MLS Cup 2001 news & notes

by MLS Press Release
October 18, 2001 - Major League Soccer (MLS)

MLS Press Release

Columbus, OH. - The Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes survived their exciting semifinal playoff series to advance to MLS Cup 2001, the league's sixth annual championship game. MLS Cup 2001, will be held at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH, on Sunday, October 21, at 12:30 p.m. (ET) and televised live on ABC Sports and ESPN International. The event marks the first time MLS Cup has come to Columbus. On July 29, 2000, MLS staged its annual midsummer showcase, the 2000 All-Star Game, at Crew Stadium before a sellout crowd of 23,495 fans.

RECORDING STAR TOYA AND TRIBUTE TO NYPD/FDNY HIGHLIGHT PREGAME ACTIVITIES: Before the Galaxy and Earthquakes take the field to determine the league's champion, a variety of patriotic-themed events honoring our nation's heroes will take place prior to kickoff. An appearance by members of the New York City Fire and Police Department soccer teams will highlight the on-field activities along with a live rendition of America's National Anthem by Arista recording artist, Toya, and a performance by the Columbus Children's Choir.

REFEREE KEVIN STOTT TO MAKE MLS CUP DEBUT: Kevin Stott of Rancho Cucamonga, California will run the middle as the referee at MLS Cup 2001. A FIFA referee, Stott ran the middle in 10 games during the 2001 MLS season. Roger Itaya of San Bernardino, California will serve as the Senior Assistant Referee and Apex, North Carolina's John Wilson will be the Junior Assistant Referee. Three-time OSI Referee of the Year award winner (and a finalist again in 2001) Paul Tamberino of Baltimore, Maryland will serve as the Fourth Official. Tamberino ran the middle as the referee at MLS Cup 2000 and was the Junior Assistant Referee at MLS Cup '96.

CAPTAINS & COLORS: Midfielder Cobi Jones will captain the home Los Angeles Galaxy at MLS Cup 2001, while defender Jeff Agoos will serve as captain for the visiting San Jose Earthquakes. The Galaxy will sport their teal and gold kits while the Earthquakes will don their white uniforms.

ACE/TRU-FIT MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER INJURY REPORT:
- Los Angeles Galaxy - Defender Ezra Hendrickson (strained left hip flexor) and forward Sasha Victorine (sore right knee) are doubtful for MLS Cup 2001.

- San Jose Earthquakes - Midfielder Manny Lagos (strained right hamstring) is listed as questionable for Sunday's championship game.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS - BEST OF THE WEST: Los Angeles won the 2001 MLS Western Division title, but were the Galaxy really the best in the West? Los Angeles won the West with a 14-7-5 record for 47 points, while San Jose finished second with a 13-7-6 mark (45 pts.). However, San Jose won the season series 2-0, beating Los Angeles at the Rose Bowl 3-2 on April 7 (opener for both teams) and downing the Galaxy 3-1 June 9 at Spartan Stadium behind two goals from Landon Donovan. The two clubs were supposed to meet in a home-and-home slate on Sept. 12 and Sept. 16 to close out the season, but those games were canceled due to the tragic events of Sept. 11.

TRUE WORST-TO-FIRST?: Not making the playoffs since 1996, the San Jose Earthquakes were MLS' worst team in 2000 finishing with 7-17-8 mark for a league-low 29 points. Fast forward to 2001, with a new coaching staff and many new players the 'Quakes finished with a 13-7-6 mark (47 pts.). With a victory at MLS Cup, San Jose could become the first true worst-to-first team in league history. What a difference a year makes!

SAN JOSE UNBEATEN WHEN SCORING FIRST: San Jose is 17-0-2 when scoring the first goal in MLS games in 2001. The Earthquakes went 13-0-2 during the regular season and are 4-0 in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

LOS ANGELES NEARLY UNBEATEN WHEN SCORING FIRST: Los Angeles is 13-1-2 when scoring first in 2001. The Galaxy went 11-0-2 when scoring first during the regular season and are 2-1 when tallying the first goal in the playoffs.

