MLS Cup 1998 was the third edition of the
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
, the championship match of
Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States. It took place on October 25, 1998, at the
Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, California, with an attendance of 51,350 people. The final was contested by two-time reigning champions
D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...
and the
Chicago Fire, the first
expansion team to reach the final. Chicago won the match 2–0, with goals scored by
Jerzy Podbrożny
Jerzy "Gumiś" Podbrożny (born December 17, 1966 in Przemyśl, Poland, Przemyśl) is a former Poland, Polish football (soccer), football Striker (association football), striker, one of the top scorers in Football in Poland, Polish football histor ...
and
Diego Gutiérrez in the first half.
Chicago became the first expansion team to win the MLS Cup and the second to complete a domestic
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
by winning the
U.S. Open Cup. D.C. in turn became the first team to reach three consecutive finals, which would be their last under manager
Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution.
He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...
. The match was broadcast nationally on
ABC, where it was watched by an estimated 1 million households.
As the top two finishers in the
MLS Cup Playoffs
The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams quali ...
, both D.C. and Chicago qualified for the
1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 35th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's clu ...
. The clubs faced off once again in the third-place match of the continental tournament, which ended in a 2–2 draw.
Venue
![2008-1226-Pasadena-008-RoseBowl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/2008-1226-Pasadena-008-RoseBowl.jpg)
The
Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, California, was announced as the host venue for MLS Cup 1998 on October 25, 1997. It was to be the first time that the MLS Cup would be played in the Western United States. The stadium, primarily used for
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
, was the home of the
Los Angeles Galaxy
LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
until they moved to the
Home Depot Center
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...
in 2003. The Rose Bowl had also hosted major international soccer events, including the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
gold medal match, the
1994 FIFA World Cup Final, and was selected as the venue of the
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Final
The final of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was an association football match that took place on July 10, 1999, to determine the winner of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup. The host United States and China played to a scoreless draw following dou ...
.
The stadium was converted from
college football to soccer use in eight days, with
yard lines
The rectangular field of play used for American football games measures long between the goal lines, and (53.3 yards) wide. The field may be made of grass or artificial turf. In addition, there are end zones extending another past the goal li ...
covered by green paint to decrease their visibility. The Galaxy missed their opportunity to play for the MLS Cup at home after their loss to Chicago in the Western Conference Final.
Despite projections that the final would be played in front of a smaller crowd, the attendance of 51,350 surpassed the
1997 final. One day before the final, the first Supporters Summit was hosted in Pasadena between fans and MLS officials to discuss rule changes and the direction of the league. The summit was also where funding for the
Supporters' Shield trophy was finalized ahead of its debut in the
1999 season.
Road to the final
The
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
is the post-season championship of
Major League Soccer (MLS), a professional club
soccer league based in the United States that began play in 1996. The league's
third season was contested by 12 teams organized into two conferences, each playing 32 matches during the regular season from April to September. Teams faced opponents from the same conference four times during the regular season and from outside their conference twice.
The season was the first to be played during a
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, necessitating a lighter schedule for two weeks in June.
MLS continued to use the modified version of the sport's rules that it adopted for the 1996 season, including a
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
from to decide tied matches (for which the winners earned one point) and a
countdown clock
A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
that stopped during
dead plays.
The top four teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs, which were organized into three rounds and played primarily in October.
The first two rounds, named the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, were
home-and-away series organized into a
best-of-three
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...
format with a hosting advantage for the higher
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...
. The winners of the Conference Finals advanced to the single-match MLS Cup final, which would be held at a predetermined neutral venue.
MLS Cup 1998 was contested by two-time defending champions
D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...
of the
Eastern Conference and the
Chicago Fire, an
expansion team that finished second in the
Western Conference. Chicago was led by
Bob Bradley
Robert Frank Bradley (born March 3, 1958) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of Toronto FC.
A native of New Jersey and graduate of Princeton University, Bradley coached in the American college game and Maj ...
, former assistant to D.C. United head coach
Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution.
He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...
.
The two teams met twice during the regular season, resulting in 3–1 and 4–1 victories for D.C. United.
