2003 Major League Soccer season

2003 Major League Soccer season

Season	2003
MLS Cup	San Jose Earthquakes
Supporters' Shield	Chicago Fire
Top goalscorer	Carlos Ruiz Los Angeles Galaxy Goals: 15 Taylor Twellman N.E. Revolution Goals: 15
Biggest home win	CHI 4-0 COL CLB 6-2 CHI
Biggest away win	SJ 1-4 CHI DAL 0-3 SJ
Highest scoring	NY 4-4 SJ CLB 6-2 CHI
Longest winning run	Colorado Rapids Games: 5 (07/04 - 08/09) MetroStars Games: 5 (04/26 - 05/24)
Longest unbeaten run	Chicago Fire Games: 7 (07/19 - 08/24) Colorado Rapids Games: 7 (08/16 - 10/01)
Longest losing run	Colorado Rapids Games: 4 (05/03 - 05/25) Dallas Burn Games: 4 (07/19 -08/13)
Highest attendance	Los Angeles Galaxy Season: 329,752 Game Avg.: 21,983
Lowest attendance	Dallas Burn Season: 118,585 Game Avg.: 7,906
Average attendance	MLS Season: 2,234,747 Game Avg.: 14,898
← 2002 season 2004 season →

The 2003 Major League Soccer season was the 8th season of play.

Changes From 2002

• Instead of a best-of-three series, the MLS Cup Playoffs changed their format so that the quarterfinal fixtures (or conference semifinals) would be a home and away aggregate over two matches, the team with the higher seed would have the home game in the second leg. The two semifinals (or conference finals) became one match fixtures instead of two legs. The Cup final remained one match.

Final Standings

Eastern Conference	GP	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
s - Chicago Fire	30	15	7	8	53	43	10	53
x - New England Revolution	30	12	9	9	55	47	8	45
x - MetroStars	30	11	10	9	40	40	0	42
x - D.C. United	30	10	11	9	38	36	2	39
Columbus Crew	30	10	12	8	44	44	0	38

Western Conference	GP	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD	Pts
x - San Jose Earthquakes	30	14	7	9	45	35	10	51
x - Kansas City Wizards	30	11	10	9	48	44	4	42
x - Colorado Rapids	30	11	12	7	40	45	-5	40
x - Los Angeles Galaxy	30	9	12	9	35	35	0	36
Dallas Burn	30	6	19	5	35	64	-29	23

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

s = Supporters Shield
x = Playoff Berth

Play-off Bracket

	Conference Semifinals						Conference Finals					MLS Cup 2003
		Chicago Fire (wins 4-0 agg.)	2	2
		D.C. United	0	0
								Chicago Fire	1
	Eastern Conference
								New England Revolution	0
		New England Revolution (wins 3-1 agg.)	2	1
		MetroStars	0	1
													Chicago Fire	2
													San Jose Earthquakes	4
		San Jose Earthquakes (wins 5-4 agg.)	0	5*
		Los Angeles Galaxy	2	2
								San Jose Earthquakes	3
	Western Conference
								Kansas City Wizards	2
		Kansas City Wizards (wins 3-1 agg.)	1	2
		Colorado Rapids	1	0

Eastern Conference Semifinals

November 1, 2003	Chicago Fire	2 – 0	D.C. United	Robert F. Kennedy Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 15,202
	Williams  4' Razov  94'

November 9, 2003	D.C. United	0 – 2	Chicago Fire	Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois Attendance: 15,312
			Ralph  17' Razov  55'

• Chicago Fire advance 4-0 on aggregate.

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November 1, 2003	New England Revolution	2 – 0	MetroStars	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, New Jersey Attendance: 10,211
	Fabbro  17' Noonan  65'

November 9, 2003	MetroStars	1 – 1	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 14,823
	Guevara  45'+ (pen)		Noonan  21'

• New England Revolution advance 3-1 on aggregate.

Western Conference Semifinals

November 1, 2003	San Jose Earthquakes	0 – 2	Los Angeles Galaxy	Home Depot Center Carson, California Attendance: 20,201
			Victorine  59' Ruiz  62'

November 9, 2003	Los Angeles Galaxy	2 – 5 (AET)	San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium San Jose, California Attendance: 14,145
	Ruiz  7' Vagenas  13'		Agoos  21' Donovan  35' Walker  50' Roner  90' Faria  96'

• San Jose Earthquakes advance 5-4 on aggregate after sudden death extra time.

