2005 Major League Soccer season

The 2005 Major League Soccer season was the 10th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 93rd season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 27th with a national first-division league.

2005 Major League Soccer season

Season	2005
MLS Cup	Los Angeles Galaxy (2nd title)
Supporters' Shield	S.J. Earthquakes (1st shield)
2006 CONCACAF Champions' Cup	Los Angeles Galaxy New England Revolution
Matches played	192
Goals scored	551 (2.87 per match)
Top goalscorer	Taylor Twellman N.E. Revolution Goals: 17
Biggest home win	CHV 5–1 RSL DCU 5–1 RSL
Biggest away win	CLB 0–4 KCW
Highest scoring	NY 5–4 NE
Longest winning run	N.E. Revolution Games: 6 (04/09 – 05/14) S.J. Earthquakes Games: 6 (08/20 – 09/21)
Longest unbeaten run	S.J. Earthquakes Games: 14 (07/20/2005)
Longest losing run	Real Salt Lake Games: 10 (08/10 – 10/05)
Highest attendance	Los Angeles Galaxy Season: 387,256 Game Avg.: 24,204
Lowest attendance	K.C. Wizards Season: 155,060 Game Avg.: 9,691
Total attendance	2,900,716
Average attendance	15,108
← 2004 2006 →

D.C. United

MetroStars

Columbus

New England

Chicago

Kansas City

Colorado

Dallas

Chivas USA

Galaxy

San Jose

Salt Lake

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Locations of teams for the 2005 Major League Soccer season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

At MLS Cup 2004, two new expansion teams were announced to start play in 2005, Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA. Since both teams were assigned to the Western Conference, the Kansas City Wizards moved to the Eastern Conference to maintain regional balance.

The Dallas Burn re-branded as FC Dallas and moved to the league's newest soccer-specific stadium when Pizza Hut Park opened on August 6, 2005.

The league returned to a 32-game schedule which marked the most games played since the 2000 season.

The regular season began on April 2, and concluded on October 16. The 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs began on October 22, and concluded with MLS Cup 2005 on November 13. For the second time in four years, the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the New England Revolution to win MLS Cup before a sell-out crowd at Pizza Hut Park.

Overview

Season format

The season began on April 2 and concluded with MLS Cup on November 13. The 12 teams were split evenly into two conferences. Each team played 32 games that were evenly divided between home and away. Each team played every other team in their conference four times, and every team in the opposite conference twice.

The top four teams from each conference qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs. In the first round, aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners. The conference finals were played as a single match, and the winners advanced to MLS Cup. In all rounds, draws were broken with two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule was not used in any round.

The team with the most points in the regular season was awarded the MLS Supporters' Shield. Additionally, the winner of MLS Cup and the runner-up qualified for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Stadiums and locations

Main article: List of Major League Soccer stadiums

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Chicago Fire	Soldier Field	61,500
Chivas USA	Home Depot Center	27,000
Colorado Rapids	Invesco Field at Mile High	76,125
Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium	22,555
D.C. United	RFK Stadium	46,000
FC Dallas	Cotton Bowl Pizza Hut Park	92,100 21,193
Kansas City Wizards	Arrowhead Stadium	81,425
Los Angeles Galaxy	Home Depot Center	27,000
MetroStars	Giants Stadium	80,200
New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	68,756
Real Salt Lake	Rice-Eccles Stadium	45,017
San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium	30,456

Personnel and sponsorships

Team	Head coach	Captain	Shirt sponsor
Chicago Fire	Dave Sarachan		Honda
Chivas USA	Thomas Rongen		—
Colorado Rapids	Fernando Clavijo		—
Columbus Crew	Greg Andrulis	Robin Fraser	—
D.C. United	Piotr Nowak		Sierra Mist
FC Dallas	Colin Clarke		RadioShack
Kansas City Wizards	Bob Gansler		U.S. Soccer Foundation
Los Angeles Galaxy	Steve Sampson		Budweiser
MetroStars	Bob Bradley	Youri Djorkaeff	—
New England Revolution	Steve Nicol		—
Real Salt Lake	John Ellinger	Jason Kreis	—
San Jose Earthquakes	Dominic Kinnear	Wade Barrett	—

