2004 Major League Soccer season

The 2004 Major League Soccer season culminated with D.C. United winning its fourth MLS Cup championship.

The biggest news in the beginning of the season was the signing of 14-year-old prodigy Freddy Adu, who made his debut as a substitute in United's season opener and scored his first goal several games later against the rival MetroStars. Adu contributed as a substitute on D.C.'s championship team, scoring five goals as the youngest player in North American sports history.

The season saw the emergence of forwards Brian Ching (San Jose) and Eddie Johnson (Dallas) as formidable forwards, not only for their MLS teams, but for the United States national team as well. The two shared Golden Boot honors.

The Columbus Crew emerged as a dominant team in the second half of the regular season, running off an MLS-record 18-game unbeaten streak en route to the Supporters' Shield title, won after finishing level on points with Kansas City.

Playoffs

In the playoffs the Crew were taken down by the New England Revolution, who ended the Crew's streak in the opening leg, and goalkeeper Matt Reis, who saved two penalty kicks in the second leg. United cruised past the rival MetroStars (and league MVP Amado Guevara) 4-0 on aggregate in the other Eastern Conference semifinal.

In the Western Conference, Kansas City rallied from a 2-0 first-leg deficit for a dramatic 3-0 win in stoppage time over the defending MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes in their conference semifinal. The Los Angeles Galaxy used a 2-0 home victory in the second leg to overcome the Colorado Rapids and goalie Joe Cannon, who had led the Rapids to a 1-0 victory in the opener.

In the conference finals, Kansas City used two goals from unsung forward Davy Arnaud, who enjoyed a breakout season, to beat the Galaxy and return to the final for the first time since 2000. D.C. United and New England hooked up in the Eastern Conference final in one of the best games in MLS playoff history. Playing at home, D.C. United took three different leads, only to see New England recover each time to tie the match 3-3 in a game full of highlight-reel goals. The match was finally decided by the first conventional shootout in MLS history, with Nick Rimando saving the first 'sudden death' penalty from Rookie of the Year Clint Dempsey to send D.C. to the championship.

In the second consecutive final held at the Home Depot Center, D.C. rebounded from an early Jose Burciaga goal by scoring three goals in eight minutes, including two from Alecko Eskandarian to take a 3-1 lead. In the second half, Dema Kovalenko became the first player to be sent off in an MLS Cup final after knocking a shot off the goal line with his hand. Although Josh Wolff converted the penalty kick, D.C. United held on with only 10 men to win its fourth championship in the nine-year history of MLS.

Play-off Bracket

Final standings

Overall

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

s = Supporters Shield
x = playoff berth

MLS Cup Playoffs

Conference Semifinals

Columbus Crew v New England Revolution

October 23, 2004

Columbus Crew	0–1	New England Revolution
Buddle  26' Fraser  35'	Report	Joseph  4' John  25' John  58' Heaps  82'

Gillette Stadium Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 5,679 Referee: N/A

New England Revolution v Columbus Crew

October 31, 2004

New England Revolution	1–1	Columbus Crew
Twellman  81'	Report	Martino  26' Hejduk  68' Buddle  90+2'

Crew Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 15,224 Referee: Alex Prus

New England Revolution advance 2-1 on aggregate.

D.C. United v MetroStars

October 23, 2004

D.C. United	2–0	MetroStars
Kovalenko  50' Nelsen  62' Stewart  67' Gros  75' Eskandarian  88'	Report	Walker  68'

Giants Stadium East Rutherford, New Jersey Attendance: 11,161 Referee: Kevin Stott

MetroStars v D.C. United

October 30, 2004

MetroStars	0–2	D.C. United
Flores  6' Guevara  18' Clark  45+1' Pope  88'	Report	Olsen  27' Namoff  35' Kovalenko  41' Nelsen  61' Moreno  85' Adu  86' Namoff  89'

RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 15,763 Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela

D.C. United advance 4-0 on aggregate.