Chicago Fire
![Bob-bradley-07-04-09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Bob-bradley-07-04-09.jpg)
The Chicago Fire and
Miami Fusion
The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...
were the first
expansion teams in MLS history, entering during the 1998 season and split between the Western and Eastern conferences, respectively. The two teams participated in the
expansion draft
An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or franchises. This occurs mainly in North American sports. One of the ways of stocking the new team or teams is an expansio ...
, where Chicago selected two players from the
Los Angeles Galaxy
LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
who were later traded back in exchange for goalkeeper
Jorge Campos and midfielder
Chris Armas
Christopher Armas (born August 27, 1972) is an American professional soccer coach and former player. He is currently sharing interim head coach duties at Leeds United with Michael Skubala and Paco Gallardo after the sacking of Jesse Marsch.
...
.
The league allocated several international players to the Fire, including the Polish trio of midfielder
Peter Nowak, striker
Jerzy Podbrożny
Jerzy "Gumiś" Podbrożny (born December 17, 1966 in Przemyśl, Poland, Przemyśl) is a former Poland, Polish football (soccer), football Striker (association football), striker, one of the top scorers in Football in Poland, Polish football histor ...
, and forward
Roman Kosecki
Roman Jacek Kosecki (born 15 February 1966) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Career
In his club career, Kosecki played for RKS URSUS, Gwardia Warsaw, Legia Warsaw, Galatasaray, CA Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, N ...
, who formed the "Eastern Bloc" alongside Czech midfielder
Luboš Kubík.
The team won their first two games, against the Miami Fusion and
Tampa Bay Mutiny
Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium.
The ...
, but fell into a five-match losing streak that lasted until early May.
The losing streak was worsened by a scoring drought, as the Fire went 272 minutes without a goal until scoring four during a match against the
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...
that ended in a shootout defeat. Chicago's offensive pair of Nowak and Kosecki were also frequent targets of fouls, picking up injuries and suspensions during a loss to D.C. United in early May that elicited complaints from manager Bob Bradley over missed calls from the referee.
The Fire broke their losing streak with a victory over the Tampa Bay Mutiny, which marked the beginning of an 11-match winning streak that set a new MLS record. The streak included consistent scoring from Nowak, who was named Player of the Month in May, and several shutouts from goalkeeper
Zach Thornton
Zach Thornton (born October 10, 1973) is an American former goalkeeper who spent 16 seasons in Major League Soccer with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (1996–97), Chicago Fire (1998–2006), Colorado Rapids (2007), New York Red Bulls (2008 ...
, who would be competing for the starting position with Campos.
By the end of May, the team had risen to second place in the Western Conference standings behind the Los Angeles Galaxy, who they defeated twice. Chicago were unable to surpass the Galaxy in the standings, but were able to open a 18-point lead over the third-place
Dallas Burn
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...
by defeating them three times in a three-week period by early July.
The winning streak ended with a loss to the
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...
in July, which was followed by five consecutive defeats that were mostly played away from home. Chicago were without several key players who picked up injuries, including Nowak with a sprained knee that sidelined him for seven matches.
The team remained in second place and eight points ahead of third-place Colorado by early August, and entered September on a four-match winning streak with help from rookie striker
Josh Wolff
Josh Wolff (born February 25, 1977) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Austin FC in Major League Soccer.
Playing career College
Born in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Wolff played three years of colle ...
as a
substitute. Chicago ultimately finished the regular season in second place with a 20–12 record, behind league-leading Los Angeles.
For the team's performance in the regular season, four players were named to the
MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer.
Winners
*Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season.
Most appearances by a player
The following players have appeared ...
, Bob Bradley earned
Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award.
Some of the ...
, Thornton won
Goalkeeper of the Year, and Kubík was named
Defender of the Year.
Chicago entered the playoffs without goalkeeper Jorge Campos, who had returned to
UNAM Pumas
Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Found ...
in Mexico, and faced Colorado in the Conference Semifinals. The first leg, played at
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
, was tied 1–1 at the end of regulation time with a penalty kick from Kubík in the 50th minute and a Rapids equalizer by
Waldir Sáenz in the 79th minute. The match was decided in a shootout that was won 3–2 by the Fire after a conversion by
Jesse Marsch
Jesse Alan Marsch (born November 8, 1973) is an American professional soccer coach and former player who is the current head coach of club Leeds United. Marsch played 14 seasons as a midfielder in Major League Soccer (MLS) with D.C. United, ...
in the sixth round. Chicago finished a two-game sweep of the series with a 1–0 victory at
Mile High Stadium
Mile High Stadium (originally Bears Stadium until 1968) was an outdoor multi-purpose stadium located in Denver, Colorado from 1948 to 2001.