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing coach	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming coach	Date of appointment
Chivas USA	Thomas Rongen	Reassigned	May 30, 2005	Javier Ledesma	May 30, 2005
Chivas USA	Javier Ledesma	End of interim period	June 3, 2005	Hans Westerhof	June 3, 2005
Columbus Crew	Greg Andrulis	Fired	July 16, 2005	Robert Warzycha	July 16, 2005
MetroStars	Bob Bradley	Fired	October 4, 2005	Mo Johnston	October 4, 2005

Standings

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	New England Revolution	32	17	7	8	55	37	+18	59	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	D.C. United	32	16	10	6	58	37	+21	54
3	Chicago Fire	32	15	13	4	49	50	−1	49
4	MetroStars	32	12	9	11	53	49	+4	47
5	Kansas City Wizards	32	11	9	12	52	44	+8	45
6	Columbus Crew	32	11	16	5	34	45	−11	38

Source: MLS

Western Conference

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Jose Earthquakes	32	18	4	10	53	31	+22	64	MLS Cup Playoffs
2	FC Dallas	32	13	10	9	52	44	+8	48
3	Colorado Rapids	32	13	13	6	40	37	+3	45
4	Los Angeles Galaxy	32	13	13	6	44	45	−1	45
5	Real Salt Lake	32	5	22	5	30	65	−35	20
6	Chivas USA	32	4	22	6	31	67	−36	18

Source: MLS

Overall standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Jose Earthquakes (S)	32	18	4	10	53	31	+22	64
2	New England Revolution	32	17	7	8	55	37	+18	59	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
3	D.C. United	32	16	10	6	58	37	+21	54
4	Chicago Fire	32	15	13	4	49	50	−1	49
5	Dallas Burn	32	13	10	9	52	44	+8	48
6	MetroStars	32	12	9	11	53	49	+4	47
7	Colorado Rapids	32	13	13	6	40	37	+3	45
8	Los Angeles Galaxy (C)	32	13	13	6	44	45	−1	45	CONCACAF Champions' Cup
9	Kansas City Wizards	32	11	9	12	52	44	+8	45
10	Columbus Crew	32	11	16	5	34	45	−11	38
11	Real Salt Lake	32	5	22	5	30	65	−35	20
12	Chivas USA	32	4	22	6	31	67	−36	18

Source: MLS
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head record; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (S) Supporters' Shield

MLS Cup Playoffs

Bracket

	Conference semifinals						Conference finals					MLS Cup
	E1	New England	0	3
	E4	MetroStars	1	1
							E1	New England	1
	Eastern Conference
							E3	Chicago	0
	E3	Chicago	0	4
	E2	D.C. United	0	0
												E1	New England	0
												W4	Los Angeles	1
	W1	San Jose	1	1
	W4	Los Angeles	3	1
							W4	Los Angeles	2
	Western Conference
							W3	Colorado	0
	W3	Colorado	0	2(5)
	W2	Dallas	0	2(4)

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Conference semifinals

October 22, 2005

New England Revolution	0–1	MetroStars
	Report	Guevara 34'

Giants Stadium
East Rutherford, New Jersey

Attendance: 10,003

Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela

October 29, 2005

MetroStars	1–3	New England Revolution
Djorkaeff 59'	Report	Cancela 68' Noonan 73' Smith 83'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 9,581

Referee: Brian Hall

New England Revolution advance 3-2 on aggregate.

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October 21, 2005

D.C. United	0–0	Chicago Fire
	Report

Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois

Attendance: 11,493

Referee: Brian Hall

October 30, 2005

Chicago Fire	4–0	D.C. United
Stewart 10' Guerrero 37' Guerrero 45+5' Marsch 67'	Report	Gómez  55'

RFK Stadium
Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 20,089

Referee: Kevin Stott

Chicago Fire advance 4-0 on aggregate.

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October 23, 2005

San Jose Earthquakes	1–3	Los Angeles Galaxy
Clark 68'	Report	Gomez 13' Donovan 39', 87'

Home Depot Center
Carson, California

Attendance: 17,466

Referee: Abiodun Okulaja

October 29, 2005

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–1	San Jose Earthquakes
Grabavoy 67'	Report	Ching 42'

Spartan Stadium
San Jose, California

Attendance: 17,824

Referee: Alex Prus

Los Angeles Galaxy advance 4-2 on aggregate.