Kansas City Wizards v San Jose Earthquakes

October 24, 2004

Kansas City Wizards	0–2	San Jose Earthquakes
Simutenkov  41' Zotinca  59'	Report	Agoos  24' Mullan  38' De Rosario  40' Waibel  52'

Spartan Stadium San Jose, California Attendance: 8,659 Referee: Kevin Terry

San Jose Earthquakes v Kansas City Wizards

October 30, 2004

San Jose Earthquakes	0–3	Kansas City Wizards
Donovan  43'	Report	Stephenson  26' Jewsbury  45+1' Ching  48' (o.g.) Arnaud  56' Gutierrez  78' Jewsbury  90+2'

Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri Attendance: 10,022 Referee: Terry Vaugn

Kansas City Wizards advance 3-2 on aggregate.

Los Angeles Galaxy v Colorado Rapids

October 22, 2004

Los Angeles Galaxy	0–1	Colorado Rapids
Broome  66'	Report	Peguero  30' Kotschau  40' Mastroeni  76'

INVESCO Field Denver, Colorado Attendance: 8,028 Referee: Terry Vaughn

Colorado Rapids v Los Angeles Galaxy

October 30, 2004

Colorado Rapids	0–2	Los Angeles Galaxy
Beckerman  42' Kotschau  52'	Report	Ruiz  30' Ruiz  42' Marshall  45+3' Kirovski  74' Hartman  76'

Home Depot Center Carson, California Attendance: 20,026 Referee: Michael Kennedy

Los Angeles Galaxy advance 2-1 on aggregate.

Conference finals

Los Angeles Galaxy v Kansas City Wizards

November 5, 2004

Los Angeles Galaxy	0–2	Kansas City Wizards
Vagenas  26' Broome  72' Herzog  83'	Report	Arnaud  24'  68' Burciaga Jr.  41' Zotinca  72'

Arrowhead Stadium Kansas City, Missouri Attendance: 11,931 Referee: Abiodun Okulaja

New England Revolution v D.C. United

November 6, 2004

New England Revolution	3–3 (AET)	D.C. United
Joseph  1' Twellman  17' Ralston  44' (pen.) John  55' Pierce  62' Noonan  85'	Report	Eskandarian  11' Moreno  21' Eskandarian  49' Namoff  58' Gomez  67' Olsen  87'
	Penalties
Ralston Reis Twellman Heaps Joseph Dempsey	3–4	Olsen Quaranta Adu Eskandarian Moreno Carroll

RFK Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 21,201 Referee: Terry Vaughn

D.C. United advance 4-3 on penalties (3-3 after extra time).

MLS Cup 2004

Kansas City Wizards v D.C. United

November 14, 2004

Kansas City Wizards	2–3	D.C. United
Burciaga Jr.  6' Gutierrez  33' Wolff  58' (pen.)	Report	Eskandarian  19'  23' Zotinca  26' (o.g.) Stewart  55' Kovalenko  57' Namoff  72' Olsen  89'

Home Depot Center Carson, California Attendance: 25,797 Referee: Michael Kennedy

D.C. United wins the MLS Cup
Kansas City Wizards and D.C. United earn MLS berths to
CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2005.

Team Awards

• MLS Cup – D.C. United
• U.S. Open Cup – Kansas City Wizards
• MLS Supporters' Shield – Columbus Crew

Individual Awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Amado Guevara	MetroStars
Scoring Champion	Amado Guevara (30) points	MetroStars
	Pat Noonan (30) points	New England Revolution
Defender of the Year	Robin Fraser	Columbus Crew
Goalkeeper of the Year	Joe Cannon	Colorado Rapids
Rookie of the Year	Clint Dempsey	New England Revolution
Coach of the Year	Greg Andrulis	Columbus Crew
Comeback Player of the Year	Brian Ching	San Jose Earthquakes
Goal of the Year	Dwayne De Rosario	San Jose Earthquakes
Fair Play Award	Eddie Pope	MetroStars
Humanitarian of the Year	Chris Henderson	Colorado Rapids

Top Goal Scorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Brian Ching	San Jose Earthquakes	12
	Eddie Johnson	Dallas Burn	12
2	Edson Buddle	Columbus Crew	11
	Pat Noonan	New England Revolution	11
	Damani Ralph	Chicago Fire	11
	Carlos Ruiz	Los Angeles Galaxy	11
3	Alecko Eskandarian	D.C. United	10
	Amado Guevara	MetroStars	10
	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	10
	John Wolyniec	MetroStars	10

Goal-Scoring Totals

Team Attendance Totals

References