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: During the regular season San Jose finished with the league's second stingiest defense, allowing just 1.12 goals per game (Chicago allowed 1.11). MLS Defender of the Year Jeff Agoos and ACE Comeback Player of the Year Troy Dayak anchor the 'Quakes defense, which held opponents to an MLS-low 302 shots during the regular season. During the playoffs, San Jose allowed a league-low 0.40 goals per game. Los Angeles tied for fourth in team defense during the regular season, allowing 1.38 goals per game. The Galaxy allowed 1.40 goals per game during the playoffs, fourth in MLS.

WEST COAST OFFENSE?: Los Angeles was one of two MLS teams to average two or more goals per game during the regular season (Miami was the other). The Galaxy finished second in MLS with 52 goals, a 2.00 per game average. It was a team effort for Los Angeles, as club leading scorer Cobi Jones finished just 18th in MLS scoring with six goals and 10 assist for 22 points. San Jose ranked sixth in MLS scoring, averaging 1.81 goals per contest. However, the Earthquakes Ronald Cerritos (9th), Landon Donovan (11th- tied) and Manny Lagos (11th-tied) all ranked among the top 11 MLS scorers. During the playoffs, San Jose led MLS teams in scoring, averaging 2.20 goals per game. Los Angeles was second, averaging 1.67 goals per match.

SAN JOSE'S JEFF AGOOS THE ONLY PLAYER TO MAKE IT TO FIVE MLS CUPS: San Jose defender Jeff Agoos will become the only MLS player to compete in five MLS Cups when he starts for the Earthquakes on Sunday at Columbus Crew Stadium. As a member of D.C. United from 1996-2000, Agoos won MLS Cup '96, '97 and '99. His 1998 United team lost to Chicago at MLS Cup '98. Agoos has started all five MLS Cups and has never come off the field, playing the entire match of each game.

IRON MAN AGOOS: Jeff Agoos has developed into the "Iron Man" of U.S. Soccer. Since 1996, having appeared in 28 MLS Playoff games with D.C. United and the Earthquakes. The San Jose captain has played every minute of every playoff game his team has been a part of, totaling 2,520 minutes in five seasons and registering a goal and an assist. Agoos has also started and played the full 90 minutes for the U.S. in each of the nine final round World Cup qualifiers in 2001, in leading the Americans to their fourth consecutive World Cup berth.

THEY ONLY COUNT WHEN THEY GO IN: The record for shots in an MLS Cup final is 22, but having the most shots does not always guarantee a victory. In fact, the two teams that registered 22 shots, the 2000 Chicago Fire and 1998 D.C. United, were each held scoreless. The team that scored the most goals in an MLS Cup final, D.C United when the Black-and-Red won 3-2, had only 13 shots. Kansas City's MLS Cup 2000 championship team registered just six shots, tied (with Los Angeles' 1996 runner-up team) for the lowest in MLS Cup history.

19-YEAR-OLD "WUNDERKIND" DONOVAN MAKING AN IMPACT ON AMERICAN SOCCER: He was just 16 years old when he signed a deal with German Bundesliga giant Bayer Leverkusen in February 1999. After two years in Germany, Landon Donovan returned to the United States and has made a major impact on the San Jose Earthquakes and the U.S. National Team. A key player in San Jose's turnaround this year, Donovan leads the MLS Cup Playoffs in scoring with four goals and two assists (10 pts.). He also is now an important part of Bruce Arena's U.S. National Team, creating the penalty kick in the American's recent 2-1 victory over Jamaica that sent the U.S. to World Cup Korea/Japan 2002. On Sunday, the Southern California native (Redlands) will battle many players he grew up watching as a youngster. In addition, the tri-lingual Donovan (he speaks German, Spanish and English) will become the youngest player to ever start an MLS Cup final (19 years, 7 months, 17 days).

ORIGINALS MEET AGAIN: The San Jose Earthquakes and the L.A. Galaxy met once before in the MLS Playoffs, a first round match-up in 1996 won by the Galaxy in three games. Two current members of the Earthquakes, Troy Dayak and Ramiro Corrales were on the 1996 team and Corrales played 61 minutes in the series. The Galaxy has three holdovers from the 1996 series, as defender Greg Vanney, midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos and forward Cobi Jones all played against San Jose in the teams first playoff series.

