MLS Cup 2001

MLS Cup 2001 was the sixth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), which took place on October 21, 2001, at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. It was contested by the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy, a pair of in-state rivals from California, to decide the champion of the 2001 season. San Jose won their first title, defeating Los Angeles 2–1 in overtime with a golden goal scored by Dwayne De Rosario in the 96th minute.

San Jose were appearing in their first MLS Cup, while Los Angeles had lost two previous finals; the two teams finished at the top of the Western Division in regular season play, which was cut short by the September 11 attacks. The Earthquakes, under their first season with manager Frank Yallop, won their quarterfinals series against the Columbus Crew over two legs and defeated the league-leading Miami Fusion after extra time in the third leg of the semifinals. The Galaxy defeated the MetroStars in the quarterfinals and Chicago Fire in the semifinals with a golden goal scored in extra time of the third leg for both series.

It was the first MLS Cup to match two teams from both the same conference and state against each other, and the second MLS Cup to end with a golden goal. Frank Yallop became the first former MLS player to coach a team to an MLS Cup title. Crew Stadium became the first soccer-specific stadium to host the MLS Cup, which had an attendance of 21,626 spectators.

Venue

The match was played at Columbus Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, and was the first MLS Cup to be hosted at a soccer-specific stadium. Lamar Hunt, owner of the Columbus Crew, built the $28.5 million stadium with soccer and concerts as its primary uses. It had a capacity of 22,500 seats (lower than most MLS venues of the time) and close-in seating next to the field. MLS awarded the hosting rights for the 2000 MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup 2001 to Columbus during the stadium's groundbreaking ceremony on August 14, 1998. The stadium opened on May 15, 1999, and hosted several national team matches in the months before the MLS Cup. The design of Crew Stadium inspired similar soccer-specific stadiums, including the Home Depot Center for the Los Angeles Galaxy and Toyota Park for the Chicago Fire, which began construction in 2001.

Road to the final

The MLS Cup is the post-season championship of Major League Soccer, a professional club soccer league based in the United States. The 2001 season was the sixth in the league's history and was contested by twelve teams organized into three divisions (later renamed conferences). Each team was to play a total of 28 matches in the regular season, which ran from April to September, facing teams within their division four times and outside of their division twice. The shortened schedule, with four fewer matches, and a smaller roster limited to 18 players under a $1.7 million salary cap reflected the league's financial troubles at the time. The MLS Cup Playoffs ran from mid-September to October and was contested by the winners of the three divisions and five wild card teams with the most points regardless of division, who were then seeded based on overall standings. The playoffs were organized into three rounds, the first two being a home-and-away series organized into a best-of-three format with the first team to earn five points advancing, and the single-match MLS Cup final.

MLS Cup 2001 was contested between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy, both from the Western Division. It was the first MLS Cup with finalists from the same division and the same state. San Jose had never appeared in an MLS Cup final, while Los Angeles lost the 1996 and 1999 finals to D.C. United. The finalists played each other twice during the regular season, both won by the Earthquakes, but two additional matches in the series to be played at the end of the regular season were canceled after the September 11 attacks, which shortened the league's season. Due to several teams having already played an extra match, playoff seeding was determined by points per game and matches began a week later. The Earthquakes and Galaxy also met each other in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup in July, which Los Angeles won 10–9 in a penalty shootout following a 1–1 draw after extra time.

San Jose Earthquakes

The San Jose Earthquakes, originally named the San Jose Clash until 2000, had historically been among the worst teams in the league and went through four coaching changes in its first six seasons. The Clash finished sixth overall in the inaugural season and qualified for the playoffs, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Galaxy. The team then missed the playoffs in the following five seasons, including four with losing records and finishing last in the league twice and second-to-last three times. The Earthquakes finished last in the league during the 2000 season with only seven wins and declined to renew the contract of head coach Lothar Osiander. Despite rumors that the team would fold, the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League took over business operations from the Kraft Sports Group in January 2001.

Former D.C. United assistant coach Frank Yallop was hired as San Jose's head coach days before the 2001 draft, where he began a series of player moves alongside assistant coach Dominic Kinnear. During the first week of Yallop's tenure, the Earthquakes acquired defender Jeff Agoos from D.C. United, Manny Lagos