The stadium was built in 1948 to accommodate the Denver Bears baseball team, which was a member of the ...
in Denver during the second leg, taking the lead with another Kubík penalty kick and several saves by Thornton to keep the shutout.
The Fire then played against the Galaxy in the Western Conference Final, which began with a 1–0 Chicago victory at the Rose Bowl that was decided by a late
header scored by Jesse Marsch off a free kick. The second leg was played in front of 32,744 fans at Chicago's
Soldier Field
Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
, setting a new league playoff record, and resulted in another series sweep as the Fire advanced to the MLS Cup final. The team took the lead in the 31st minute through a goal by Nowak, who finished a rebound off goalkeeper
Kevin Hartman, but
Danny Pena equalized six minutes later for the Galaxy.
The match remained tied 1–1 and went to a shootout, where Zach Thornton made three saves to allow Jerzy Podbrożny to win it 2–1 for Chicago in the fifth round.
D.C. United
![Marco Etcheverry cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Marco_Etcheverry_cropped.jpg)
D.C. lost six members of their cup-winning roster in the 1997–98 offseason, including striker
Raúl Díaz Arce
Raúl Díaz Arce (born February 1, 1970 in San Miguel, El Salvador) is a Salvadoran former professional footballer who played as a forward.
He is El Salvador's most prolific goal scorer, with 39 goals in just 68 appearances.
Playing career
1 ...
and midfielder
Ben Iroha to comply with
salary cap
In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...
limitations and three players picked by Miami in the expansion draft. The team responded by signing college players
Carey Talley
Carey Talley (born August 26, 1976) is a former American soccer player.
Career
College
Talley played high school soccer for Houston High School in Germantown, Tennessee. His team won the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association soccer ...
and
Ben Olsen
Benjamin Robert Olsen (born May 3, 1977) is an American sports executive, soccer coach, and former professional player who was formerly the president of Washington Spirit, a professional women's soccer club in the National Women's Soccer Leagu ...
, as well as veteran defender
Geoff Aunger and forward
A. J. Wood. Defender
Eddie Pope
George Edward Pope (born December 24, 1973) is an American former soccer player who last played for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer and spent eleven years as a defender for the United States national team. He spent most of his career pla ...
was also absent for the first weeks of the season after undergoing surgery to remove a
cyst
A cyst is a closed sac, having a distinct envelope and division compared with the nearby tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of cells that have grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which water molecules group together to form a bubble) ...
in his foot. United later acquired forward
Roy Lassiter
Roy Lee Lassiter (born March 9, 1969) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He played the first few years of his professional career in Costa Rica. He returned to the United States to play in Major League So ...
, a former
Golden Boot winner, in a trade with Tampa Bay for
Roy Wegerle
Roy Wegerle (born March 19, 1964) is a former United States men's national soccer team, United States international association football, soccer player who appeared for the national team 41 times between 1992 and 1998. Born and raised in South Afr ...
.
United opened their third season on the road to Miami, winning 2–0 but losing
Jaime Moreno to a red card suspension. The team won their next two matches to extend a winning streak that began in the 1997 playoffs, but lost in their fourth match against the
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...
. D.C. would then lose only two of their next nine matches as they took first place in the Eastern Conference, despite losing several starting players to injuries and suspensions for yellow card accumulation. Starting defender Eddie Pope, who had recovered from his injury, and midfielder
Jeff Agoos were called up to the
U.S. national team for the
1998 World Cup, departing from the team in mid-May and missing six matches.
Without Pope and Agoos, manager Bruce Arena used several lineups with reserve players and different formations, but the team ended their home winning streak in June by losing to the Dallas Burn in a shootout after a 4–4 draw. During a three-match stretch in June, D.C. conceded 10 goals in the shootout loss against Dallas, a 4–3 shootout win against Columbus and a 3–1 loss to Colorado.
