1998 Major League Soccer season

The 1998 Major League Soccer season was the third season of the league. Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion played their inaugural seasons as the first two MLS expansion teams. Chicago would become the first expansion team to win the MLS Cup and the first to win it in the inaugural year.

Final standings

• 3 points were awarded for a win.
• 1 point was awarded for a shootout win and considered a win in the standings.
• No points were awarded for a loss or a shootout loss, with the latter being considered a loss in the standings
• The top four teams in each conference advanced to the playoffs.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

• Los Angeles Galaxy awarded qualifying playoff spot for the 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

MLS Cup playoffs

• The ties were a best of three series.

Conference semifinals

Eastern Conference

• D.C. United advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

• Columbus Crew advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

Western Conference

• Los Angeles Galaxy advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

• Chicago Fire advance 2-0, to the Conference Finals.

Conference finals

Eastern Conference

Columbus Crew v D.C. United

October 11, 1998 Game 1

Columbus Crew	0 – 2	D.C. United
		Sanneh  68' Etcheverry  78'

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 17,755

D.C. United v Columbus Crew

October 18, 1998 Game 2

D.C. United	2 – 4	Columbus Crew
Sanneh  65' Lassiter  77'		McBride  8',47' Dooley  37' John  81'

Ohio Stadium Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 13,193

Columbus Crew v D.C. United

October 21, 1998 Game 3

Columbus Crew	0 – 3	D.C. United
		Agoos  12' Lassiter  44', 79'

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Washington, D.C. Attendance: 21,453

• D.C. United advance 2-1, to MLS Cup '98

Western Conference

Chicago Fire v Los Angeles Galaxy

October 10, 1998 Game 1

Chicago Fire	1 – 0	Los Angeles Galaxy
Marsch  86'

Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 25,107

Los Angeles Galaxy v Chicago Fire

October 16, 1998 Game 2

Los Angeles Galaxy	1 – 1 1–2 (SO)	Chicago Fire
Pena  37'		Nowak  31'

Soldier Field Chicago Attendance: 32,744

• Chicago Fire advance 2-0, to MLS Cup '98

MLS Cup '98

Chicago Fire v D.C. United

October 25, 1998

Chicago Fire	2 – 0	D.C. United
Podbrozny  29' Gutiérrez  45'

Rose Bowl Pasadena, California Attendance: 51,350 Referee: Kevin Terry

• Chicago Fire and D.C. United earn MLS berths to 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

Top goal scorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals
1	Stern John	Columbus Crew	26
2	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy	19
3	Roy Lassiter	D.C. United	18
	Raúl Díaz Arce	New England Revolution	18
5	Welton	Los Angeles Galaxy	17
6	Jaime Moreno	D.C. United	16
7	Giovanni Savarese	MetroStars	14
8	Wolde Harris	Colorado Rapids	13
	Mauricio Cienfuegos	Los Angeles Galaxy	13
	Ronald Cerritos	San Jose Clash	13

Player of the Week

Week	Player of the Week	Team
Week 1	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 2	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 3	Frank Klopas	Chicago Fire
Week 4	Jason Farrell	Columbus Crew
Week 5	Stern John	Columbus Crew
Week 6	Paul Bravo	Colorado Rapids
Week 7	Tony Meola	MetroStars
Week 8	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 9	Vitalis Takawira	Kansas City Wizards
Week 10	Peter Nowak	Chicago Fire
Week 11	Stern John	Columbus Crew
Week 12	Jerzy Podbrożny	Chicago Fire
Week 13	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire
Week 14	Roman Kosecki	Chicago Fire
Week 15	Luboš Kubík	Chicago Fire
Week 16	John Harkes	D.C. United
Week 17	Roy Lassiter	D.C. United
Week 18	Marco Etcheverry	D.C. United
Week 19	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 20	Stern John	Columbus Crew
Week 21	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 22	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion
Week 23	Carlos Hermosillo	Los Angeles Galaxy
Week 24	Josh Wolff	Chicago Fire
Week 25	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion

Player of the Month

Month	Player of the Month	Team
March	Cobi Jones	Los Angeles Galaxy
April	Juergen Sommer	Columbus Crew
May	Peter Nowak	Chicago Fire
June	Ross Paule	Colorado Rapids
July	Roy Lassiter	D.C. United
August	Stern John	Columbus Crew
September	Diego Serna	Miami Fusion

Individual awards

Award	Player	Team
Most Valuable Player	Marco Etcheverry	D.C. United
Scoring Champion	Stern John – (57 Pts.)	Columbus Crew
Defender of the Year	Lubos Kubik	Chicago Fire
Goalkeeper of the Year	Zach Thornton	Chicago Fire
Rookie of the Year	Ben Olsen	D.C. United
Coach of the Year	Bob Bradley	Chicago Fire
Goal of the Year	Brian McBride	Columbus Crew
Fair Play Award	Thomas Dooley	Columbus Crew

Winningest coaches (by wins)

Coach	Team	Wins	Loss	PCT.	PTS.	SOW
Octavio Zambrano	Los Angeles Galaxy	24	8	0.750	68	2
Bruce Arena	D.C. United	24	8	0.750	58	7
Bob Bradley	Chicago Fire	20	11	0.645	56	2
Glenn Myernick	Colorado Rapids	16	16	0.500	44	2
Tom Fitzgerald	Columbus Crew	15	17	0.469	45	0
Dave Dir	Dallas Burn	15	17	0.469	37	4
Alfonso Mondelo	MetroStars	14	17	0.452	38	2
Brian Quinn	San Jose Clash	13	19	0.406	33	3
Ron Newman	Kansas City Wizards	12	20	0.375	32	2
Tim Hankinson	Tampa Bay Mutiny	9	8	0.529	25	1
Thomas Rongen	New England Revolution	8	18	0.308	20	2
Carlos Córdoba	Miami Fusion	8	11	0.421	14	5
Ivo Wortmann	Miami Fusion	7	6	0.538	21	0
Walter Zenga	New England Revolution	3	3	0.500	9	0
John Kowalski	Tampa Bay Mutiny	3	12	0.200	9	0
Bora Milutinovic	MetroStars	1	0	0.100	1	1

Team attendance totals

Team Awards

• MLS Cup – Chicago Fire
• U.S. Open Cup – Chicago Fire
• MLS Supporters' Shield – Los Angeles Galaxy

International Competition

CONCACAF Champions' Cup

• D.C. United
  Defeat Joe Public F.C. 8 – 0 in quarterfinals.
  Defeat Deportivo Saprissa 2-0 in semifinals.
  Defeat Toluca 1 – 0 in final.
• Colorado Rapids
  Lose Club León 4 – 3 on aggregate in qualifying round.

Interamerican Cup

• D.C. United
  Defeat Vasco da Gama 2 – 1 on aggregate.

First leg played at RFK Stadium
Second leg played at Lockhart Stadium.

References

• MLS Site