aAs Columbus Crew and LAFC prepare to meet in the 28th edition of the MLS Cup Saturday, American soccer's crown jewel battle has come a long way since the first final in 1996, played between DC United and LA Galaxy on a rain-soaked field in Foxborough , Massachusetts.
But despite the undeniable improvement in the quality of play, coaching and infrastructure that the league has witnessed since then, the first-ever MLS Cup may never be beaten for sheer entertainment.
Long before the seismic impact of Lionel Messi upon his arrival in the United States and still more than a decade removed from David Beckham's pioneering time in the league, Major League Soccer was founded in the wake of the U.S.-hosted World Cup 1994 as the first professional American football league. since the dissolution of the NASL in 1984.
“It was a bit of a starting situation where everyone was trying to figure it out,” said Cobi Jones, the LA Galaxy winger who was one of the new league's first stars. “You talk about the Premier League and football in England, it has been around for hundreds of years. Major League baseball had been around for over 100 years. This was very new. The LA Galaxy expected 15,000 to 20,000 fans for the first game. Ultimately, 67,000 people showed up. They were a little underprepared – didn't know the market, didn't know what to expect.”
In addition to Jones, the Galaxy had one of the league's first stars in flamboyant Mexican goalkeeper Jorge Campos and was coached by former national team boss Lothar Osiander. They raced to the top of the Western Conference, winning twelve straight games to open the season.
In DC it was a different story. Bruce Arena's side won just one of their first seven matches before a turnaround in the latter part of the campaign saw them secure the second seed in the East.
“The team had started slowly,” recalls midfielder Tony Sanneh, who signed with DC midway through the season. “Bruce tried to get me before, but the league wouldn't pay me anymore. They had very strict limits on what they would pay people based on where they came from. It just didn't make sense to move to a big city and actually lose money. So they started losing. The more they lost, I got more and more calls.
“(Arena) has a very competitive environment. You could immediately tell he was building winners. Towards the end of the season our biggest game was in practice.”
After defeating the New York/New Jersey MetroStars two games to one in the first round of the playoffs, DC continued their momentum as they defeated top-seeded Tampa Bay Mutiny in the Eastern Conference Finals. On the other side of the playoffs, the Galaxy defeated the San Jose Clash in three games before defeating the Kansas City Wiz to set up a final showdown with DC in Foxborough.
When they arrived in New England, the DC and LA players discovered the Foxborough field was flooded. Heavy rain from Hurricane Lilli threatened the inaugural MLS showpiece.
“I didn't think about it (being called out),” Jones said. “I think if it would have been in the current era of the sport, it would have been called off. There was a cyclone and a downpour on a pitch that was not suitable for football in that kind of environment. It was a firm field and the water flowed everywhere, making it difficult to play.”
“The weather was bad, but you usually play in bad weather,” Sanneh adds. “It wasn't until we got there and saw the condition of the field that we thought it might be canceled. We just had to get on with it. The field was worse than we thought.”
Initially, the Galaxy was able to adapt best to the adverse weather conditions. Eduardo Hurtado gave the Western Conference champions an early lead. Then, ten minutes into the second half, midfielder Chris Armas waltzed through the DC defense to put LA ahead 2-0 with a low shot that skimmed the sodden grass and into the bottom corner of Mark Simpson's goal.
“When you go up by two, you think, 'This is good,'” Jones says. 'And it wasn't just that we were ahead by two. We also played well. It was just a shame that some injuries occurred and some substitutions messed things up, with Jorge Salcedo being sent off. It showed how much he helped win balls in midfield with Chris Armas, and when he was taken off the situation changed.”
It was one of Arena's substitutions that had the biggest impact of all. Sanneh was a regular starter for DC until an injury late in the season. When he was fit again, he was disappointed to be benched for the MLS Cup final. When called on to replace John Maessner after 59 minutes, he wasted no time in showing why he felt he should have been on the sodden pitch the entire time. He stood up and headed home Marco Etcheverry's free kick in the 73rd minute.
“Once we got to the final, Bruce said, 'We're going with the same line-up as the last match,'” Sanneh recalls. “I thought, 'Wait a minute? “I played every minute, I got one injury and I can't get my place back.”
“For me personally, I was really, really upset. Only the day before the match, my sponsor, Adidas, gave me a nice gift at the stadium during the kick-around. I just thought, 'You know what? Life could be worse. I'm playing in the pros, I'm here, I get free stuff. Just be ready.”
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“When they brought me in, they just said I had to make something happen, make a difference. I went into it full of energy. It was a beautiful ball from Marco and I was able to put it away. I'd like to think I helped change the momentum of the game.
Jones almost regained the momentum in the 78th minute but his swirling 30-yard strike crashed off the crossbar and away to safety.
“You always think they're going in, right?” says Jones. “When you're a good striker, you think every shot you hit is going in. I was a bit upset that it wasn't going in, but you keep playing, keep doing your duty.”
Three minutes later, DC found the equalizer. Once again it was a goal from Man of the Match Etcheverry that provided the catalyst, with Shawn Medved scoring after LA failed to clear the opening free-kick. DC was on the rise, but as Sanneh recalls, they did not enthusiastically seek regulatory victory.
“Our mentality, after we had that big emotional lift, was to play to win the game, but that applies to all aspects of the game,” Sanneh said. “That doesn't just mean scoring, but also putting ourselves in a position not to concede a goal. Fresh subs came in and we made a difference. Our mentality was to win the game, but we didn't take any risks to do that.”
A winning goal almost came in the final minutes of the 90's when Etcheverry's shot from close range hit the post. However, United did not have to wait long for their winning attack. Just four minutes into extra time, defender Eddie Pope – a future USMNT mainstay – rose above Curt Analfo at the near post and headed another expert Etcheverry ball, this time from a corner, high into Campos' net. With the now defunct golden goal rule in effect, there was no right of reply for the Galaxy. The match was over and DC were the first MLS Cup champions.
Pope ran to the sideline, chased by his teammates, and slid, belly first, across the rainy field, giving MLS one of its first iconic images. Pope was still a student at the University of North Carolina, the same school where Michael Jordan rose to fame in the 1980s. Just two days after his MLS Cup win, he would be back at school to take three exams. His Cup-winning header was perhaps the most impactful goal attempt by an active UNC student since Jordan's mid-range jumper in a 1982 NCAA Championship win over Georgetown.
“There were a few guys in that first year who were completing their training,” says Sanneh. “The competition had only just started and no one really knew what to expect. It wasn't like they paid people enough to give up everything.
“All I remember is joy. We had superstars on that team, but we worked so hard together. We were so competitive with that group of fifteen. Our younger players were less known. We were on our way to becoming world-class players. We loved challenging the big names. It was very good that we could all contribute to that game. It brought us all together.”
“When you're 2-0 up and then lose the game after a golden goal, you look back on the different moments where things could have changed, or you could have turned things around,” says Jones. “But you have to remember that you did your best at that moment. We just couldn't do it. DC had a great performance there, with Eddie Pope and Etcheverry with his delivery on set pieces. They beat us in a lot of situations where you would hope your team would have done better.”