2003 Major League Soccer season

The 2003 Major League Soccer season was the eighth season of play for Major League Soccer.

2003 Major League Soccer season

Season	2003
MLS Cup	San Jose Earthquakes (2nd title)
Supporters' Shield	Chicago Fire (1st shield)
Matches played	150
Goals scored	433 (2.89 per match)
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 2004 →

D.C.
United

MetroStars

Columbus Crew

New England Revolution

Chicago
Fire

Colorado Rapids

Dallas
Burn

Los Angeles Galaxy

Kansas City Wizards

San Jose Earthquakes

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Locations of teams for the 2003 Major League Soccer season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

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.

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

Playoffs

Bracket

Conference Semifinals

Conference Finals

MLS Cup 2003

E1

Chicago (wins 4–0 agg.)

2

2

E4

D.C. United

0

0

E1

Chicago

1

Eastern Conference

E3

New England

0

E2

New England (wins 3–1 agg.)

2

1

E3

MetroStars

0

1

E1

Chicago

2

W1

San Jose

4

W1

San Jose (wins 5–4 agg.)

0

5*

W4

Los Angeles

2

2

W1

San Jose

3

Western Conference

W3

Kansas City

2

W3

Kansas City (wins 3–1 agg.)

1

2

W2

Colorado

1

0

Eastern Conference Semifinals

November 1, 2003

Chicago Fire	2–0	D.C. United
Williams   4' Razov   94'

Robert F. Kennedy Stadium
Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 15,202

November 9, 2003

D.C. United	0–2	Chicago Fire
		Ralph   17' Razov   55'

Soldier Field
Chicago

Attendance: 15,312

Chicago Fire won 4–0 on aggregate.

---

November 1, 2003

New England Revolution	2–0	MetroStars
Fabbro   17' Noonan   65'

Giants Stadium
East Rutherford, New Jersey

Attendance: 10,211

November 9, 2003

MetroStars	1–1	New England Revolution
Guevara   45' (pen.)		Noonan   21'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 14,823

New England Revolution won 3–1 on aggregate.

Western Conference Semifinals

November 1, 2003

San Jose Earthquakes	0–2	Los Angeles Galaxy
		Victorine   59' Ruiz   62'

Home Depot Center
Carson, California

Attendance: 20,201

November 9, 2003

Los Angeles Galaxy	2–5 (a.e.t.)	San Jose Earthquakes
Ruiz   7' Vagenas   13'		Agoos   21' Donovan   35' Walker   50' Roner   90' Faria   96'

Spartan Stadium
San Jose, California

Attendance: 14,145

San Jose Earthquakes won 5–4 on aggregate after golden goal extra time.

---

November 4, 2003

Kansas City Wizards	1–1	Colorado Rapids
Harris   3'		Borchers   53'

INVESCO Field
Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 6,434

November 8, 2003

Colorado Rapids	0–2	Kansas City Wizards
		Simutenkov   45' Klein   63'

Arrowhead Stadium
Kansas City, Missouri

Attendance: 10,712

Kansas City Wizards won 3–1 on aggregate.

Conference Finals

Eastern Conference

November 14, 2003

New England Revolution	0–1 (a.e.t.)	Chicago Fire
		Armas   101'

Soldier Field
Chicago

Attendance: 14,610

---

Western Conference

November 15, 2003

Kansas City Wizards	2–3 (a.e.t.)	San Jose Earthquakes
Simutenkov   57' Klein   72'		Lagos   61' Mullan   83' Donovan   117'

Spartan Stadium
San Jose, California

Attendance: 16,108

MLS Cup 2003

Main article: MLS Cup 2003

November 23, 2003

Chicago Fire	2–4	San Jose Earthquakes
Beasley   49' Roner   54' (o.g.)		Ekelund   5' Donovan   38', 71' Mulrooney   50'

Home Depot Center
Carson, California

Attendance: 27,000

CONCACAF Champions' Cup

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

Awards and statistics

Team awards

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

Individual awards

"text-align: center;"	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

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

Goal scoring totals

"text-align: center;"	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

"text-align: center;"	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

References

External links

• MLS Site