The 1997 Major League Soccer season was the second season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 85th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 19th with a national first-division league.
Following the 1996 season, the Wiz changed names, becoming the Wizards, following legal action from electronics retailer The Wiz.
The regular season began on March 29, and concluded on September 28. The 1997 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 4, and concluded with MLS Cup 1997 on October 26. D.C. United won their first Supporters' Shield and defended their MLS Cup championship becoming the first team to win back-to-back cups.
Overview
Season format The season began on March 22 and concluded with MLS Cup on October 26. The 10 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference four times, for a total of 16 games. The rest of the schedule consisted of three games against each team from the opposite conference, with four games against one designated team.
The top four teams from each conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The conference semifinals and finals 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
Team Stadium Capacity Colorado Rapids Mile High Stadium 76,273 Columbus Crew Ohio Stadium 102,329 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 New England Revolution Foxboro Stadium 60,292 NY/NJ MetroStars Giants Stadium 80,200 San Jose Clash Spartan Stadium 30,456 Tampa Bay Mutiny Houlihan's Stadium 74,301
Personnel and sponsorships Team Head coach Captain Shirt sponsor Colorado Rapids Glenn Myernick Columbus Crew Tom Fitzgerald Marcelo Carrera Snickers D.C. United Bruce Arena MasterCard Dallas Burn Dave Dir Kansas City Wizards Ron Newman — Los Angeles Galaxy Octavio Zambrano — New England Revolution Thomas Rongen — NY/NJ MetroStars Carlos Alberto Parreira Tony Meola Fujifilm San Jose Clash Brian Quinn John Doyle Honda Tampa Bay Mutiny John Kowalski
Coaching changes Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming coach Date of appointment Los Angeles Galaxy Lothar Osiander Fired June 10, 1997 Octavio Zambrano June 10, 1997 San Jose Clash Laurie Calloway Fired June 25, 1997 Brian Quinn June 25, 1997
Standings
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Overall standings
MLS Cup Playoffs
Bracket The ties were a best-of-three series.
Conference semifinals
Eastern Conference
D.C. United advance to the Conference Finals.
Columbus Crew advance to the Conference Finals.
Western Conference
Dallas Burn advance to the Conference Finals.
Colorado Rapids advance to the Conference Finals.
Conference finals
Western Conference
Colorado Rapids advance to MLS Cup.
Eastern Conference
D.C. United advance to MLS Cup.
MLS Cup
Player statistics
Goals RankPlayerClubGoals1 Jaime MorenoD.C. United162 Raúl Díaz ArceD.C. United153 Giovanni SavareseNY/NJ MetroStars144 PrekiKansas City Wizards12 Ronald CerritosSan Jose Clash Dante WashingtonDallas Burn7 Damián ÁlvarezDallas Burn11 WéltonLos Angeles Galaxy9 Jeff BaicherSan Jose Clash10 Mark ChungKansas City Wizards Roy LassiterTampa Bay Mutiny Lawrence LozzanoSan Jose Clash
Hat-tricks
Player Club Against Result Date Raúl Díaz Arce4 D.C. United Colorado Rapids 5–2 Alberto Naveda New England Revolution NY/NJ MetroStars 3–1 Dante Washington Dallas Burn San Jose Clash 3–1 Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles Galaxy Tampa Bay Mutiny 6–1 Jose Vasquez Los Angeles Galaxy San Jose Clash 3–2
Assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Carlos ValderramaTampa Bay Mutiny152 PrekiKansas City Wizards12 Eddie LewisSan Jose Clash4 Chris HendersonColorado Rapids9 Mauricio CienfuegosLos Angeles Galaxy6 Lawrence LozzanoSan Jose Clash8 Steve RalstonTampa Bay Mutiny Eric WynaldaSan Jose Clash Adrián PazColorado Rapids Miles JosephNY/NJ MetroStars
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Brad FriedelColumbus Crew72 Walter ZengaNew England Revolution63 Mike AmmannKansas City Wizards5 Marcus HahnemannColorado Rapids Tony MeolaNY/NJ MetroStars6 Jorge CamposLos Angeles Galaxy47 Mark DoddDallas Burn3 Mark DoughertyTampa Bay Mutiny Kevin HartmanLos Angeles Galaxy Mark SimpsonD.C. United
Awards
Individual awards
AwardPlayerClubMost Valuable Player PrekiKansas City WizardsDefender of the Year Eddie PopeD.C. UnitedGoalkeeper of the Year Brad FriedelColumbus CrewCoach of the Year Bruce ArenaD.C. UnitedRookie of the Year Mike DuhaneyTampa Bay MutinyScoring Champion PrekiKansas City WizardsGoal of the Year Marco EtcheverryD.C. UnitedFair Play Award Mark ChungKansas City Wizards
Best XI GoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwards Brad Friedel, Columbus Jeff Agoos, D.C. United Thomas Dooley, Columbus Richard Gough, Kansas City Eddie Pope, D.C. United Mark Chung, Kansas City Marco Etcheverry, D.C. United Preki, Kansas City Carlos Valderrama, Tampa Bay Ronald Cerritos, San Jose Jaime Moreno, D.C. United
Player of the Month MonthPlayerClubApril Jaime Moreno D.C. UnitedMay Alain Sutter Dallas BurnJune John Harkes D.C. UnitedJuly Wélton Los Angeles GalaxyAugust Brad Friedel Columbus CrewSeptember Walter Zenga New England Revolution
Weekly awards Player of the WeekWeekPlayerClubWeek 1 Dave Salzwedel San Jose ClashWeek 2 Giuseppe Galderisi Tampa Bay MutinyWeek 3 Carlos Valderrama Tampa Bay MutinyWeek 4 Raúl Díaz Arce D.C. UnitedWeek 5 Dante Washington Dallas BurnWeek 6 Roberto Donadoni NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 7 Doctor Khumalo Columbus CrewWeek 8 Damian Alvarez Dallas BurnWeek 9 Chiquinho Conde New England RevolutionWeek 10 Preki Radosavljević Kansas City WizardsWeek 11 Eric Wynalda San Jose ClashWeek 12 Preki Radosavljević Kansas City WizardsWeek 13 Gilmar Tampa Bay MutinyWeek 14 Paul Bravo Colorado RapidsWeek 15 Tab Ramos NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 16 Dante Washington Dallas BurnWeek 17 Antony de Ávila NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 18 Gilmar Tampa Bay MutinyWeek 19 Wolde Harris Colorado RapidsWeek 20 Thomas Dooley Columbus CrewWeek 21 Giovanni Savarese NY/NJ MetroStarsWeek 22 Marco Etcheverry D.C. UnitedWeek 23 Eduardo Hurtado Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 24 Cobi Jones Los Angeles GalaxyWeek 25 Martín Vásquez Tampa Bay MutinyWeek 26 Marcelo Balboa Colorado Rapids
Attendance
RankTeam 1 New England Revolution 16 57,407 10,242 2 Los Angeles Galaxy 16 53,147 7,232 3 NY/NJ MetroStars 16 26,322 10,510 4 D.C. United 16 28,749 9,675 5 Columbus Crew 16 22,259 10,662 6 San Jose Clash 16 23,501 7,955 7 Colorado Rapids 16 36,252 4,120 8 Tampa Bay Mutiny 16 18,070 6,984 9 Dallas Burn 16 16,089 4,451 10 Kansas City Wizards 16 12,485 6,272 Total 160 2,336,889 57,407 4,120
References
External links MLS Site