2002 Major League Soccer season

The 2002 Major League Soccer season was the league's 7th of competition. On January 8, 2002, after only four years in existence, the Miami Fusion F.C. ceased operations due to low attendance and a unfavorable stadium deal, and the Tampa Bay Mutiny also ceased operations due to the lack of local ownership. MLS eliminated the Central Division and in favor of its original two-conference alignment.

Final standings

Conference

• Top eight teams with the highest points clinch play-off berth, regardless of conference.
  x = Playoff berth
  y = Conference Winner (Season)
  s = Supporters Shield/Conference winner (Season)

• New England Revolution wins first tiebreaker vs. Columbus Crew (head-to-head: 2-1-1)
  Dallas Burn wins first tiebreaker vs. Colorado Rapids (head-to-head: 2-1-1)

Overall

Source: MLSSoccer.com
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head record; 3rd goal difference; 4th number of goals scored.
(SS) = MLS Supporters' Shield; (E1) = Eastern Conference champion; (W1) = Western Conference champion
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs, but not yet to the particular round indicated; (E) = Eliminated from playoff-contention.

• ^Note 1 - Since Los Angeles Galaxy won MLS Cup 2002 and the Supporters' Shield, San Jose Earthquakes qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup by finishing as Supporters' Shield runners-up.
• ^Note 2 - Since Kansas City Wizards, MetroStars, and D.C. United finished outside of the top seven in the league standings, they enter the U.S. Open Cup in the third round proper rather than fourth.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Playoff bracket

• Points system
  Win = 3 Pts.
  Loss = 0 Pts.
  Draw = 1 Pts.

• ASDET*=Added Sudden Death Extra Time (Game tie breaker)
  SDET**=Sudden Death Extra Time (Series tie breaker)
  Teams will advance at 5 points.

Conference Semi-finals

September 25, 2002	Kansas City Wizards	2 – 3 (AET)	Los Angeles Galaxy	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 14,585
	Preki  25' Brown  70'		Ruiz (Pen)  62'  99' Jones  85'

September 28, 2002	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 – 4	Kansas City Wizards	Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri Attendance: 9,484
	Albright  71'		Simutenkov  19' Quill  37' Preki  70' Fabbro  73'

October 2, 2002	Kansas City Wizards	2 – 5	Los Angeles Galaxy	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 14,713
	Klein  47' Preki  72'		Ruiz  34'  66' Jones  45'+,  62' Tennyson  93'

• Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6-3 on points.

September 26, 2002	Chicago Fire	0 – 2	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 6,306
			Twellman  13' Hernandez  60'

September 29, 2002	New England Revolution	1 – 2	Chicago Fire	Cardinal Stadium Naperville, Illinois Attendance: 9,434
	Kamler  28'		Razov (Pen)  43',  76'

October 2, 2002	Chicago Fire	0 – 2	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 6,954
			Kamler  12' Twellman  65'

• New England Revolution advance 6-3 on points.

September 26, 2002	Columbus Crew	2 – 1	San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium San Jose, California Attendance: 8,069
	Buddle  38' García  81'		Donovan  54'

September 28, 2002	San Jose Earthquakes	1 – 2	Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 13,004
	Graziani  58'		García  50' McBride  81'

• Columbus Crew advance 6-0 on points.

September 25, 2002	Colorado Rapids	2 – 4	Dallas Burn	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Attendance: 6,360
	Valderrama  2' Spencer (Pen)  75'		Morrow  26' Kreis  49' Deering  68' Martínez  70'

September 28, 2002	Dallas Burn	0 – 1	Colorado Rapids	INVESCO Field Denver, Colorado Attendance: 9,637
			Carrieri  78'

October 2, 2002	Colorado Rapids	1 – 1	Dallas Burn	Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas Attendance: 8,008
	Spencer  22'		Rhine  6'

		1 – 0 series OT (ASDET)
	Chung  1'

• Colorado Rapids advance in series (sudden death) overtime, after 4-4 tie on points.

Conference Finals

October 5, 2002	Colorado Rapids	0 – 4	Los Angeles Galaxy	Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 24,742
			Califf  21' Ruiz  24'  84' Hendrickson  71'

October 9, 2002	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 – 0	Colorado Rapids	INVESCO Field Denver, Colorado Attendance: 12,367
	Ruiz  64'

• Los Angeles Galaxy advance 6-0 on points.

October 9, 2002	New England Revolution	1 – 0	Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 10,245
	Heaps  3'

October 12, 2002	Columbus Crew	2 – 2	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 9,216
	McBride  80' Washington  85'		Ralston  17' Harris  47'

• New England Revolution advance 5-2 on points.

MLS Cup 2002

October 20, 2002 (2002-10-20)	Los Angeles Galaxy	1 – 0 (2OT)	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 61,316 Referee: Kevin Terry
	Ruiz  113'	Report

CONCACAF Champions' Cup

• MLS regular-season berths to 2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
  Los Angeles Galaxy qualify as MLS Cup winner
  New England Revolution qualify as MLS Cup runner up
  San Jose Earthquakes qualify as 2002 MLS Supporters Shield runner-up
  Columbus Crew qualify as Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup champions.

Club Awards

• MLS Cup
  Los Angeles Galaxy
• U.S. Open Cup
  Columbus Crew
• MLS Supporters' Shield
  Los Angeles Galaxy

Individual Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy
Scoring Champion	Taylor Twellman (52 Points)	New England Revolution
Defender of the Year	Carlos Bocanegra	Chicago Fire
Goalkeeper of the Year	Joe Cannon	San Jose Earthquakes
Rookie of the Year	Kyle Martino	Columbus Crew
Coach of the Year	Steve Nicol	New England Revolution
Comeback Player of the Year	Chris Klein	Kansas City Wizards
Goal of the Year	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy
Fair Play Award	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids
Humanitarian of the Year	Steve Jolley	MetroStars

Top Goal Scorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy	24
2	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution	23
3	Jeff Cunningham	Columbus Crew	16
4	Ante Razov	Chicago Fire	14
	Ariel Graziani	San Jose Earthquakes	14
6	Jason Kreis	Dallas Burn	13
7	Mamadou Diallo*	MetroStars	12
	Rodrigo Faria	MetroStars	12
9	Chris Carrieri	Colorado Rapids	11
	Mark Chung	Colorado Rapids	11
	Chris Henderson	Colorado Rapids	11

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

Goal-Scoring Totals

Winningest Coaches (By Wins)

Coach	Club	Win	Loss	Draw	Pct.	Pts.	OT Rec.
Sigi Schmid	Los Angeles Galaxy	16	9	3	0.625	51	3-3-3
Frank Yallop	San Jose Earthquakes	14	11	3	0.554	45	1-0-3
Tim Hankinson	Colorado Rapids	13	11	4	0.536	43	1-1-4
Mike Jeffries	Dallas Burn	12	9	7	0.554	43	3-0-7
Greg Andrulis	Columbus Crew	11	12	5	0.482	38	1-3-5
Bob Bradley	Chicago Fire	11	13	4	0.464	37	2-1-4
Octavio Zambrano	MetroStars	11	15	2	0.429	35	1-1-2
Steve Nicol	New England Revolution	10	10	1	0.500	31	0-1-1
Bob Gansler	Kansas City Wizards	9	10	9	0.482	36	0-2-9
Ray Hudson	D.C. United	9	14	5	0.411	32	2-2-5
Fernando Clavijo	New England Revolution	2	4	1	0.357	7	0-0-1

Team Attendance Totals

References

• MLS Site