Tag: MLS Playoffs

This MLS playoff race is an absolute mess

Put on your boots, because we’re about to wade into a mess

The race for the MLS playoffs is promising that Decision Day will be as bonkers as it ever has been.

The final day of the regular season is less than a month away, with 28 of the league’s 29 teams set for two breathless rounds of simultaneous kickoffs, one for each conference (sorry D.C. United, you’re just going to have to follow along at home).

There’s an old MLS truism that a team just needs to stay in touch until late August or so, and that if said team can start to heat up around Labor Day, you’re looking at a major threat coming from what on paper is a low playoff seed. Plenty of teams with multiple MLS Cups in their trophy case have at least one season where they followed this plan to a tee.

However, in 2023 it’s not so much about getting hot at the right time as simply ending up next to an empty seat during a poorly-played game of musical chairs. Seven teams have clinched their playoff berths already, and two more are simply abysmal.

That leaves 20 teams vying for 11 postseason spots in what is an extraordinarily forgiving set-up. The problem is that almost none of this group seems able to get a solid hold on their invite to the big dance.

Put on your boots, because we’re about to wade into a mess:

MLS has a new playoff format, and it’s complicated

Here’s how the expanded MLS playoffs will work in 2023

Number of teams? Competitions? Length of playoffs? In MLS, the arrow must always go up.

Just four days before the 2023 season kicks off, the league announced details of a new, expanded postseason structure Tuesday. In a major departure from the single-game knockout set-up seen in recent seasons, MLS will allow nine teams from each conference into the playoffs — meaning that 62% of the league’s teams will get in, and over half will host at least one postseason match — and incorporating a best-of-three format for one round.

That last addition, a convoluted development first reported by The Athletic, is a throwback to the league’s early days. MLS had two different versions of a best-of-three format — one settling tied games with the old 35-yard shootout, and another allowing for ties in a “first to five points” set-up — from 1996 to 2002.

“Major League Soccer, in concert with the MLS Product Strategy Committee, undertook a review of the playoff format beginning in 2021 to deliver an enhanced playoff format that would provide fans with more games of consequence and better reward regular season results while maintaining the best elements from the single-elimination format,” said the league in a statement announcing the new format. “Incorporating fan research and feedback, MLS engaged a third-party expert in the global sports industry to support the process with data and analysis.”

Per MLS, every playoff game will be available with MLS Season Pass, with commentary “in either English or Spanish,” with matches featuring Canadian sides also having a French-language option.

How do the MLS playoffs work now?

The playoffs will begin shortly after Decision Day, which will see 28 of the league’s 29 teams square off on October 21, the final day of the regular season. The playoffs will open with wild card games on October 25-26 between the eighth- and ninth-placed teams from each conference, with the higher seed hosting one-off matches. In a concession to the mid-week date and the sheer length of the new playoff format, wild card games will not include extra time, instead proceeding straight to a penalty kick tiebreaker if the teams are level after 90 minutes.

The winners there will move on to round one, effectively a conference quarterfinal round featuring the aforementioned best-of-three format. Those matches, like the wild card games, will proceed straight to penalties if tied after 90 minutes, and a win in the tiebreaker is just as good as a win in regulation. The first team to win two games advances, with the higher seed hosting games one and (if necessary) three. Round one will take place between October 28 and November 12.

With FIFA’s November window falling right in the thick of the playoffs, MLS will take a break from November 13-21, before picking back up for conference semifinals and finals between November 25 and December 3. All playoff pairings past round one will revert to a more conventional one-game format, with ties broken by a more familiar 30-minute extra time and penalties set-up.

The 2023 MLS Cup final will take place December 9 at the higher seed’s home stadium.

Expansion inevitably means dilution

MLS’s release announcing the format change notes that this new structure could see as many as 24 “must-win” matches taking place to winnow the field down for MLS Cup, which doubles the total from the old format.

