2003 Major League Soccer season
The 2003 Major League Soccer season was the 8th season of play for Major League Soccer.
Changes from 2002
Instead of a best-of-three series, the MLS Cup Playoffs changed their format so that the quarterfinal fixtures 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 became one match fixtures instead of two legs. The Cup final remained one match.Final standings
Western Conference | ||||||||
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.
x = Playoff Berth
Play-off Bracket
Eastern Conference Semifinals
Chicago Fire won 4–0 on aggregate.----
New England Revolution won 3–1 on aggregate.
Western Conference Semifinals
San Jose Earthquakes won 5–4 on aggregate after golden goal extra time.----
Kansas City Wizards won 3–1 on aggregate.
Conference Finals
Eastern Conference----
Western Conference
MLS Cup 2003
CONCACAF Champions' Cup
- MLS berths to the 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup
San Jose Earthquakes
MLS Cup runner-up
Chicago Fire'''
Team awards
- MLS Cup
- U.S. Open Cup
Chicago Fire
Individual awards
Award | Player | Club |
Most Valuable Player | Preki | Kansas City Wizards |
Scoring Champion | Preki 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 | |
2 | Ante Razov | Chicago Fire | 14 |
John Spencer | Colorado Rapids | 14 | |
3 | Landon Donovan | San Jose Earthquakes | 12 |
Brian McBride | Columbus Crew | 12 | |
Preki | Kansas City Wizards | 12 | |
4 | Mark Chung | Colorado Rapids | 11 |
Damani Ralph | Chicago Fire | 11 | |
5 | Edson Buddle | Columbus Crew | 10 |
Pat Noonan | New England Revolution | 10 |
Goal-scoring totals
Club | Overall Record | Goals For | Goals For Avg. | Goals Against | Goals Against Avg. |
New England Revolution | 12-9-9 | 55 | 1.83 | 47 | 1.57 |
Chicago Fire | 15-7-8 | 53 | 1.77 | 43 | 1.43 |
Kansas City Wizards | 11-10-9 | 48 | 1.60 | 44 | 1.47 |
San Jose Earthquakes | 14-7-9 | 45 | 1.50 | 35 | 1.17 |
Columbus Crew | 10-12-8 | 44 | 1.47 | 44 | 1.47 |
Colorado Rapids | 11-12-7 | 40 | 1.33 | 45 | 1.50 |
MetroStars | 11-10-9 | 40 | 1.33 | 40 | 1.33 |
D.C. United | 10-11-9 | 38 | 1.27 | 36 | 1.20 |
Dallas Burn | 6-19-5 | 35 | 1.117 | 64 | 2.13 |
Los Angeles Galaxy | 9-12-9 | 35 | 1.17 | 35 | 1.17 |
Overall totals | 433 | 2.89 |
Team attendance totals
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 |
Coaches
Eastern Conference
- D.C. United: Ray Hudson
Western Conference
- Dallas Burn: Mike Jeffries and Colin Clarke
- Kansas City Wizards: Bob Gansler
- San Jose Earthquakes: Frank Yallop