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

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 ...

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 Brian Ching (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional soccer player who played for twelve years in Major League Soccer and represented the U.S. national team for eight years. Ching's professional career began when he was the 16th ...

( San Jose) and Eddie Johnson ( Dallas Burn) 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 The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

Final standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Overall

Playoffs

In the playoffs, the Crew were taken down by the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

, who ended the Crew's streak in the opening leg, and goalkeeper

Matt Reis Matt Reis ( ; born March 28, 1975) is an American former soccer player and coach who played as a goalkeeper. A long-time Major League Soccer mainstay, he has served as goalkeeper coach for LA Galaxy and the United States. Youth and college ...

, 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 The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

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 Davy Arnaud (; born June 22, 1980) is an American soccer coach and former player. During his professional career, he played for Sporting Kansas City, Montreal Impact, and D.C. United, and served on the coaching staff of D.C. United and Houston ...

, 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 Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penal ...

from Rookie of the Year

Clint Dempsey Clinton Drew Dempsey (; born March 9, 1983) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward and midfielder. During his career, he played in the Premier League for Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur and in Major League Soccer ...

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 Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galil ...

goal by scoring three goals in eight minutes, including two from

Alecko Eskandarian Alecko Eskandarian (born July 9, 1982) is an iranian American retired soccer player,He is the son of Andranik Eskandrian, a former player of the Iranian national team and the Esteghlal team . He is a former assistant coach for New York Cosmos ...

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 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 coll ...

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

MLS Cup Playoffs

Conference Semifinals

advance 2–1 on aggregate. ---- '' D.C. United advance 4–0 on aggregate.'' ---- ''

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and the team clubhouse a ...

advance 3–2 on aggregate.'' ---- '' Los Angeles Galaxy advance 2–1 on aggregate.'' ----

Conference finals

---- '' D.C. United advance 4–3 on penalties (3–3 after full time).'' ----

MLS Cup 2004

D.C. United wins the MLS Cup

and D.C. United earn MLS berths to

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2005 The 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 40th. edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The tournament was also a qu ...

Team Awards

– D.C. United * U.S. Open Cup –

* MLS Supporters' Shield – Columbus Crew

Individual awards

Top goal scorers

Goal-Scoring Totals

Team Attendance Totals

Coaches

Eastern Conference

* D.C. United: Piotr Nowak

Western Conference

* Dallas Burn: Colin Clarke *

Bob Gansler Bob Gansler (born July 1, 1941) is a Hungarian-born American soccer player and coach of German descent. He coached the U.S. National Team at the 1990 World Cup, the team's first appearance at the tournament since 1950. Playing career As a pla ...

: Dominic Kinnear

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2004 Major League Soccer Season Major League Soccer seasons 1