However, the old format’s single-game format meant that every single game from the start of the playoffs to MLS Cup was must-win. It is true that there were, in gross terms, fewer games where a team’s season was on the line, but in terms of intensity, adding eight games to the playoffs that can’t send anyone home will possibly lower the intensity of the postseason.

There are some clear positives to the new format: 16 of the 18 playoff teams will host at least one playoff match, which means their teams get one more revenue-driving home game, and one that’s an easy sell when it comes to local news outlets that aren’t as focused on MLS coverage. Weird or not, the new format is a boost on that front.

However, that lower intensity from adding games of limited consequence is amplified by a larger playoff field. Teams finishing in eighth and ninth in their conference are by definition not actually having good seasons. In 2022, the ninth-placed team in the East finished 25 points behind the Philadelphia Union, while in the West the gap was 24. In both cases, we’re talking about teams that lost more often than they won, and that has a substantial negative goal difference. Outside of their home markets, any given ninth-place team in an MLS conference is not a team people are clamoring to see get one more game.

Additionally, the structure has gone from one that was as clear-cut as can be to one that is utterly convoluted. Last year, a newcomer could tune into any playoff game and know that the winner advances, and the loser goes home. The format that has turned college basketball’s March Madness into one of the country’s biggest sporting events works in soccer, too.

Now, a casual fan needs a guide. One round is a single-game knockout, but with no extra time. Another round is best-of-three, and can be won by success in a tiebreaker that is merely soccer-adjacent. Then, after that, the single-game knockout is back, but now games can go to extra time? Even for MLS’s oldest heads, it’s an exercise.

That said, MLS clearly made a choice in 1996 and has stuck with it for each of its 28 seasons: the playoff format will be very inclusive. There are more seasons in which 80% of the league got into the postseason than 50%, the lowest-ever percentage (which has only happened twice, in 2010 and 2022). The league has always been like this, and as it continues to grow — St. Louis City SC’s debut brings MLS up to an unwieldy 29 teams — all signs point to a playoff structure that grows with it.

MLS is a strange league, and winning in it has always required adaptation to weird rules and situations. Like it or not, the deeply unorthodox playoff format for 2023 is very much in character.

[lawrence-related id=13840,14132,13996]

Philadelphia Union hit NYCFC with stunning second-half blitz to reach MLS Cup

Three goals in 11 minutes turned the game on its head

After a 34-game regular season and three rounds of single-elimination playoff matches, the league’s two best teams have reached MLS Cup.

The Philadelphia Union produced three goals in a stunning 11-minute blitz on Sunday, turning a one-goal deficit into a 3-1 win over New York City FC in the Eastern Conference final.

The Union will travel to Southern California on Saturday to take on Los Angeles FC, who beat Austin FC easily earlier in the day to secure a home MLS Cup final.

LAFC won the Supporters’ Shield on a tiebreaker over the Union, with both teams finishing level atop the overall MLS standings with 67 points.

The Union, though, were dangerously close to seeing their season end in front of a raucous home crowd at Subaru Park.

Maxi Moralez gave NYCFC the lead in the 57th minute after a picture-perfect team move. Just two minutes later, Andre Blake perhaps saved the Union’s season.

Alexander Callens got on the end of a cross and hammered a point-blank header toward goal, but the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year was there to repel the ball and keep his side from going two goals down with a half-hour to play.

From there, the Union hit the visitors with three quick goals. The first one will be especially galling for NYCFC, which was victimized by a simple quick free kick that saw Julián Carranza get behind the defense and drive home the equalizer.

Carranza played a key role in what would be the game-winner just two minutes later, as his header from Jack McGlynn’s excellent back-post service found Dániel Gazdag for an easy close-range finish.

Cory Burke would add the insurance goal in the 76th minute, leaving the visitors stunned and the home fans in raptures.

This year’s MLS Cup will be the first time since 2003 that the top seeds from the East and the West will square off. It is also guaranteed to produce a first-time MLS Cup winner.

It should be quite the show on Saturday at Banc of California Stadium.

