Pena  37'		Nowak  31'

• Chicago Fire advance 2-0, to MLS Cup '98

MLS Cup '98

October 25, 1998	Chicago Fire	2 – 0	D.C. United	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 51,350 Referee: Kevin Terry
	Podbrozny  29' Gutierrez  45'

• Chicago Fire and D.C. United earn MLS berths to 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Top Goal Scorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Stern John	Columbus Crew	26
2	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy	19
3	Roy Lassiter	D.C. United	18
	Raúl Díaz Arce	New England Revolution	18
5	Welton	Tampa Bay Mutiny	17
6	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	16
7	Giovanni Savarese	MetroStars	14
8	Wolde Harris	Colorado Rapids	13
	Mauricio Cienfuegos	Los Angeles Galaxy	13
	Ronald Cerritos	San Jose Clash	13

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Team
Week 1	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 2	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 3	Frank Klopas	Chicago Fire
Week 4	Jason Farrell	Columbus Crew
Week 5	Stern John	Columbus Crew
Week 6	Paul Bravo	Colorado Rapids
Week 7	Tony Meola	MetroStars
Week 8	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 9	Vitalis Takawira	Kansas City Wizards
Week 10	Peter Nowak	Chicago Fire
Week 11	Stern John	Columbus Crew
Week 12	Jerzy Podbrożny	Chicago Fire
Week 13	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire
Week 14	Roman Kosecki	Chicago Fire
Week 15	Luboš Kubík	Chicago Fire
Week 16	John Harkes	D.C. United
Week 17	Roy Lassiter	D.C. United
Week 18	Marco Etcheverry	D.C. United
Week 19	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 20	Stern John	Columbus Crew
Week 21	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 22	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion
Week 23	Carlos Hermosillo	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 24	Josh Wolff	Chicago Fire
Week 25	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Team
March	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
April	Juergen Sommer	Columbus Crew
May	Peter Nowak	Chicago Fire
June	Ross Paule	Colorado Rapids
July	Roy Lassiter	D.C. United
August	Stern John	Columbus Crew
September	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion

Individual Awards

Award	Player	Team
Most Valuable Player	Marco Etcheverry	D.C. United
Scoring Champion	Stern John - (57 Pts.)	Columbus Crew
Defender of the Year	Lubos Kubik	Chicago Fire
Goalkeeper of the Year	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire
Rookie of the Year	Ben Olsen	D.C. United
Coach of the Year	Bob Bradley	Chicago Fire
Goal of the Year	Brian McBride	Columbus Crew
Fair Play Award	Thomas Dooley	Columbus Crew

Winningest Coaches (By Wins)

Coach	Team	Wins	Loss	PCT.	PTS.	SOW
Octavio Zambrano	Los Angeles Galaxy	24	8	0.750	68	2
Bruce Arena	D.C. United	24	8	0.750	58	7
Bob Bradley	Chicago Fire	20	11	0.645	56	2
Glenn Myernick	Colorado Rapids	16	16	0.500	44	2
Tom Fitzgerald	Columbus Crew	15	17	0.469	45	0
Dave Dir	Dallas Burn	15	17	0.469	37	4
Alfonso Mondelo	MetroStars	14	17	0.452	38	2
Brian Quinn	San Jose Clash	13	19	0.406	33	3
Ron Newman	Kansas City Wizards	12	20	0.375	32	2
Tim Hankinson	Tampa Bay Mutiny	9	8	0.529	25	1
Thomas Rongen	New England Revolution	8	18	0.308	20	2
Carlos Cordoba	Miami Fusion	8	11	0.421	14	5
Ivo Wortmann	Miami Fusion	7	6	0.538	21	0
Walter Zenga	New England Revolution	3	3	0.500	9	0
John Kowalski	Tampa Bay Mutiny	3	12	0.200	9	0
Bora Milutinovic	MetroStars	1	0	0.100	1	1

Team Attendance Totals

Club	Games	Home Total	Home Average
Chicago Fire	16	286,190	17,886
Colorado Rapids	16	236,995	14,812
Columbus Crew	16	196,394	12,274
D.C. United	16	256,127	16,007
Dallas Burn	16	175,162	10,947
Kansas City Wizards	16	129,163	8,072
Los Angeles Galaxy	16	348,549	21,784
MetroStars	16	264,316	16,519
Miami Fusion	16	164,548	10,284
New England Revolution	16	307,004	19,187
San Jose Clash	16	218,450	13,653
Tampa Bay Mutiny	16	164,999	10,312
OVERALL	160	2,747,897	14,311

Team Awards

• MLS Cup - Chicago Fire
• U.S. Open Cup - Chicago Fire
• MLS Supporters' Shield - Los Angeles Galaxy

International Competition

CONCACAF Champions' Cup

• D.C. United
  Defeat Joe Public F.C. 8 - 0 in quarterfinals.
  Defeat Deportivo Saprissa 2-0 in semifinals.
  Defeat Toluca 1 - 0 in final.

• Colorado Rapids
  Lose Club León 4 - 3 on aggregate in qualifying round.

Interamerican Cup

• D.C. United
  Defeat Vasco da Gama 2 - 1 on aggregate.

First leg played at RFK Stadium
Second leg played at Lockhart Stadium.

Reference

• MLS Site