1997 Major League Soccer season

The 1997 Major League Soccer season was the 2nd season of the league.

Conference standings

Overall standings

• ^Note 1 - CONCACAF Champions League berths will be awarded to the participants of MLS Cup 1997 (D.C. and Colorado)

MLS Playoff Bracket

• Best of Three series winners will advance.

Conference Semi-finals

Eastern Conference

October 5, 1997 Game 1	D.C. United	4 – 1	New England Revolution	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 12,540 Referee: Tim Weyland
	Wegerle  13', 56' Moreno  65', 76'		Burns  89'

• D.C. United advance to the Conference Finals.

October 5, 1997 Game 1	Tampa Bay Mutiny	1 – 2	Columbus Crew	Houlihan's Stadium Tampa, Florida Attendance: 8,272 Referee: Noel Kenny
	Gilmar  35'		Farrell  11' Wood  83'

October 8, 1997 Game 2	Columbus Crew	2 – 0	Tampa Bay Mutiny	Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 13,102 Referee: Joshua Patlak
	McBride  43' Warzycha  73'

• Columbus Crew advance to the Conference Finals.

Western Conference

October 8, 1997 Game 2	Dallas Burn	3 – 0	Los Angeles Galaxy	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Attendance: 11,248 Referee: Esse Baharmast
	Washington  29', 69' Peinado  86'

• Dallas Burn advance to the Conference Finals.

October 4, 1997 Game 1	Kansas City Wizards	0 – 3	Colorado Rapids	Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri Attendance: 10,174 Referee: Brian Hall
			Henderson  25' Bravo  67' Paule  75'

October 8, 1997 Game 2	Colorado Rapids	3 – 2	Kansas City Wizards	Mile High Stadium Denver, Colorado Attendance: 13,117 Referee: Paul Tamberino
	Bravo  16', 68' Harris  83'		Takawira  9' Preki  88'

• Colorado Rapids advance to the Conference Finals.

Conference finals

Western Conference

October 12, 1997 Game 1	Dallas Burn	0 – 1	Colorado Rapids	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Attendance: 7,376 Referee: Kevin Stott
			Henderson  42'

October 15, 1997 Game 2	Colorado Rapids	2 – 1	Dallas Burn	Mile High Stadium Denver, Colorado Attendance: 18,452 Referee: Noel Kenny
	Patiño  2' Henderson  87'		Damian  5'

• Colorado Rapids advance to MLS Cup '97.

Eastern Conference

October 12, 1997 Game 1	D.C. United	3 – 2	Columbus Crew	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 11,820 Referee: Kevin Terry
	Sanneh  9', 45' Díaz Arce  29'		Farrell  57' Dooley  73'

October 15, 1997 Game 2	Columbus Crew	0 – 1	D.C. United	Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 9,506 Referee: Arturo Angeles
			Díaz Arce  47'

• D.C. United advance to MLS Cup '97.

MLS Cup '97

October 26, 1997	D.C. United	2 – 1	Colorado Rapids	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 57,431 Referee: Brian Hall
	Moreno  37' Sanneh  68'		Paz  75'

• D.C. United and Colorado Rapids earn a berth to the 1998 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Team Awards

• MLS Cup - D.C. United
• U.S. Open Cup - Dallas Burn
• MLS Supporters' Shield - D.C. United

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Club
Week 1	Dave Salzwedel	San Jose Clash
Week 2	Giuseppe Galderisi	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Week 3	Carlos Valderrama	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Week 4	Raúl Díaz Arce	D.C. United
Week 5	Dante Washington	Dallas Burn
Week 6	Roberto Donadoni	MetroStars
Week 7	Doctor Khumalo	Columbus Crew
Week 8	Damian Alvarez	Dallas Burn
Week 9	Chiquinho Conde	New England Revolution
Week 10	Preki Radosavljević	Kansas City Wizards
Week 11	Eric Wynalda	San Jose Clash
Week 12	Preki Radosavljević	Kansas City Wizards
Week 13	Gilmar	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Week 14	Paul Bravo	Colorado Rapids
Week 15	Tab Ramos	MetroStars
Week 16	Dante Washington	Dallas Burn
Week 17	Antony de Ávila	MetroStars
Week 18	Gilmar Antônio Batista	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Week 19	Wolde Harris	Colorado Rapids
Week 20	Thomas Dooley	Columbus Crew
Week 21	Giovanni Savarese	MetroStars
Week 22	Marco Etcheverry	D.C. United
Week 23	Eduardo Hurtado	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 24	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 25	Martin Vasquez	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 26	Marcelo Balboa	Colorado Rapids

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Club
April	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United
May	Alain Sutter	Dallas Burn
June	John Harkes	D.C. United
July	Wélton	Los Angeles Galaxy
August	Brad Friedel	Columbus Crew
September	Walter Zenga	New England Revolution

Individual Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Preki Radosavljević	Kansas City Wizards
Scoring Champion	Preki Radosavljević - (41 Pts.)	Kansas City Wizards
Defender of the Year	Eddie Pope	D.C. United
Goalkeeper of the Year	Brad Friedel	Columbus Crew
Rookie of the Year	Mike Duhaney	Tampa Bay Mutiny
Coach of the Year	Bruce Arena	D.C. United
Goal of the Year	Marco Etcheverry	D.C. United
Fair Play Award	Mark Chung	Kansas City Wizards

Goalkeeping Leaders

(Minimum 1,000 minutes)

No.	Player	Club	Games Played	Minutes	Goals Against	GA Average	Wins	Loses
1	Brad Friedel	Columbus Crew	29	2,609	35	1.21	14	15
2	Walter Zenga	New England Revolution	22	1,980	28	1.27	15	7
3	Jorge Campos	Los Angeles Galaxy	19	1,661	24	1.30	12	6
4	Marcus Hahnemann	Colorado Rapids	25	2,157	37	1.54	13	10
5	Mike Ammann	Kansas City Wizards	29	2,597	45	1.56	21	8
6	Mark Dodd	Dallas Burn	30	2,700	48	1.60	14	16
7	Tony Meola	NY/NJ MetroStars	30	2,684	48	1.61	12	18
8	David Kramer*	San Jose Clash	21	1,831	33	1.62	7	14
9	Scott Garlick	D.C. United	14	1,171	22	1.69	9	5
10	Dave Salzwedel	San Jose Clash	20	1,679	35	1.88	7	11
11	Mark Dougherty	Tampa Bay Mutiny	25	2,143	45	1.89	15	10

Played for more than one team - Most Recent Team Listed*

Team Attendance Totals

Winningest Coaches (By Wins)

Coach	Club	Wins	Loss	PCT.	PTS.	SOW
Bruce Arena	D.C. United	21	11	0.656	55	4
Ron Newman	Kansas City Wizards	21	11	0.656	49	7
John Kowalski	Tampa Bay Mutiny	17	15	0.531	45	3
Dave Dir	Dallas Burn	16	16	0.500	42	3
Tom Fitzgerald	Columbus Crew	15	17	0.469	39	3
Thomas Rongen	New England Revolution	15	17	0.469	37	4
Glenn Myernick	Colorado Rapids	14	18	0.438	38	2
Octavio Zambrano	Los Angeles Galaxy	13	7	0.650	37	1
Carlos Alberto Parreira	NY/NJ Metrostars	13	19	0.406	35	2
Brian Quinn	San Jose Clash	7	10	0.412	19	1
Laurie Calloway	San Jose Clash	5	10	0.333	11	2
Lothar Osiander	Los Angeles Galaxy	3	9	0.250	7	1

References

• MLS Site