Colorado Rapids were the only team that would fall off the chase, eventually finishing 10 points out in the West. Making the playoffs was a basic expectation. Separation in the Eastern ConferenceĪll MLS teams went into the season knowing that four of the five teams in each conference would advance to the playoffs. Lassiter was already among the league leaders in goals. If there was a scouting report for Tampa at this point in the season, it would’ve contained few surprises. A 4-0 loss at San Jose on June 30 could’ve been a demoralizing cap to a run of games separating the contenders. They lost another shootout to Columbus at home on June 22. It was LA at the Rose Bowl on June 16, this time a 2-2 draw that Tampa lost in a shootout. Tampa Bay responded to that 2-1 loss with back-to-back wins at Kansas City and home to Colorado. Harut Karapetyan scored LA’s winner in the 59th. Guillermo Jara opened the scoring in the 30th minute with Lassiter equalizing in the 35th. The Galaxy was already a strong road draw with just under 20,000 in attendance. The LA Galaxy had Jorge Campos in goal and USMNT star Cobi Jones when they made the cross-country trip to Tampa on June 1. Rongen used 17 players in that game while Feyenoord only made four subs. Of note was that Tampa played without Lassiter and with Valderamma only on the field for 24 minutes. They hosted Feyenoord on May 26 in a poorly attended friendly that ended 1-1. A four-game win streak followed with Tampa beating six of the league’s ten teams six weeks into the season. ![]() They lost at home to Dallas on April 28 and lost in a shootout to the MetroStars on May 4. Tampa started with a 3-2 home win over New England on April 13, winning again at Columbus on the 20. Nobody knew what good looked like in a league of debuts. The new league problem loomed for all 10 of the MLS teams at the start of 1996. Stabilizing the backline was USMNT player Cle Kooiman and future MLS coach Frank Yallop. He moved into the lineup, giving them a late spark as a capable wing player. That meant the Olympics that summer with Hejduk joining the Mutiny late in the season. Frankie Hejduk was two years out of college and an established member of the USMNT U-23s. Steve Ralston played in 31 of 32 games as a true rookie and the 18th pick in the college draft. Valderrama to Lassiter took care of the offense when both were on the field in ’96. He built a squad centered around Carlos Valderrama creating opportunities and Roy Lassiter capitalizing on them. Thomas Rongen would win coach of the year in his only season as coach of the Mutiny. ![]() With every team making their debuts, Tampa Bay was the one separating itself throughout the 1996 season. It carried with it the weight of American pro soccer as a series of failures. MLS didn’t start with the benefit of a new-look league. It struggled there as well, with the glory days of the Major Indoor Soccer League long gone. The pro game stayed indoors following the demise of the original North American Soccer League following the 1984 season. Professional club soccer was a risk, even with the enthusiasm following the 1994 World Cup. ![]() The league started without teams in Chicago and Miami, both key soccer markets and with the league itself the investor/operator in Tampa Bay. Major League Soccer missed its start date, delayed until 1996 as organizers tried to establish markets with willing investor/operators. Figuring out how good the Mutiny was in 1996 starts with MLS itself. DC United upended Tampa’s season in the Eastern Conference finals, the first and only time the Mutiny would make it that far before exiting the league following the 2001 season. 58 points from 32 games, nine more than the Western Conference winning LA Galaxy. By J Hutcherson (Apr 7, 2020) US Soccer Players – In 1996, the Tampa Bay Mutiny surprised its new league by finishing at the top of the Eastern Conference with the best overall record in MLS.
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