[lawrence-related id=9011,8780,8771]

LAFC showed Austin FC and the rest of MLS how high the bar is in 3-0 playoff demolition

LAFC delivered a message to the rest of MLS in a dominant win

LAFC made sure that the MLS Cup final will be at their house, and in emphatic fashion.

The Supporters’ Shield winners dismantled Austin FC, winning 3-0 on a day where they could have probably doubled their margin of victory. From the opening whistle to full time, it was a truly dominant performance, with goals from Chicho Arango, Kwadwo Opoku, and an own goal from the unfortunate Maxi Urruti.

It spoke to the attacking menace LAFC offers that even a team so defined by a front-foot, aesthetically pleasing style as Austin opted to defend out of a low-ish 4-4-2 block rather than their normally more open approach. Josh Wolff wasn’t asking his players to hoof long balls — a spell of possession between the 7th and 8th minutes saw them connect nearly 20 passes, including one from Ruben Gabrielsen within 40 yards of the LAFC goal — but the men in green were certainly defending for long spells.

While Austin were having some success at luring the home side into unsuccessful pressing attempts, LAFC were still creating all the danger. José Cifuentes crashed a shot off the post in the 17th minute, and as Austin started to move their line up after weathering the initial storm, Brad Stuver had numerous worries on balls in behind for all three LAFC forwards. The biggest of those threats by far saw Stuver misread a diagonal towards Denis Bouanga. The Gabonese winger beat Stuver to it, but his angled shot towards an empty net was blocked behind for a corner.

Unfortunately for Austin, that corner resulted in a goal. Chiellini drew some extra attention on Carlos Vela’s delivery, allowing Arango to slip past Moussa Djitté and head home for a 29th minute opener.

Austin’s choice to stand off of LAFC’s defenders was repeatedly ending with longer-range passes that picked out runs from Bouanga and Vela; if anything, the visitors were in pure survival mode. Stuver made difficult saves on Cifuentes and Vela in the final minutes.

Halftime arrived, and Stats Perform had credited the Verde with just one shot attempt:

The second half continued in the same pattern, with Stuver making saves and Crepeau a spectator. Appropriately, LAFC padded their lead in the same manner, as their set piece dominance all year long paid off again. Urruti had just been sent on as an attacking substitute by Wolff, but his first touch was an unmitigated disaster: unsighted on Vela’s in-swinging service, the ball found his forehead, and he couldn’t react in time to do anything but nod it past Stuver.

Austin were adrift. Even when it seemed that they might be thrown a lifeline when Sebastian Ibeagha stepped on Diego Fagundez’s foot in the LAFC box, referee Armando Villarreal deemed it a clean play, and stuck to his call despite a VAR check revealed clear contact.

For the second-year club, it was just that kind of day. A minute after Crepeau made his first (and only) save of the day, an utterly bizarre bounce gave Opoku a gift at the top of the box, and the young Ghanaian gleefully fired past Stuver in the 81st minute.

Bouanga lashed home a potential fourth with virtually the last kick, only for an offside call to keep the scoreline from more closely reflecting just how big the gulf between the teams was on the day.

LAFC’s win guarantees an MLS Cup final at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday, November 5, with kickoff set for 4:00pm Eastern.

[lawrence-related id=8383,8605]

Austin FC is turning grievance into an art form

The upstart franchise is bravely overcoming the MLS website’s preseason predictions

Austin FC has had a stunning turnaround season, reaching the Western Conference final after finishing near the bottom of the table in its expansion season.

There are a whole host of reasons Austin has been so much better in 2022, like Sebastián Driussi staying healthy and becoming an MVP finalist, Brad Stuver continuing to be one of the league’s best goalkeepers, and Julio Cascante and Ruben Gabrielsen forming a solid center-back pairing. 

But if you ask Austin, another key factor has been the massive chip on their shoulder they’ve been carrying from something pretty innocuous: the league website’s preseason predictions.

