2005 Major League Soccer season

2005 Major League Soccer season

Season	2005
MLS Cup	Los Angeles Galaxy (2nd title)
Supporters' Shield	S.J. Earthquakes (1st shield)
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
Average attendance	MLS Season: 2,900,716 Game Avg.: 15,108
← 2004 2006 →

The 2005 Major League Soccer season was the tenth season of Major League Soccer. The season began on April 2, 2005, and concluded on November 13, 2005 with the first Supporters' Shield victory for the San Jose Earthquakes and a second MLS Cup victory for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Changes from 2004 Season[]

• At the previous MLS Cup, two new expansion franchises were announced to start play in 2005, Real Salt Lake (based at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah) and Club Deportivo Chivas USA (based at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California).
• Because there were now more teams in the west than in the east, the Kansas City Wizards moved to the Eastern Conference.
• The Dallas Burn re-branded as FC Dallas.

2005 in Summary[]

The New England Revolution and FC Dallas began the year as the league's dominant teams, especially when Dallas acquired Carlos Ruiz in a trade after Landon Donovan returned from a disappointing stint with Bayer Leverkusen and wanted to play with his hometown Los Angeles Galaxy. Injuries and inconsistent play slowed FC Dallas down as the season wore on, and the 2001 and 2003 MLS Cup champion San Jose Earthquakes eventually won the regular-season Supporters' Shield with the third-best record in the league's 10-year history. FC Dallas opened its new stadium, Pizza Hut Park, in August, although it did not operate at full capacity until November. As he did at the Home Depot Center, Ruiz scored the first two goals in the new stadium in a 2-2 tie against the MetroStars.

Expansion franchises Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA struggled in their first season, making playoff qualification a routine matter for the other four Western Conference teams. Chivas USA proved a disappointment in terms of consistent attendance, but its derbies against Los Angeles added excitement and intensity to the calendar, even though the Galaxy won all five (four regular season and one U.S. Open Cup) meetings. Real Salt Lake finished second in the league in attendance.

The MetroStars fired head coach Bob Bradley late in the season and qualified for the playoffs with a 2-0 win over Chivas USA on the final day of the season. Their campaign was boosted by former French international Youri Djorkaeff, who proved one of the league's most successful international signings and took over as MetroStars captain.

In the playoffs, Western Conference No. 4 seed Los Angeles knocked off rival San Jose behind inspired play from former Earthquake Donovan. Colorado edged Dallas on penalty kicks after a classic overtime that saw each team score in overtime and Ruiz hit the post with a penalty kick. In the Eastern Conference, New England rallied from a 2-0 aggregate deficit with three goals in the game's final 25 minutes to beat the MetroStars in snowy Gillette Stadium. Defending champion D.C. United crashed out after a 4-0 home loss to the Chicago Fire.

In the conference finals, Donovan scored twice to lead the Galaxy past Colorado, and an early Clint Dempsey goal carried New England into the final. Fire players thought they had tied the game in stoppage time, but a linesman's controversial offside call (proven correct by video replay) denied them the equalizer.

For the second time in four years, Los Angeles beat New England 1-0 in overtime to win MLS Cup. Maligned Guatemalan forward Pando Ramirez, whose only goal on the season came on a penalty kick that hit the post and went in off Joe Cannon's back, scored the game's only goal before a sellout crowd at Pizza Hut Park.

Final standings[]

Eastern Conference[]

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

	MLS Supporters' Shield Runner up, 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs
	2005 MLS Cup Playoffs

Western Conference[]

Western Conference v t
Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	San Jose Earthquakes	64	32	18	4	10	53	31	+22
2	FC Dallas	48	32	13	10	9	52	44	+8
3	Colorado Rapids	45	32	13	13	6	40	37	+3
4	Los Angeles Galaxy	45	32	13	13	6	44	45	–1
5	Real Salt Lake	20	32	5	22	5	30	65	–35
6	Chivas USA	18	32	4	22	6	31	67	–36

	MLS Supporters' Shield, 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs
	2005 MLS Cup Playoffs

Overall[]

Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	San Jose Earthquakes (W1)	64	32	18	4	10	53	31	+22
2	New England Revolution (E1)	59	32	17	7	8	55	37	+18
3	D.C. United (E2)	54	32	16	10	6	58	37	+21
4	Chicago Fire (E3)	49	32	15	13	4	49	50	–1
5	FC Dallas (W2)	48	32	13	10	9	52	44	+8
6	MetroStars	47	32	12	9	11	53	49	+4
7	Colorado Rapids (W3)	45	32	13	13	6	40	37	+3
8	Los Angeles Galaxy	45	32	13	13	6	44	45	–1
9	Kansas City Wizards	45	32	11	9	12	52	44	+8
10	Columbus Crew	38	32	11	16	5	34	45	–11
11	Real Salt Lake	20	32	5	22	5	30	65	–35
12	Chivas USA	18	32	4	22	6	31	67	–36

	MLS Supporters' Shield, 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs
	MLS Supporters' Shield runner up, 2005 MLS Cup Playoffs
	2005 MLS Cup Playoffs

MLS Cup Playoffs[]

Bracket[]

	Conference Semifinals						Conference Finals					MLS Cup 2005
	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[]

New England Revolution advance 3-2 on aggregate.

