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MLS Cup 1996
MLS Cup 1996 was the inaugural edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level soccer league of the United States. Hosted at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on October 20, 1996, it was contested by D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 1996 season.
Both finalists finished in the top two spots of their respective conferences, with D.C. placing second in the East and Los Angeles atop the West. The two teams also had identical win–loss records in the first two rounds of the playoffs, losing the opening match of the Conference Semifinals and winning the remaining four matches of both rounds. The final match was played in heavy rain due to the proximity of Hurricane Lili, which also inundated the field. The MLS Cup had an attendance of 34,643 spectators, falling short of the 42,000 people who paid for tickets, and included a large contingent of traveling D.C. supporters.
The match ended in a 3–2 victory for D.C. United, with a golden goal scored by Eddie Pope in overtime that followed a second-half comeback for the team. Los Angeles had taken a 2–0 lead in the 56th minute on goals by Eduardo Hurtado and Chris Armas, but conceded two goals to D.C. in the second half to force overtime. Marco Etcheverry assisted both goals, which began as free kicks that were headed into the goal by substitutes Tony Sanneh and Shawn Medved. Etcheverry went on to take the corner kick that led to Pope's goal and was named the man of the match. The finalists also earned a berth in the 1997 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and met in the semifinals, which ended in a victory for the Galaxy.
Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, was announced as the venue of the inaugural MLS Cup during a league press conference on August 29, 1996. The other finalist, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., was instead given hosting priority for the 1997 edition. The 58,098-seat stadium was the home venue of the New England Revolution and the New England Patriots of the National Football League. The league had planned to limit capacity to 33,000 seats for the championship, but canceled those plans as ticket sales reached more than 40,000 in the days prior to the cup.
Major League Soccer (MLS) was formed as the Division I league of the United States in the early 1990s during organization of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to comply with FIFA's hosting requirements. The league decided on a playoff format to determine its yearly champion in a fashion similar to other sports leagues in North America. It also adopted an Americanized version of the game's rules, including a 35-yard (32 m) shootout to decide tied matches (for which the winners earned one point) and a countdown clock to keep time.
The inaugural MLS season was delayed to 1996 and consisted of ten teams organized into two conferences, divided between east and west. Each team played 32 matches in the regular season, which ran from April to September, facing opponents from the same conference four times and outside of their conference three to four times. The top four teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, which were organized into three rounds and played from late September to October. The first two rounds, named the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, were home-and-away series organized into a best-of-three format with a hosting advantage for the higher seed. The winners of the Conference Finals advanced to the single-match MLS Cup final, which would be held at a predetermined neutral venue.
MLS Cup 1996 was contested by D.C. United, who finished second in the Eastern Conference, and the Los Angeles Galaxy, who finished first in the Western Conference. The two finalists played each other three times during the regular season, with the Galaxy winning away 2–1 on April 20 and at home 3–1 on May 5, D.C. winning 2–1 on August 18 at RFK Memorial Stadium. Both teams finished with a 4–1 record in the playoffs, losing only the opening match of the Conference Semifinals, and shared comparable records during the regular season.
Washington, D.C., was awarded an MLS franchise on June 15, 1994, which would play at RFK Memorial Stadium and later be named D.C. United. The league allocated U.S. defender Jeff Agoos, U.S. midfielder John Harkes, and Bolivian forwards Marco Etcheverry and Juan Berthy Suárez to D.C. United, which signed former University of Virginia Cavaliers coach Bruce Arena as its manager in January 1996. In the general player draft, D.C. was given the last pick and signed Salvadorian forward Raúl Díaz Arce in the first round, completing a trio of Latin American attackers, and several starting players in later rounds. With its two picks in the college draft, United selected defender Eddie Pope in the first round and midfielder Jesse Marsch in the third round; in the supplemental draft, D.C. used its single pick on Argentine midfielder Mario Gori.
