1997

Click on the tile to enhance the image. Below the tile you’ll find a brief season write up.

Final Tile1997

MLS’ second season saw Bruce Arena’s DC United pick up where they left off in ‘96 with another double – this time winning a Shield to pair with their MLS Cup. DCU dominated the regular season, scoring 70 goals and accumulating 55 points in 32 matches thanks to a stellar year from Bolivian forward Jaime Moreno (MLS’ top scorer with 16 on the year). Out west, an MVP season (12 goals, 17 assists, 27 matches) from MLS legend Preki spurred his Kansas City Wizards on to the best record in the conference. The MetroStars and Revs both struggled again in ’97, failing to reach the 40 point mark and finishing bottom two in the table for the second straight year. Likewise out west, Colorado and San Jose struggled again in ’97, finishing bottom two in the table. But in the early days of MLS, 4 out of 5 teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs, and the dark horse Colorado Rapids (14W, 18L record) would take full advantage. After earning the one seed, the Wizards faltered in the playoffs, losing 5-2 on aggregate to the Rapids in the first round. Having already bagged a US Open Cup title, the Dallas Burn came up short in their bid for the double, losing in the western conference finals on aggregate to Colorado. DC United cruised through the eastern conference playoffs before defeating Colorado 2-1 in the MLS Cup Final to end the Rapids’ Cinderella run. Bruce Arena took coach of the year honors after leading DC to their second straight double. Brad Friedel continued his rise, becoming MLS’ best ‘Keeper for Columbus Crew before his transfer to the English Premier League in December of 1997.

Goal of the Year
You’ll have to sit through the 1996 Goal of the Year for 20 seconds before watching Marco Etcheverry weave through the New England defense and slot it past the ‘Keeper.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Attendance
Notice with each season’s overall attendance figures I’ll be including a red or a green number to reflect the negative or positive change in attendance for the the season.

MLS Eras Defined
You may have noticed that each season is labeled with an MLS era (center of the bottom row). MLS Writer Matthew Doyle breaks the history of MLS into three different eras that I am incorporating into my timeline. I have offered a brief description of each era if you don’t get a chance to read his article.

  • MLS 1.0 1996 – 2005 – Doyle further breaks down this era into four sub-parts (notice the quote next to the MLS Era tag below)
  • MLS 2.0 2006 – 2013 – The rise of supporters clubs, MLS style
  • MLS 3.0 2014 –   ?     – US Internationals signing DP contracts to play Stateside

MVP Winner
Each season’s MVP will be acknowledged in the bottom right of each tile:
Full Name(MLS club)/Nationality

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