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Changes brewing in MLS Galaxy picks up two awards in busy week for league
Posted: Tuesday November 16, 1999 09:07 PM
ATLANTA (CNN/SI) -- As Major League Soccer builds toward its championship game on Sunday, the league has kept busy by making a host of announcements this week, including naming its coach and goalkeeper of the year on Tuesday and planning to reveal on Wednesday major changes to its structure and rules. The scheduled a media conference call with Don Garber, who replaced Doug Logan as commissioner in midseason, for Wednesday. An MLS release stated that Garber and Executive Vice President Ivan Gazidis will announce "bold changes affecting MLS' rules of competition for the 2000 season and beyond." The changes Garber and Gazidis are expected to announce include altering the length of the MLS season, changing or abolishing the shootout system used to break regulation ties, switching the method in which official game time is kept, and possibly restructuring the conference alignment of the league's 12 teams. A change in the playoff structure would accompany the change in conference alignments. On Tuesday, MLS handed a pair of awards to Los Angeles, which will face D.C. United in MLS Cup '99 on Sunday at Foxboro Stadium. Kevin Hartman was named the league's goalkeeper of the year, and Sigi Schmid earned MLS coach of the year honors. Schmid replaced Octavio Zambrano at the helm of the Galaxy five games into the 1999 season after Los Angeles struggled out of the gate with just two shootout wins in its first five games. Following his own 2-3 start, Schmid utilized eight of his former players from UCLA and acquired Costa Rican midfielder Roy Myers from the MetroStars to win 13 of his next 16 games and vault Los Angeles to the top of the Western Conference. Schmid's squad allowed the fewest goals in MLS for the second consecutive season, while a league-high nine players tallied nine or more points during the year. Hartman served as the backbone of Los Angeles' record-setting defense, becoming the first MLS goalkeeper to to allow less than a goal per game during the course of an entire season (0.91 goals per game). He tied Matt Jordan of the Dallas Burn in setting a new MLS record for shutouts, recording 11 clean sheets in 32 games. Hartman went 20-12 in 1999 after a 22-7 1998 campaign to become the only goalkeeper to record back-to-back 20-win seasons in MLS' four years. The league will name its defender of the year and its top rookie on Wednesday. On Monday, MLS handed "fair play" awards to Tampa Bay midfielder Steve Ralston and the Columbus Crew, along with naming Paul Tamberino as the referee of the year. Also this week, Pepsi, Honda and Budweiser renewed their sponsorships of the league.
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