MLS Cup 1996
MLS Cup 1996 was the inaugural edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), the top-level soccer league of the United States. Hosted at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on October 20, 1996, it was contested by D.C. United and the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 1996 season.
Both finalists finished in the top two spots of their respective conferences, with D.C. placing second in the East and Los Angeles atop the West. The two teams also had identical win–loss records in the first two rounds of the playoffs, losing the opening match of the Conference Semifinals and winning the remaining four matches of both rounds. The final match was played in heavy rain due to the proximity of Hurricane Lili, which also inundated the field. The MLS Cup had an attendance of 34,643 spectators, falling short of the 42,000 people who paid for tickets, and included a large contingent of traveling D.C. supporters.
The match ended in a 3–2 victory for D.C. United, with a golden goal scored by Eddie Pope in overtime that followed a second-half comeback for the team. Los Angeles had taken a 2–0 lead in the 56th minute on goals by Eduardo Hurtado and Chris Armas, but conceded two goals to D.C. in the second half to force overtime. Marco Etcheverry assisted both goals, which began as free kicks that were headed into the goal by substitutes Tony Sanneh and Shawn Medved. Etcheverry went on to take the corner kick that led to Pope's goal and was named the man of the match. The finalists also earned a berth in the 1997 CONCACAF Champions' Cup and met in the semifinals, which ended in a victory for the Galaxy.
Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, was announced as the venue of the inaugural MLS Cup during a league press conference on August 29, 1996. The other finalist, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C., was instead given hosting priority for the 1997 edition. The 58,098-seat stadium was the home venue of the New England Revolution and the New England Patriots of the National Football League. The league had planned to limit capacity to 33,000 seats for the championship, but canceled those plans as ticket sales reached more than 40,000 in the days prior to the cup.
Major League Soccer (MLS) was formed as the Division I league of the United States in the early 1990s during organization of the 1994 FIFA World Cup to comply with FIFA's hosting requirements. The league decided on a playoff format to determine its yearly champion in a fashion similar to other sports leagues in North America. It also adopted an Americanized version of the game's rules, including a 35-yard (32 m) shootout to decide tied matches (for which the winners earned one point) and a countdown clock to keep time.
The inaugural MLS season was delayed to 1996 and consisted of ten teams organized into two conferences, divided between east and west. Each team played 32 matches in the regular season, which ran from April to September, facing opponents from the same conference four times and outside of their conference three to four times. The top four teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, which were organized into three rounds and played from late September to October. The first two rounds, named the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, were home-and-away series organized into a best-of-three format with a hosting advantage for the higher seed. The winners of the Conference Finals advanced to the single-match MLS Cup final, which would be held at a predetermined neutral venue.
MLS Cup 1996 was contested by D.C. United, who finished second in the Eastern Conference, and the Los Angeles Galaxy, who finished first in the Western Conference. The two finalists played each other three times during the regular season, with the Galaxy winning away 2–1 on April 20 and at home 3–1 on May 5, D.C. winning 2–1 on August 18 at RFK Memorial Stadium. Both teams finished with a 4–1 record in the playoffs, losing only the opening match of the Conference Semifinals, and shared comparable records during the regular season.
Washington, D.C., was awarded an MLS franchise on June 15, 1994, which would play at RFK Memorial Stadium and later be named D.C. United. The league allocated U.S. defender Jeff Agoos, U.S. midfielder John Harkes, and Bolivian forwards Marco Etcheverry and Juan Berthy Suárez to D.C. United, which signed former University of Virginia Cavaliers coach Bruce Arena as its manager in January 1996. In the general player draft, D.C. was given the last pick and signed Salvadorian forward Raúl Díaz Arce in the first round, completing a trio of Latin American attackers, and several starting players in later rounds. With its two picks in the college draft, United selected defender Eddie Pope in the first round and midfielder Jesse Marsch in the third round; in the supplemental draft, D.C. used its single pick on Argentine midfielder Mario Gori.