MLS Cup 2004 was the ninth edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), which took place on November 14, 2004, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. It was contested between D.C. United and the Kansas City Wizards to decide the champion of the 2004 season. The two teams had qualified for the playoffs after seasons with mixed results that ended in top-two finishes in their respective conferences. D.C. United won the match 3–2, scoring all three of its goals in a seven-minute span during the first half after the Wizards had taken an early lead. Alecko Eskandarian was named the match MVP for scoring the first two goals for D.C., one of which included an alleged handball that was uncalled. The 2004 final featured the first red card in MLS Cup history, awarded for a handball which resulted in a penalty kick for Kansas City's second goal. It was D.C. United's fourth MLS Cup title and their first since 1999, and manager Peter Nowak became the first person to win the MLS Cup as a player and coach. Venue The Home Depot Center in Carson, California, the home venue of the Los Angeles Galaxy, was announced by the league as the host of MLS Cup 2004 on June 23, 2004. The 27,000-seat stadium had hosted the previous edition of the MLS Cup and the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup Final in its first year of operation. The 2004 final marked the first time that a stadium had hosted consecutive editions of the MLS Cup, which would be followed by Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas in 2005 and 2006. Road to the final The MLS Cup is the post-season championship of Major League Soccer (MLS), a professional club soccer league based in the United States. The 2004 season was the ninth in the league's history and was contested by ten teams in two conferences, divided into the east and west. Each team played a total of 30 matches in the regular season from April to October, facing teams within their conference four times, outside of their conference two times, and playing an additional home game against a non-conference team. The playoffs ran from mid-October to November and was contested by the top four teams in each conference. It was organized into three rounds: a home-and-away series with a winner determined by aggregate