Coming off a rough expansion season Austin FC wasn’t predicted to make much noise in 2022 — which head coach Josh Wolff was keen to highlight during the club’s preseason.

Nine months later, Wolff’s list of offenders is still making the rounds. After Austin beat FC Dallas on Sunday to reach the conference final, the club’s owner Anthony Precourt went one step further in airing out his grievances: lamination!

 

There is no way to measure how much Austin’s rise has been fueled by its fiery reaction to a cadre of writers listing out teams on a spreadsheet. But maybe it is working a little?

 

Austin’s never-ending grievance culture has been adopted by its fanbase as well, as supporters carried a banner reading “keep doubting us” into the match at Q2 on Sunday.

But those fans might want to bear in mind, though, that some of those doubts came from inside the house.

[lawrence-related id=8717,8702,8666]

Austin FC’s dream season rolls on to the Western Conference final

Sebastián Driussi scored the winner on an electric night at Q2 Stadium

Austin FC finished one point out of last place in 2021, its expansion season. One year later, Josh Wolff’s team is in the Western Conference final.

The Verde’s dream 2022 continued on Sunday night when they defeated Texas rival FC Dallas 2-1 in the conference semifinal at Q2 Stadium.

The game turned in three first-half minutes, during which the home side scored the two goals they would need on the night.

Moussa Djitté found the net when the ball broke to him off a corner kick in the 26th minute. Three minutes later, league MVP finalist Sebastián Driussi took advantage of a turnover to net an outstanding solo goal that would end up being the game-winner.

FC Dallas produced an improved second half, highlighted by Alan Velasco’s 65th-minute goal to give them a lifeline, but they could not produce the equalizer they needed to force the game into extra time. Brad Stuver was a big reason behind that.

The Austin goalkeeper produced one of the biggest saves of his career with the clock winding down in the second half, denying Jáder Obrian’s point-blank header to keep his side in front.

Second-seeded Austin will now travel to face top seed LAFC on Sunday in the conference final. Wolff said that matchup is what he expected all along.

“It’s what it should have been, it’s what it was always going to be,” the coach said on ESPN after the game, “so we look forward to the opportunity.”

[lawrence-related id=8702,8666,8639]

NYCFC put on counter-attacking clinic, bounce CF Montreal from MLS playoffs

NYCFC were ruthless in transition as they ended Montréal’s season

NYCFC has serious designs on extending their reign as MLS’s top dog for another season.

The defending champions went to Quebec and dismantled CF Montréal 3-1 on Sunday afternoon. Maxi Moralez, Héber, and Talles Magno all scored as the 2021 MLS Cup winners combined mastery in transition moments with some excellent goalkeeping from Sean Johnson (at least, in the first half) to advance to the Eastern Conference final.

Throughout 2022 Montréal earned a reputation as the experts at drawing teams towards over-committing before catching them out. In their biggest game of the year though, NYCFC taught them a lesson, time and again manufacturing transition moments by forcing turnovers just as Montréal committed too many men forward.

Nick Cushing altered his side’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, bringing an extra center back in, but that didn’t hamper their razor-sharp attack. An energetic start resulted in an early goal for NYCFC, with Moralez calmly depositing the ball into an empty net after Gabriel Pereira and Santiago Rodríguez had done most of the heavy lifting.

From that moment through to the last seconds of the half, it was all Montréal. Sean Johnson produced two jaw-dropping saves, Kei Kamara hit the post, referee Drew Fischer turned down a penalty shout from Djordje Mihailovic, and the home side would also have a goal on a clever set piece called back for offside. NYCFC would enter the locker room with more yellow cards (three) than shot attempts (two).

That second shot ended up being critical though, as a jailbreak counter saw NYCFC take a 2-0 lead. Montréal’s fast recovery appeared to have ended the danger, but Rodríguez played a marvelous ball to Héber, whose run went completely undetected. The pass was so good that all the Brazilian veteran had to do was casually tuck the ball past James Pantemis, stunning Stade Saputo.