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November 4, 2003	Kansas City Wizards	1 – 1	Colorado Rapids	INVESCO Field Denver, Colorado Attendance: 6,434
	Harris  3'		Borchers  53'

November 8, 2003	Colorado Rapids	0 – 2	Kansas City Wizards	Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri Attendance: 10,712
			Simutenkov  45'+ Klein  63'

• Kansas City Wizards advance 3-1 on aggregate.

Conference Finals

Eastern Conference

November 14, 2003	New England Revolution	0 – 1 (AET)	Chicago Fire	Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois Attendance: 14,610
			Armas  101'

• Chicago Fire advance 1-0 in sudden death extra time.

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Western Conference

November 15, 2003	Kansas City Wizards	2 – 3 (AET)	San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium San Jose, California Attendance: 16,108
	Simutenkov  57' Klein  72'		Lagos  61' Mullan  83' Donovan  117'

• San Jose Earthquakes advance 3-2 in sudden death extra time.

MLS Cup 2003

November 23, 2003	Chicago Fire	2 – 4	San Jose Earthquakes	Home Depot Center Carson, California Attendance: 27,000
	Beasley  49' Roner  54'(og)		Ekelund  5' Donovan  38',71' Mulrooney  50'

CONCACAF Champions' Cup

• MLS berths to the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
  MLS Cup Champions
  San Jose Earthquakes
  MLS Cup runner-up
  Chicago Fire

Team Awards

• MLS Cup
  San Jose Earthquakes
• U.S. Open Cup
  Chicago Fire
• MLS Supporters' Shield
  Chicago Fire

Individual Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Preki	Kansas City Wizards
Scoring Champion	Preki (41) points	Kansas City Wizards
Defender of the Year	Carlos Bocanegra	Chicago Fire
Goalkeeper of the Year	Pat Onstad	San Jose Earthquakes
Rookie of the Year	Damani Ralph	Chicago Fire
Coach of the Year	Dave Sarachan	Chicago Fire
Comeback Player of the Year	Chris Armas	Chicago Fire
Goal of the Year	Damani Ralph	Chicago Fire
Fair Play Award	Brian McBride	Columbus Crew
Humanitarian of the Year	Ben Olsen	D.C. United

Top Goal Scorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy	15
	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution	15
2	Ante Razov	Chicago Fire	14
	John Spencer	Colorado Rapids	14
3	Landon Donovan	San Jose Earthquakes	12
	Brian McBride	Columbus Crew	12
	Preki	Kansas City Wizards	12
4	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids	11
	Damani Ralph	Chicago Fire	11
5	Edson Buddle	Columbus Crew	10
	Pat Noonan	New England Revolution	10

Goal-Scoring Totals

Club	Overall Record	Goals For	Goals For Avg.	Goals Against	Goals Against Avg.
New England Revolution	12-9-9	55	1.83 (1st)	47	1.57 (9th)
Chicago Fire	15-7-8	53	1.77 (2nd)	43	1.43 (5th)
Kansas City Wizards	11-10-9	48	1.60 (3rd)	44	1.47 (6th)
San Jose Earthquakes	14-7-9	45	1.50 (4th)	35	1.17 (1st)
Columbus Crew	10-12-8	44	1.47 (5th)	44	1.47 (6th)
Colorado Rapids	11-12-7	40	1.33 (6th)	45	1.50 (8th)
MetroStars	11-10-9	40	1.33 (7th)	40	1.33 (4th)
D.C. United	10-11-9	38	1.27 (8th)	36	1.20 (3rd)
Dallas Burn	6-19-5	35	1.117 (9th)	64	2.13 (10th)
Los Angeles Galaxy	9-12-9	35	1.17 (10th)	35	1.17 (1st)
Overall Totals		433	2.89

Team Attendance Totals

Club	Stadium	Games	Season	Game Avg.
Los Angeles Galaxy	The Home Depot Center	15	329,752	21,983
Colorado Rapids	Invesco Field	15	251,578	16,772
Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium	15	243,756	16,250
MetroStars	Giants Stadium	15	237,326	15,822
Kansas City Wizards	Arrowhead Stadium	15	233,594	15,573
D.C. United	Robert F. Kennedy Stadium	15	233,476	15,565
New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	15	219,611	14,641
Chicago Fire	Cardinal Stadium	15	210,080	14,005
San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium	15	156,989	10,466
Dallas Burn	Cotton Bowl	15	118,585	7,906
MLS Totals		150	2,234,747	14,898

Reference

• MLS Site