United remained atop the Eastern Conference, with only four points above second place,
and regained Agoos and Pope in July at the start of a nine-match winning streak that lasted two months.
The team also hosted the
1998 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The 1998 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 34th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's club ...
and became the first U.S. team to win the continental tournament.
D.C. provided eight players and Arena for the
1998 MLS All-Star Game
The 1998 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 3rd Major League Soccer All-Star Game, played on August 2, 1998, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. A team of United States all-stars, MLS USA, beat a team of International MLS all-stars, ...
, which was contested by teams of American and international players from MLS. United also became the earliest team in MLS history to clinch a playoff berth, doing so on August 7 by winning 1–0 in Dallas. Following the end of the streak, the team lost Agoos, Pope, and playmaker
Marco Etcheverry
Marco Antonio Etcheverry Vargas (born 26 September 1970) is a Bolivian retired professional footballer who played as a forward. A creative playmaker, he is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. Etcheverry played for D.C. ...
to injuries but won three of its remaining four matches. United finished the regular season with a 24–8 record and 58 points, 13 ahead of the second-place Columbus.
D.C. and Los Angeles set a league record with their 24 wins, but the Galaxy's fewer shootouts allowed them to clinch first in the overall standings.
Etcheverry earned the league's
Most Valuable Player Award
In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
for his 19
assists and 10 goals, while Ben Olsen was named
Rookie of the Year.
United faced the Miami Fusion in the Eastern Conference Semifinals but remained without Agoos, Pope, Etcheverry, and forward
Tony Sanneh, who was injured in the regular season finale. Arena also swapped out starting goalkeeper and league shutout leader
Scott Garlick
Scott Garlick (born May 29, 1972 in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper who played 10 seasons in Major League Soccer from 1997 to 2006.
Garlick went on trial to Waterford United in 1994. Initially for a month he stayed f ...
for backup
Tom Presthus
Thomas Presthus (born April 5, 1975 in Edina, Minnesota) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. He spent seven seasons in Major League Soccer and earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1999.
Youth
Presthus grew up in Minnesota playin ...
, who had a stronger record in shootouts. D.C. won 2–1 at home in the first leg of the series with a pair of goals in the first half from Roy Lassiter and Jamie Moreno while successfully suppressing the Miami offense. The second leg in Miami ended scoreless in regulation time after Lassiter was ejected in the third minute and several shots hit the crossbar. United won 2–2 in the shootout to advance, with two saves from Presthus to allow Agoos to score the winning penalty in the fifth round.
The Eastern Conference Final paired D.C. United against the Columbus Crew, who had defeated the
MetroStars to set up a rematch of the previous year's conference final. United hosted the Crew in the first leg and won 2–0 with a pair of second-half goals from Sanneh and Etcheverry to complement a strong defensive performance that shut out league scoring leaders
Stern John and
Brian McBride
Brian Robert McBride (born June 19, 1972) is an American former soccer player who played as a forward for Columbus Crew, Fulham and Chicago Fire. He is the fifth-highest all-time leading goalscorer for the United States national team.
For m ...
. The second leg marked the end of D.C.'s 13-match playoff winning streak after the team lost 4–2 to the home side on the narrow pitch at
Ohio Stadium in Columbus. The result was blamed on a poor defending that allowed the Crew to build a 3–0 lead in under 50 minutes that was later cut to one goal by Sanneh and Lassiter before a final goal for Columbus in the 81st minute. United clinched its third consecutive MLS Cup appearance through a 3–0 in the third leg, played again at home in Washington, D.C. The home team dominated possession and struck first with an Agoos goal in the 11th minute and followed up with a brace by Lassiter that culminated in converting an intercepted
backpass in the 79th minute.
Summary of results
:''Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away). Playoffs were in
best-of-three
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...
format with
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
if scores were tied.''
Broadcasting
The MLS Cup final was broadcast in the United States on
ABC with English commentary and Spanish via
secondary audio program
Second audio program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. Used mostly for audio description or oth ...
ming. For the third consecutive year, the ABC broadcast was led by play-by-play announcer
Phil Schoen
Phil may refer to:
* Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names
* Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil"
* Phil, Kentucky, United States
* ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film
* -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root term ...
and color commentator
Ty Keough
William “Ty” Keough (born December 19, 1956 in St. Louis, Missouri) is a former U.S. soccer player and coach who has served as a soccer broadcaster for several networks. He earned eight caps with the U.S. national team in 1979 and 1980. He ...
