The San Jose Earthquakes won their second MLS Cup title in the highest scoring championship match in history when they defeated the Chicago Fire 4-2 at the Home Depot Center on this day in soccer history in 2003.

The win made the Bay Area team and their coach Frank Yallop only the second team in MLS to win multiple titles joining D.C. United and Bruce Arena in that category.

The Earthquakes Landon Donovan knocked in a brace in his MLS MVP performance.

San Jose made hard work of winning their second title.  Yallop’s side had to fight back in both the Conference Semifinals and the Conference Championship.  The most memorable match was in the semifinals when the Quakes erased a four goal deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy to advance.

Official soccer jerseys of the San Jose Earthquakes are available at the World Soccer Shop.  Get in the gear of your favorite soccer side when you shop with the World Soccer Shop.



The Quakes made sure they did not follow the come-from-behind trend in the final when Ronnie Ekelund scored from a set piece in the 5th minute.  Donovan scored his first of the game in the 38th minute to give the Quakes a 2-goal advantage at the break.

The two teams exchanged goals over a one minute period in the second half with the Fire’s DaMarcus Beasley drawing one back in the 49th only to see Richard Mulrooney cancel it out in the 50th minute.  An own goal gave the Fire hope until Donovan added an insurance goal with 19 minutes left in regulation and the Fire had no reply.

The win denied the Chicago Fire from winning a domestic treble.  The Fire won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and Supporter’s Shield in 2003.

Soccer Birthdays

1946 – Giorgos Koudas, Greek footballer
1955 – Dinos Kouis, Greek footballer
1971 – Khalid Al-Muwallid, Saudi Arabian football player
1972 – Alf-Inge Håland, Former Norwegian professional football player
1979 – Nihat, Turkish football player
1983 – Nasser Al-Shamrani, Saudi Arabian football player

Soccer Deaths

2007 – Óscar Carmelo Sánchez, Bolivian footballer (b. 1971)

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