GALAXY'S PAUL CALIGIURI CHANGED AMERICAN SOCCER FOREVER: He's known by American soccer fans as the man who scored on the "shot heard 'round the world." On Sunday, he will play his final MLS game. It can be argued that no single moment in any athletic contest has so changed its sport's fate in this country, as did Paul Caligiuri's 30-yard violently dipping left-footed volley against Trinidad & Tobago on November 19, 1989. For the first time since shocking England in 1950, the USA had earned a berth in the globe's most prominent sporting event. That one goal resulted in a domino effect that would change soccer forever.

Asserts MetroStars midfielder Tab Ramos, "At least half of the things that have happened in U.S. Soccer since would never have occurred if Paul didn't score that goal. I signed in Spain because somebody saw me play in the World Cup. If we didn't go to Italy who knows how prepared our team would have been in the 1994 World Cup? And the impact that our team made in 1994 provided the push to get this league (MLS) started. That goal was the most important moment that we've had here, at least since I've been playing."

Now, after 110 national team appearances and a professional career that saw him play seven years in Germany and six MLS seasons, the two-time World Cup veteran and 1988 Olympic Team starter will retire at the end of the 2001 MLS season to become the college head coach for both the men's and women's soccer teams at Cal Poly Pomona. The 37-year-old Caligiuri made it to MLS Cup in 1999 with Los Angeles, but the Galaxy fell short to D.C. United. Can he bring home the championship in his final year? NOTE: Caligiuri is a single parent to his two daughters, Ashley (9) and Kayley (5). At 37 years, 2 months and 12 days, Caligiuri will be the oldest player play in an MLS Cup final.

SAN JOSE HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP LEADING BY EXAMPLE: San Jose Earthquakes first-year Head Coach and 2001 MLS Coach of the Year Frank Yallop has experienced all aspects of Major League Soccer. Starting as an All-Star player who served as an assistant coach for two teams, many experts questioned whether or not he was the right choice for the job with the Earthquakes. Hired on February 2, just three days before the 2001 SuperDraft, the 37-year-old Yallop inherited a team that finished last (7-17-8, 29 pts.) in the league in 2000. What Yallop and the Earthquakes' soccer operations staff have done to reshape the team has been nothing short of miraculous. The Earthquakes went 13-7-6 (45 points) and nearly won the Western Division, falling two points shy of the Galaxy in the standings. Yallop, who spent 16 years playing in England and representing Canada in international competition, was a steady defender for the Tampa Bay Mutiny, making 96 appearances from 1996-98. He was an assistant coach for the Mutiny in 1999 and also with D.C. United in 2000. Historically, MLS head coaches have gained experience coaching with U.S. Soccer, in the college ranks, in the USL or as a player or coach in foreign countries. Yallop is the second former MLS player to serve as an MLS head coach, as New England's Walter Zenga went 13-23 in two seasons.

TROY DAYAK DEFIES CAREER-ENDING NECK INJURY: Troy Dayak's golden-goal header proved the difference as the San Jose Earthquakes snatched a 1-0 overtime road victory from the Miami Fusion on Wednesday evening to move on to MLS Cup 2001 on Sunday. But it wasn't long ago that Dayak was told he was never going to play soccer again. Dayak was a member of the original San Jose Clash in 1996 and played three seasons in the defense for the Clash. Dayak, 30, returned to MLS after suffering a "career-ending" injury in 1998. He suffered a herniated disk in his spine and had a piece of bone in his hip surgically fused into his neck. Doctors told him he would never play again and that many have become quadriplegics after suffering the same injury.

After spending two months in a neck brace "looking up at the ceiling," Dayak began the long road back. He worked his way back to the A-League level, spending the past two seasons with the San Francisco Bay Seals, serving as player/assistant coach during the 2000 season. When new Earthquakes Head Coach Frank Yallop came on board, he immediately brought Dayak into camp. He teamed well with Jeff Agoos in central defense in the Spring Training matches, and he looked dangerous going forward on set pieces. Dayak proved naysayers wrong when he started the Earthquakes opener, a 3-2 victory at Los Angeles where he scored the first goal (a header) and made a diving block (of a Mauricio Cienfuegos shot) with his face, putting his body on the line. He started every game for San Jose he has played in during the 2001 season. His incredible comeback led to a start for the West squad at the 2001 MLS All-Star Game and Dayak winning the league's 2001 ACE Comeback Player of the Year award.