, who were joined by field reporters
Seamus Malin and
Bill McDermott. The quartet had worked together on the network's World Cup broadcasts. The television broadcast drew a 1.2
national rating and reached an estimated 1 million households, a 33 percent decrease from previous finals.
The match was also broadcast by local radio affiliates in multiple languages. In Chicago,
WZCH carried the English broadcast,
WRZA carried Spanish commentary, and
WKTA
WKTA (1330 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a multicultural ethnic format. Licensed to Evanston, Illinois, United States, the station serves the Chicago area. The station is currently owned by Polnet Communications, Ltd. The transmitter's po ...
had the match in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
. The Spanish broadcast was aired on
WACA in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area.
Match
Summary
![Piotr Nowak in 2016](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Piotr_Nowak_in_2016.jpg)
The MLS Cup final was played on a warm and sunny afternoon at the Rose Bowl, unlike the rainy weather in the first two cups, in front of 51,350 spectators.
Chicago played in their red home kit, while D.C. was assigned their white away kit.
United, as two-time defending champions, entered the final as favorites and used an attack-oriented style.
The Fire relied on stronger defending and counterattacks, including from recovered winger
Roman Kosecki
Roman Jacek Kosecki (born 15 February 1966) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Career
In his club career, Kosecki played for RKS URSUS, Gwardia Warsaw, Legia Warsaw, Galatasaray, CA Osasuna, Atlético Madrid, N ...
as a surprise starter, and had five more days to rest after clinching the Western Conference title.
D.C. kicked off the match at 12:30 p.m. and went on an immediate attack that resulted in a shot by Jaime Moreno that flew over the crossbar within 15 seconds.
Their attacks continued, earning them a
corner kick
A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is take ...
in the third minute that was deflected away by Chicago goalkeeper Zach Thornton. A rebound shot by Tony Sanneh was blocked and fell to Marco Etcheverry, who tripped in the box after a challenge by Luboš Kubík, but no penalty was called by referee
Kevin Terry.
Chicago's first scoring chance came in the sixth minute as Piotr Nowak delivered a low
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
into the box that was deflected towards goal by Chris Armas, only to be cleared off the line by defender Jeff Agoos.
After a header by Sanneh nearly broke the deadlock for United in the tenth minute, the Fire's "Eastern Bloc" took control of the midfield and pushed for their own chances.
Jerzy Podbrożny's shot in the 14th minute was saved by Tom Presthus, while an effort by
Ante Razov
Ante Razov (born March 2, 1974) is an American soccer coach and former player who is an assistant coach for Los Angeles FC. One of the leading goal scorers in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the all-time leading goal scorer for t ...
hit the post four minutes later.
second page
Chicago scored the match's first goal in the 29th minute following a build-up from their half and several one-touch passes, culminating in a give-and-go pass from Razov to Nowak in the penalty area. Nowak drew out Presthus and passed sideways to an unmarked Podbrożny for a tap-in from .
United looked to quickly score an equalizer and earned set-piece chances, but the resulting headers from Roy Lassiter and Jaime Moreno went off target. With one minute remaining in the first half, the Fire pushed up on a counterattack through the center midfield to score their second goal of the match. Podbrożny drew in several defenders near the center circle and poked the ball to Razov, who laid it off for Armas to pass it forwards to Nowak.
After a run up the left wing, Nowak cut in towards the center of the penalty area and shot between several players, including
Diego Gutiérrez, who deflected the ball into the goal.
United protested the goal, arguing that the deflection had been off Gutiérrez's arm and Razov had been in an
offside position while blocking the sight of Presthus, but Terry's decision was unchanged.
Chicago entered the second half with momentum from their two goals and dropped to a more defensive position while being outshot 13–4 by D.C., including six shots on target.
Zach Thornton ultimately made eight saves to record a shutout, including a pair of headers from Roy Lassiter in the 48th and 76th minutes.