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Chicago Fire advance 4-0 on aggregate.

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Los Angeles Galaxy advance 4-2 on aggregate.

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

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Conference finals[]

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MLS Cup 2005[]

Conference champions New England Revolution and Los Angeles Galaxy
earn MLS berths to CONCACAF Champions' Cup 2006.

Team Awards[]

• MLS Cup: Los Angeles Galaxy
• U.S. Open Cup: Los Angeles Galaxy
• MLS Supporters' Shield: San Jose Earthquakes
• MLS Reserve Division: D.C. United

Individual awards[]

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Taylor Twellman	New England Revolution
Scoring Champion	Taylor Twellman (17) points	New England Revolution
Defender of the Year	Jimmy Conrad	Kansas City Wizards
Goalkeeper of the Year	Pat Onstad	San Jose Earthquakes
Rookie of the Year	Michael Parkhurst	New England Revolution
Coach of the Year	Dominic Kinnear	San Jose Earthquakes
Comeback Player of the Year	Chris Klein	Kansas City Wizards
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

Top Goal Scorers[]

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	12
5	Christian Gomez	D.C. United	11
	Herculez Gomez	Los Angeles Galaxy	11
	Amado Guevara	MetroStars	11
	Carlos Ruiz	FC Dallas	11
9	Clint Dempsey	New England Revolution	10
	Youri Djorkaeff	MetroStars	10
	Josh Wolff	Kansas City Wizards	10

Goal-Scoring Totals[]

Club	Overall Record	Goals For	Goals For Avg.	Goals Against	Goals Against Avg.
D.C. United	16-10-6	58	1.81 (1st)	27	1.16 (2nd)
New England Revolution	17-7-8	55	1.72 (2nd)	37	1.16 (2nd)
MetroStars	12-9-11	53	1.66 (3rd)	49	1.53 (9th)
San Jose Earthquakes	18-4-10	53	1.66 (4th)	31	0.97 (1st)
FC Dallas	13-10-9	52	1.63 (5th)	44	1.38 (5th)
Kansas City Wizards	11-9-12	52	1.63 (6th)	44	1.38 (5th)
Chicago Fire	15-13-4	49	1.53 (7th)	50	1.56 (10th)
Los Angeles Galaxy	13-13-6	44	1.38 (8th)	45	1.41 (7th)
Colorado Rapids	13-13-6	40	1.25 (9th)	37	1.16 (2nd)
Columbus Crew	11-16-5	34	1.06 (10th)	45	1.41 (7th)
CD Chivas USA	4-22-6	31	0.97 (11th)	67	2.09 (12th)
Real Salt Lake	5-22-5	30	0.94 (12th)	65	2.03 (11th)
Overall Totals		551	2.87

Team Attendance Totals[]

Club	Stadium	Games	Season	Game Avg.
Chicago Fire	Soldier Field	16	275,811	17,238
Colorado Rapids	INVESCO Field	16	218,206	13,638
Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium	16	206,654	12,916
MetroStars	Giants Stadium	16	241,230	15,077
Kansas City Wizards	Arrowhead Stadium	16	155,060	9,691
D.C. United	Robert F. Kennedy Stadium	16	266,617	16,664
New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium	16	200,397	12,525
Los Angeles Galaxy	Home Depot Center	16	387,256	24,204
San Jose Earthquakes	Spartan Stadium	16	208,594	13,037
FC Dallas	Pizza Hut Park	16	179,021	11,189
CD Chivas USA	Home Depot Center	16	273,284	17,080
Real Salt Lake	Rice-Eccles Stadium	16	288,586	18,037
MLS Totals		192	2,900,716	15,108

Coaches[]

Eastern Conference[]

• D.C. United: Piotr Nowak
• Kansas City Wizards: Bob Gansler

Western Conference[]

• Chivas USA: Thomas Rongen
• FC Dallas: Colin Clarke
• Real Salt Lake: John Ellinger
• San Jose Earthquakes: Dominic Kinnear

References[]