Wilfried Nancy brought Rommel Quioto on to push for a comeback, but another incisive NYCFC counter ended with Pantemis tripping Pereira in the box. Fischer awarded the obvious penalty, and Talles Magno — with virtually his first touch after coming on — finished it off from the spot.

Montréal would at least salvage some pride with a late goal from Mihailovic — a routine header that Johnson was inexplicably unable to fend off — and gave NYCFC some worries in the final minutes, but ultimately the cutting edge shown by New York City made them worthy winners.

NYCFC will head south on I-95 to take on the Philadelphia Union in a rematch of last year’s conference final, which is set for October 30.

Watch the goals that sent NYCFC past Montréal

[lawrence-related id=8600,8473]

LAFC beat LA Galaxy 3-2, El Trafico remains the best thing in U.S. men’s soccer

The LA rivalry never, ever fails to deliver

There’s nothing quite like Major League Soccer, and within MLS there’s nothing even remotely like El Tráfico.

LAFC and the LA Galaxy always deliver utterly wild games, and their Western Conference playoff clash was right up there with the best of them. A back-and-forth match saw LAFC — who took the lead three different times — pick up a stoppage-time winner from Cristian Arango to emerge 3-2 victors.

The pre-game story was about who wasn’t there. Gareth Bale was left out entirely for LAFC, while Juventus legend Giorgio Chiellini ended up playing roughly three minutes as a last-gasp substitute.

This being El Tráfico, though, something bonkers was sure to come along to change the subject. Fortunately, Riqui Puig delivered just 12 minutes in, in the strangest fashion. Puig burst into the LAFC box and went down under very modest contact. He wasn’t going to get a call, and Jesús Murillo was pretty displeased with the former Barcelona midfielder’s pursuit of a penalty.

Murillo offered some harsh words. Puig? A headbutt…or at least an attempt at a headbutt? Fox Sports 1 never got a truly conclusive angle of Puig at least  making a solid attempt at shutting Murillo up with his forehead.

Referee Allen Chapman had a huge choice to make, and opted to ignore the whole “that’s a headbutt” side of things, giving Puig a yellow card and the Galaxy a huge break.

With the game properly amped up in the overheated tradition of this particular rivalry, it was time for goals. Despite spending much of the early exchanges fending off long spells of Galaxy possession, LAFC broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. It was their best sequence of the half by far, as LAFC connected over a dozen passes before Carlos Vela produced a splendid through ball. Slashing between the center backs, Dénis Bouanga had no trouble firing past Jonathan Bond.

Still, the Galaxy were looking confident, and got level through their rivalry ace Samuel Grandsir. The French winger has taken plenty of flack from Galaxy fans for a lack of production, and for good reason. Against anyone other than LAFC in 2022, he has a meager two goals and three assists.

Against their biggest rivals, though? Grandsir entered the match with one goals and four assists in three total meetings this year, and picked up another goal by smashing home after Eddie Segura’s poor clearance attempt fell to him.

The tempo seemed to drain out of the game at halftime, though it was probably just El Tráfico taking a break before coming back for the big finish. Things stayed weird, though, especially when Vela signaled for a substitution tracking back from a corner kick. Once Steve Cherundolo moved to bring Kwadwo Opoku on for him, there was confusion as the captain seemed to want to stay in, and then very reluctantly trudged off.

Normally that would be a massive storyline, but with what was to come, it will likely end up forgotten. First, LAFC took the lead through Bouanga, who tapped in at the back post after Ryan Hollingshead’s low cross was glanced to him by Opoku’s lunging touch.

The Galaxy needed a goal desperately, but in Dejan Joveljić they had the best player for the situation. Already an MLS record holder thanks to his eight goals as a substitute in 2022, it took the Serbian striker just 86 seconds after subbing on to tie things up.

Victor Vazquez tried to slip Chicharito in, and Joveljić actually appeared to intercept the pass. However, instead of helping LAFC, he just sized up his angle and curled a tremendous shot past Maxime Crepeau to tie things up in the 85th minute.