Another Lassiter header in the 56th minute struck defender
Francis Okaroh
Francis Okaroh (born August 25, 1963 in Enugu, Nigeria) is a retired Nigerian football (soccer) Defender (association football), defender. Playing professionally in the United States, he began his career indoors with the Cleveland Force (1978–1 ...
's hand, but a penalty was not awarded due to his unintentional positioning.
Armas was assigned to tightly mark Marco Etcheverry, preventing him from creating plays for United and limiting the league MVP's involvement in attacks.
D.C. pushed further forward as time ran out, but were stifled by the Fire defense as the team lost by a score of 2–0.
Manager Bruce Arena congratulated Chicago on their performance but criticized the officiating of the match, including the no-call penalties and the offside positions during the second goal. Nowak was named the MLS Cup's
most valuable player for his two assists.
Details
Statistics
Post-match
The Fire became the first expansion team to win a U.S. major league championship and were the second to reach a final after the
St. Louis Blues
The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the ...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
in 1968. They were preceded in soccer by the
Philadelphia Atoms
The Philadelphia Atoms were an American soccer team based out of Philadelphia that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1973 to 1976, at Veterans Stadium (1973–75) and Franklin Field (1976). The club's colors wer ...
, an expansion team in the
North American Soccer League which won the league championship in 1973. The Fire also became the first Chicago-area sports team besides the
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...
to win a league championship in over a decade, and the second soccer champions from the area, following the
Chicago Sting
The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...
. The Sting, who won the 1981 and 1984 North American Soccer League championships, included
Frank Klopas
Fotios "Frank" Klopas ( el, Φώτιος «Φρανκ» Κλόπας; born September 1, 1966) is an American former football player who played as a forward. Following his retirement, he served as a color commentator for the Chicago Fire bef ...
, a veteran forward who had joined the Fire.
The team returned to Chicago and were honored with a small celebration with 1,200 fans at the
Daley Center, which included a meeting with Mayor
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh term ...
.
The Alan Rothenberg Trophy was then displayed at
Chicago City Hall for a week.
Five days after winning the MLS Cup, Chicago completed their
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
by defeating the Columbus Crew in the
1998 U.S. Open Cup Final. They were the second MLS team to complete a double with the Open Cup, following D.C. United in 1996.
A month after the MLS Cup final, D.C. played in the
1998 Copa Interamericana
The 1998 Copa Interamericana was the 18th and final staging of the Copa Interamericana. The final took place between D.C. United and Vasco da Gama and was staged over two legs on 14 November 1998 and 5 December 1998. Both matches were played in t ...
, where they won against South American champions
Vasco da Gama of Brazil over two legs played in the United States. Head coach Bruce Arena left United after the tournament to manage the U.S. national team, with Chicago manager Bob Bradley assisting him during the MLS offseason. Arena was replaced at D.C. by
Thomas Rongen
Thomas Eddy Rongen (born 31 October 1956) is a Dutch American football coach who has spent the majority of his playing and coaching career in the United States. In December 2016, he was named Chief Scout of the United States Men's National Team. ...
, who led the team to a victory at
MLS Cup 1999
MLS Cup 1999 was the fourth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship soccer match of Major League Soccer (MLS) that decided the champion of the 1999 season. It took place on November 21, 1999, at Foxboro Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, ...
over Los Angeles. Chicago had qualified for the 1999 playoffs, but were eliminated in the Western Conference Semifinals by the Dallas Burn.
As MLS Cup finalists, Chicago and D.C. qualified for the
1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
The 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 35th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's clu ...
, which was hosted at
Sam Boyd Stadium
Sam Boyd Stadium (formerly the Las Vegas Silver Bowl) is a football stadium in the western United States, located in Whitney, Nevada, an unincorporated community in the Las Vegas Valley. It honors Sam Boyd (1910–1993), a major figure in the hot ...
near
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
. The two teams were eliminated in the semifinals and met in the third-place match, where they drew 2–2 while using reserve players; a penalty shootout were not played due to the doubleheader schedule, so the third-place position was shared.
References
{{D.C. United matches
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
*
Sports competitions in Pasadena, California
MLS Cup 1998
MLS Cup 1998
1998 in sports in California
October 1998 sports events in the United States
20th century in Pasadena, California