1997 Kansas City Wizards season

Kansas City Wizards
1997 season
Head coach	Ron Newman
Major League Soccer	West: 1st; Overall: 2nd
USOC	Third Round
Playoffs	Conference Semifinals
Top goalscorer	League: Preki (12); All: Preki (13)
Average home league attendance	9,058
	← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 Kansas City Wizards season was the second in team and MLS history. Played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

MLS did not allow matches to end in ties and thus Shootouts were used to decide draws, the stats that follow do not include shootout goals scored and the teams actually point total in the regular season was 49 even though it is shown below as 63. Shootout win= 2 points, Shootout loss= 0 points.

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
0	GK	USA	Mike Ammann
2	DF	USA	Steve Pittman
3	FW	ENG	Paul Wright
4	DF	SCO	Richard Gough
6	DF	USA	Sean Bowers
7	MF	USA	Diego Gutierrez
8	MF	USA	Damian Silvera
8	FW	USA	Jamel Mitchell
9	FW	USA	Ryan Tinsley
10	FW	SCO	Mo Johnston
11	MF	USA	Preki
12	FW	ZIM	Vitalis Takawira


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
13	MF	USA	Mark Chung
14	FW	USA	Frank Klopas
16	MF	USA	John Diffley
17	MF	USA	Edmundo Rodriguez
18	GK	USA	Chris Snitko
19	MF	USA	Jake Dancy
19	DF	LBR	Dionysius Sebwe
20	DF	NGA	Uche Okafor
21	MF	USA	Matt McKeon
22	FW	USA	Brian Johnson
23	FW	USA	Nino DaSilva
27	DF	USA	John DeBrito

Competitions

Major League Soccer


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
32	21	0	11	57	51	+6	63	12	0	4	35	24	+11	9	0	7	22	27	−5

Last updated: 1997.
Source: Major League Soccer

Date	Opponents	H / A	Result F – A	Scorers
March 29, 1997	San Jose Earthquakes	H	2–2 (W)	Johnston Preki
April 5, 1997	Los Angeles Galaxy	H	3–2	Takawira Preki Chung
April 12, 1997	Tampa Bay Mutiny	A	1–2	Preki
April 18, 1997	Dallas Burn	H	2–1	Klopas Chung
April 27, 1997	Tampa Bay Mutiny	H	2–2 (L)	Johnston Wright
May 3, 1997	New England Revolution	A	1–2	Preki
May 10, 1997	Los Angeles Galaxy	H	1–0	Preki
May 18, 1997	NY/NJ Metrostars	A	0–1
May 22, 1997	Columbus Crew	H	3–1	McKeon 2 Chung
May 30, 1997	Los Angeles Galaxy	A	3–1	Wright Takawira Own Goal
June 6, 1997	Dallas Burn	A	1–1 (W)	Wright
June 8, 1997	San Jose Earthquakes	A	3–2	Chung Preki 2
June 15, 1997	San Jose Earthquakes	H	1–3	Bowers
June 21, 1997	D.C. United	H	6–1	Wright Klopas Chung Preki Bowers Rodriguez
June 25, 1997	Tampa Bay Mutiny	H	2–2 (W)	Wright Chung
June 28, 1997	Colorado Rapids	A	3–3 (W)	Takawira 2 Johnston
July 4, 1997	Columbus Crew	A	2–1	Takawira 2
July 6, 1997	Dallas Burn	H	1–3	Tinsley
July 12, 1997	New England Revolution	A	0–2
July 19, 1997	D.C. United	H	3–2	Chung 2 Takawira
July 26, 1997	New England Revolution	H	0–0 (W)
August 2, 1997	Dallas Burn	A	2–1	Chung Preki
August 9, 1997	Tampa Bay Mutiny	A	2–0	Bowers Klopas
August 17, 1997	NY/NJ Metrostars	H	3–3 (W)	Klopas Johnston Chung
August 24, 1997	San Jose Earthquakes	A	2–2 (W)	Preki McKeon
August 28, 1997	Colorado Rapids	H	1–0	Preki
August 31, 1997	D.C. United	A	0–2
September 6, 1997	Colorado Rapids	A	2–1	Johnson Klopas
September 12, 1997	NY/NJ Metrostars	H	0–0 (L)
September 14, 1997	Columbus Crew	A	0–4
September 26, 1997	Colorado Rapids	H	5–2	Johnston 2 McKeon Preki Takawira
September 28, 1997	Los Angeles Galaxy	A	0–2

U.S. Open Cup

July 24, 1997 (1997-07-24) Third Round	San Francisco Bay Seals	2–1	Kansas City Wizards	San Francisco, California
	White 1', 59' Folan 18' Simpson 60'		Klopas 40' Johnston 60' McKeon 66' Preki 87'	Stadium: Negoesco Stadium Attendance: 1,400 Referee: Tim Wayland

MLS Cup Playoffs

Eastern Conference semifinals

October 4, 1997 (1997-10-04) Game 1	Kansas City Wizards	0–3	Colorado Rapids	Kansas City, Missouri
	Pittman 35' Tinsley 52' Rodriguez 84' Preki 84'	Report	Henderson 25' Bravo 67' Paule 75'	Stadium: Arrowhead Stadium Attendance: 10,174 Referee: Brian Hall

October 8, 1997 (1997-10-08) Game 2	Colorado Rapids	3–2	Kansas City Wizards	Denver, Colorado
	Bravo 16', 68' Harris 83'	Report	Takawira 9' Gough 23' McKeon 27' Okafor 51' Klopas 85' Preki 88'	Stadium: Mile High Stadium Attendance: 13,117 Referee: Paul Tamberino

Squad statistics

No.	Pos.	Name	MLS		USOC		Playoffs		Total		Minutes		Discipline
No.	Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	League	Total
13	MF	Mark Chung	32	10	1	0	2	0	35	10	2871	3141	0	0
21	MF	Matt McKeon	31	4	1	0	2	0	34	4	2737	3007	0	0
9	MF	Ryan Tinsley	31	1	1	0	2	0	34	1	2588	2826	0	0
26	FW	Mo Johnston	29	6	1	0	2	0	32	6	2564	2834	0	0
3	FW	Paul Wright	30	5	1	0	1	0	32	5	1646	1770	0	0
0	GK	Mike Ammann	29	0	0	0	2	0	31	0	2597	2777	0	0
20	DF	Uche Okafor	27	0	1	0	2	0	30	0	2386	2641	0	0
11	MF	Preki	27	12	1	0	2	1	29	13	2330	2555	0	0
14	FW	Frank Klopas	27	5	1	1	2	0	30	6	1967	2123	0	0
12	FW	Vitalis Takawira	28	8	0	0	2	1	30	9	2153	2299	0	0
6	DF	Sean Bowers	26	3	1	0	2	0	29	3	2017	2287	0	0
2	DF	Steve Pittman	26	0	1	0	2	0	29	0	2068	2317	0	0
4	DF	Richard Gough	17	0	0	0	2	0	19	0	1457	1637	0	0
17	MF	Edmundo Rodriguez	16	1	0	0	1	0	17	1	543	554	0	0
22	FW	Brian Johnson	14	1	1	0	0	0	15	1	951	966	0	0
18	GK	Chris Snitko	5	0	1	0	0	0	6	0	282	372	0	0
16	MF	John Diffley	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	148	148	0	0
8	MF	Damian Silvera	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	166	166	0	0
19	MF	Jake Dancy	3	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	116	116	0	0
27	DF	John DeBrito	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	53	74	0	0
8	FW	Jamel Mitchell	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	16	16	0	0
23	FW	Nino DaSilva	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	12	12	0	0

Final Statistics