MLS Cup '98
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| Date | 25 October 1998 | ||||||
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| Venue | Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California | ||||||
| Man of the Match |
Piotr Nowak (Chicago Fire) |
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| Attendance | 51,350 | ||||||
| Weather | Partly Cloudy, 74 °F (23 °C) | ||||||
MLS Cup '98 was the final playoff match of the 1998 Major League Soccer season, the 3rd season of first-division professional soccer in the United States since the collapse of the original North American Soccer League.
The match took place on Sunday, 25 October 1998, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, between Chicago Fire Soccer Club and D.C. United. It was the third consecutive appearance in the MLS Cup final by D.C. United and the first appearance by an expansion club (Chicago) in the final. Chicago Fire won the match 2-0, with goals from Jerzy Podbrożny and Diego Gutiérrez. In doing so, Chicago became the first expansion club to win MLS Cup, astonishingly in the team's inaugural season. The win also completed a domestic double for the Fire, the first American club to win both a league championship and the U.S. Open Cup in a single season. DC in turn became the first team to reach three consecutive finals (still standing as of date) and the first club to fail to score.
As the top two finishers in the MLS Cup Playoffs, both D.C. United and Chicago Fire earned the right to represent the United States in the 1999 CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The clubs faced off once again in the third-place match of the continental tournament, almost a year after meeting in MLS Cup '98. That game ended in a 2-2 draw.
The Rose Bowl was the venue chosen by Major League Soccer to host the 1998 MLS Cup final. The home ground of Los Angeles Galaxy from 1996 to 2003, the venerable stadium opened in 1922 and previously hosted events for the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games. The Rose Bowl was also the site of the final matches for both FIFA World Cup 1994 and FIFA Women's World Cup 1999.
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