# 1996 New York/New Jersey MetroStars season

The 1996 season was the first season in New York/New Jersey MetroStars's existence, in the first season of American Major League Soccer. They played their home games at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The team played 38 matches in the season including 35 Major League Soccer games and 3 friendlies. Eddie Firmani coached the team for their first eight games before being replaced by Carlos Queiroz.
The team is now known as the New York Red Bulls; the entire organization is known as Red Bull New York.

## Players

These totals come from 32 league matches and 3 playoff played in 1996. Only displaying players who capped 5 games or more.
| Player | Position | GP (GS) | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
| Rhett Harty | Defender | 34 (34) | 2845 | 1 | 1 |
| Peter Vermes | Midfielder | 33 (33) | 2970 | 1 | 1 |
| Tony Meola | Goalkeeper | 32 (32) | 2880 | 0 | 0 |
| Giovanni Savarese | Striker | 29 (16) | 1702 | 14 | 1 |
| Tab Ramos | Midfielder | 28 (28) | 2428 | 3 | 10 |
| Nicola Caricola | Defender | 28 (28) | 2357 | 2 | 0 |
| Miles Joseph | Midfielder | 27 (26) | 2197 | 4 | 5 |
| Jeff Zaun | Defender | 24 (22) | 1795 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Knowles | Midfielder | 24 (17) | 1767 | 0 | 0 |
| A.J. Wood | Striker | 23 (15) | 1232 | 5 | 2 |
| Cristian da Silva | Midfielder | 22 (13) | 1268 | 0 | 0 |
| Rob Johnson | Striker | 21 (12) | 1236 | 4 | 3 |
| Roberto Donadoni | Midfielder | 20 (20) | 1800 | 3 | 10 |
| Damian Silvera | Midfielder | 17 (9) | 953 | 0 | 1 |
| Chris Unger | Midfielder | 16 (12) | 1029 | 1 | 1 |
| Ted Gillen | Defender | 16 (10) | 852 | 0 | 0 |
| Antony de Ávila | Striker | 11 (10) | 920 | 8 | 3 |
| Mickey Kydes | Midfielder | 11 (7) | 556 | 0 | 0 |
| Edmundo Rodriguez | Striker | 11 (5) | 473 | 0 | 1 |
| Rubén Darío Hernández | Striker | 10 (9) | 836 | 0 | 3 |
| Kieron O'Brien | Midfielder | 8 (4) | 311 | 1 | 1 |
| Manny Lagos | Midfielder | 6 (6) | 483 | 0 | 2 |
| Andrew Restrepo | Defender | 5 (4) | 343 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Brauchle | Midfielder | 5 (3) | 323 | 0 | 0 |
Source:

## Results
### Friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss
| Date | Home | Away | Score | Metro Goal(s) |
| May 24 | MetroStars | Fiorentina | 0–4 | |
| June 5 | MetroStars | Sporting CP | 1–1 | Wood |
| November 15 | Pennsylvania Natives | MetroStars | 1–2 | Savarese 2 |
Source:

## Final standings

| Place | Eastern Conference | P | W | (so) | L | (so) | F | A | GD | Points |
| 1 | Tampa Bay Mutiny | 32 | 20 | (1) | 12 | (3) | 66 | 51 | +15 | 58 |
| 2 | D.C. United | 32 | 16 | (1) | 16 | (3) | 62 | 56 | +6 | 46 |
| 3 | NY/NJ MetroStars | 32 | 15 | (3) | 17 | (2) | 45 | 47 | -2 | 39 |
| 4 | Columbus Crew | 32 | 15 | (4) | 17 | (5) | 59 | 60 | -1 | 37 |
| 5 | New England Revolution | 32 | 15 | (6) | 17 | (2) | 43 | 56 | -13 | 33 |
| Place | Western Conference | P | W | (so) | L | (so) | F | A | GD | Points |
| 1 | Los Angeles Galaxy | 32 | 19 | (4) | 13 | (4) | 59 | 49 | +10 | 49 |
| 2 | Dallas Burn | 32 | 17 | (5) | 15 | (3) | 50 | 48 | +2 | 41 |
| 3 | Kansas City Wiz | 32 | 17 | (5) | 15 | (2) | 61 | 63 | -2 | 41 |
| 4 | San Jose Clash | 32 | 15 | (3) | 17 | (6) | 50 | 50 | 0 | 39 |
| 5 | Colorado Rapids | 32 | 11 | (2) | 21 | (4) | 44 | 59 | -15 | 29 |