But this is El Tráfico, and if there’s time for something to be wild, it’ll be wild. LAFC won a corner kick three minutes into stoppage time, and Kellyn Acosta’s back-post service found Bouanga unmarked at the back post. Bouanga tried to sneak in a shot to give himself a hat trick, and though Bond managed to react in time to keep it out, he couldn’t stop Arango from stabbing the rebound home, sending Banc of California Stadium into bedlam.

Watch all the goals from LAFC’s El Tráfico win

[lawrence-related id=8360,7706]

Philadelphia Union grind it out, besting FC Cincinnati 1-0 in MLS playoffs

The Union were just a little bit better in a bruising battle with Cincy

MLS playoff wins are often a long way from pretty, and if that’s how it has to be, the Philadelphia Union are ready.

Philadelphia and FC Cincinnati duked it out at Subaru Park Thursday night, and the Union did just enough in a physical battle to take a 1-0 decision. Leon Flach, who hadn’t scored a goal all season, picked up the game-winner in the second half of a hotly contested Eastern Conference semifinal.

The Union front three of Julián Carranza, Dániel Gazdag, and Mikael Uhre combined for 49 goals and 25 assists on the season. Cincinnati had pretty much the same situation with their attacking trio: Luciano Acosta, Brenner, and Brandon Vazquez totaled 49 goals and 25 assists in MLS this year.

And yet, the stars of this battle ended up being eaten up for long spells by the unsung players in the respective engine rooms. Philadelphia’s ferocious pressing and defensive organization meant the visitors never had time to think. Going the other way, Obinna Nwobodo was seemingly everywhere for Cincy, preventing the Union from assembling any passing fluency.

It was fitting that when the Union broke the deadlock in the 59th minute, it wasn’t an attack-first Designated Player. It wasn’t even a star fullback like Kai Wagner, or a set piece. It was Flach, the midfield shuttler  — that’s Leon “zero goals in 2022” Flach — sweeping the ball past Roman Celentano after a scramble inside the Cincinnati box.

They say goals change games, and while Cincinnati did go for a classic center back out/striker in substitution, with Ian Murphy coming off for Sergio Santos, the game largely remained a hectic scrap. Referee Tim Ford somehow only gave out five yellow cards as the tackles continued to fly in, and if any big-name player stood out, it was Union goalkeeper Andre Blake.

Ultimately, while both of these teams are capable of some lovely soccer, the fact is that they’re two of the rough-and-tumble East’s roughest, tumblingest teams. This was never likely to become a game about technical proficiency. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, Philly is just a little bit more comfortable with the sort of battle this game turned into, and that’s why the Union are off to the conference final.

[lawrence-related id=6585,8352,8360]

Alan Velasco sends FC Dallas through with a cold-blooded Panenka

The 20-year-old asked to be the fifth penalty taker and did not disappoint

With a chance to beat Minnesota United in a penalty shootout and send FC Dallas to the conference semis, Alan Velasco went for the audacious.

Velasco’s cold-blooded Panenka theatrically sailed just over the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, who nearly kept the ball out from the seat of his pants.

A sold-out Toyota Park erupted as FC Dallas sealed its place in the Western Conference semifinal against Texas rival Austin FC.

Emanuel Reynoso had given the visitors a second-half lead before Facundo Quignón found the equalizer for FC Dallas. After two scoreless periods of extra time, the game went into a shootout tied 1-1.

That’s when Velasco, despite being only 20 and in his first season with FC Dallas, asked to take responsibility.

“Nico [Estévez, FC Dallas head coach] asked who wanted to shoot and I told him I wanted to be the fifth taker,” Velasco said after the game.

FC Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes made one stop in the shootout and FC Dallas converted all its kicks. That set the stage for Velasco.

He was ready for the moment.

Watch Velasco’s game-winning Panenka

[lawrence-related id=8473,8448,8408]