THE CANNONS - THE GREATEST SPORTS FAMILY YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF: San Jose Earthquake's goalkeeper Joe Cannon is quickly becoming one of the best goalkeepers in Major League Soccer. A starter for the West at the 2001 MLS All-Star Game, Cannon finished second in MLS with a 1.09 goals against average during the 2001 regular season. But Joe is not the only Cannon competing as a professional athlete. Joe's twin brother Jon is a relief pitcher for the Shreveport Swamp Dragons, the AA minor league team of the San Francisco Giants. But it doesn't end with the twins in this sports crazy family. Younger brother Colt, 19, is a professional skateboarder who recently finished seventh in the Skateboard Park Finals at the 2001 X Games in Philadelphia, Cody, 23, was a scholarship water polo player of the University of Pacific and older brother Dave, 33, was an elite swimmer and diver as a youth. Born on January 1, 1975, the first twins born in Idaho that year, Joe and Jon's first love was snow skiing, as the two were nationally ranked skiers as children (the family spent winters in Sun Valley, Idaho, and fall and spring in Los Altos Hills, CA). Jon and Joe played baseball and soccer together until high school. In high school, Joe played soccer and Jon played baseball. Jon, a left-handed middle reliever, was eventually drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1996. After four years in the Cubs system, he was picked up by the Giants earlier this year. Joe went on to become an All-America goalkeeper at Santa Clara before joining the pro ranks with his hometown 'Quakes.

SOCCER ROCKER ALEXI LALAS RETURNS: Alexi Lalas had it all. He had starred in a World Cup, played in arguably the best soccer league in the world (Italy's Serie A), made a triumphant return to launch Major League Soccer in 1996 and had major endorsements with blue-chip companies. But after four All-Star seasons, the big redhead called it quits at the end of 1999 MLS season, saying he was stepping away from the game at age 29. Away from soccer, Lalas moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music (the singer/guitarist has recorded four CDs and once opened for Hootie and the Blowfish on their European tour) and acting career. He made his mark as a broadcaster, calling soccer for NBC at the Sydney Olympic Games and hosting "MLS ExtraTime" on ESPN2. Now, Lalas is back as a vital member of the Los Angeles Galaxy. He scored key goals for the Galaxy and helped lead the team to MLS Cup 2001.

PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE: Making its third appearance in the MLS Cup, the L.A. Galaxy has a number of players among the league leaders in several playoff categories. Forward Cobi Jones leads MLS with 29 appearances in playoff games and has totaled three goals and seven assists. Galaxy players Mauricio Cienfuegos, Greg Vanney, Ezra Hendrickson, Paul Caligiuri and Kevin Hartman have all seen time in over 20 playoff contests. In contrast, the Earthquakes are making just their second trip to the MLS Playoffs, and have two experienced post-season performers. Jeff Agoos has played in 28 games with D.C. United and San Jose while Zak Ibsen has been in 15 playoff contests with Chicago, L.A. and San Jose. Cienfuegos is the Galaxy scoring leader in the playoffs with seven goals and 13 assists.

BACK IN THE CUP AGAIN: San Jose defender Zak Ibsen is making his third appearance in the MLS Cup. Ibsen won a title in 1998 as a member of the Chicago Fire and appeared in the 1999 championship with the L.A. Galaxy. Teammate Jeff Agoos will play in his league-leading fifth MLS Cup. The original trio of Galaxy members, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Greg Vanney and Cobi Jones will be a part of their third MLS Cup, while Kevin Hartman, Ezra Hendrickson, Paul Caligiuri and will be in their second.

INTERNATIONAL STARS: The L.A. Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes have been well represented on the international level. The Earthquakes boast defender Jeff Agoos, currently third on the U.S. National Team all-time games played list. San Jose also features rising U.S. National Team star Landon Donovan, who has played in six games so far. The Galaxy roster is filled with players who have played for the United States. Forward Cobi Jones is the U.S. National Team leader in appearances, while defenders Paul Caligiuri and Alexi Lalas both concluded outstanding national team careers in 1998. L.A. defender Greg Vanney has played three games this season for the National Team in its quest for the 2002 World Cup, and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made one appearance for the U.S. in 1999.

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