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October 22, 2005

FC Dallas	0–0	Colorado Rapids
	Report

INVESCO Field at Mile High
Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 9,625

Referee: Michael Kennedy

October 29, 2005

Colorado Rapids	2–2	FC Dallas
Cunningham 19' Nkong  58' Kotschau 106'	Report	Ruíz 67' Ruiz 105'
Penalties
Mastroeni Kirovski Cunningham Cooke Philippe	5–4	Ruíz Núñez Pareja Vanney Miña

Pizza Hut Park
Frisco, Texas

Attendance: 10,104

Referee: Terry Vaughn

Colorado Rapids advance 5-4 on penalties (2-2 on aggregate).

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Conference finals

November 5, 2005

Los Angeles Galaxy	2–0	Colorado Rapids
Donovan 28', 88'	Report

INVESCO Field at Mile High
Denver, Colorado

Attendance: 12,789

Referee: Brian Hall

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November 6, 2005

Chicago Fire	0–1	New England Revolution
Herron  90+2'	Report	Dempsey 4'

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, Massachusetts

Attendance: 18,118

Referee: Terry Vaughn

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MLS Cup

Main article: MLS Cup 2005

November 13, 2005

New England Revolution	0–1 (AET)	Los Angeles Galaxy
	Report	Ramírez 105+1'

Pizza Hut Park
Frisco, Texas

Attendance: 21,193

Referee: Kevin Stott

Player statistics

Goals

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution	17
2	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	16
3	Jeff Cunningham	Colorado Rapids	12
	Landon Donovan	Los Angeles Galaxy
5	Christian Gómez	D.C. United	11
	Herculez Gomez	Los Angeles Galaxy
	Amado Guevara	MetroStars
	Carlos Ruiz	FC Dallas
9	Clint Dempsey	New England Revolution	10
	Youri Djorkaeff	MetroStars
	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards

Assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	10
2	Landon Donovan	FC Dallas	9
3	Ronnie O'Brien	Colorado Rapids	8
4	Christian Gómez	D.C. United	7
	Amado Guevara	MetroStars
	Dwayne De Rosario	San Jose Earthquakes
	Ronald Cerritos	San Jose Earthquakes
	Brad Davis	San Jose Earthquakes
9	Chris Rolfe	Chicago Fire	6
10	16 players		5

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Pat Onstad	San Jose Earthquakes	12
2	Nick Rimando	D.C. United	11
3	Matt Reis	New England Revolution	10
4	Joe Cannon	Colorado Rapids	8
5	Bo Oshoniyi	Kansas City Wizards	7
6	Scott Garlick	FC Dallas	6
	Kevin Hartman	Los Angeles Galaxy
	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire
9	Jonny Walker	Columbus Crew	5
10	D.J. Countess	Real Salt Lake	4
	Zach Wells	MetroStars

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution
Defender of the Year	Jimmy Conrad	Kansas City Wizards
Goalkeeper of the Year	Pat Onstad	San Jose Earthquakes
Coach of the Year	Dominic Kinnear	San Jose Earthquakes
Rookie of the Year	Michael Parkhurst	New England Revolution
Comeback Player of the Year	Chris Klein	Kansas City Wizards
Golden Boot	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution
Goal of the Year	Dwayne De Rosario	San Jose Earthquakes
Fair Play Award	Ronald Cerritos	San Jose Earthquakes
Humanitarian of the Year	Brian Kamler	Real Salt Lake

Best XI

Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards
Pat Onstad, San Jose	Chris Albright, LA Galaxy Danny Califf, San Jose Jimmy Conrad, Kansas City	Clint Dempsey, New England Dwayne De Rosario, San Jose Christian Gómez, D.C. United Shalrie Joseph, New England Ronnie O'Brien, Dallas	Jaime Moreno, D.C. United Taylor Twellman, New England

Attendance

Club	Games	Total	Average
Los Angeles Galaxy	16	387,256	24,204
Real Salt Lake	16	288,586	18,037
Chicago Fire	16	275,811	17,238
Chivas USA	16	273,284	17,080
D.C. United	16	266,617	16,664
MetroStars	16	241,230	15,077
Colorado Rapids	16	218,206	13,638
San Jose Earthquakes	16	208,594	13,037
Columbus Crew	16	206,654	12,916
New England Revolution	16	200,397	12,525
FC Dallas	16	179,021	11,189
Kansas City Wizards	16	155,060	9,691
Totals	192	2,900,716	15,108