Author | Daniel Wright |
The Audi Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup Playoffs are the ultimate goal of every MLS team. Each year, the top six teams from each conference (East and West) make it into the playoffs. The top two teams from each conference get a first-round bye while the other teams play each other in the single elimination first round. This year, the twelve teams to make the playoffs include the team with the all-time single-season points record, the team with the player who holds the all-time single-season scoring record, and the team with the best season comeback the league has ever seen. They are:
New York Red Bulls (the enemy)
Atlanta United (Vamos ATL!)
New York City FC (Why are they good?)
D.C. United (What a comeback)
Columbus Crew (The underdog)
Philadelphia Union (They’re from Philly, they ain't gonna do good)
Throughout this season, Atlanta and the Red Bulls have been the top two teams, constantly being separated by one to four points, until the end of the season when Atlanta lost to Toronto 4-1. However, that did not stop Atlanta’s Josef Martinez from setting the all-time scoring record for MLS. The previous record was 27 goals in a single season, but Martinez came out this season and scored a whopping 31 goals during the regular season.
Now, let’s take a look at the West. This year, the best teams are:
Sporting Kansas City (Looking for #3)
Seattle Sounders (Looking for a third appearance in MLS Cup in 4 years)
Los Angeles FC (The newbies)
FC Dallas (Teams from Dallas have a playoff curse worse than Atlanta. Ex1: The Cowboys)
Portland Timbers FC (Love to play dirty)
Real Salt Lake (Good luck)
The battle for a playoff spot in the west has been a rollercoaster this year. Ten of the twelve teams in the west were at one point above the playoff line after the season started. The final playoff spot, earned by Real Salt Lake, was a matter of one point separating RSL and the Los Angeles Galaxy. If LA had won or tied their last game of the year, they would have made it into the playoffs. Sadly for LA fans, they lost. Sporting KC has performed throughout the year, taking down top teams in the league, including Atlanta United. In their inaugural season, LAFC did what Atlanta United did in 2017 and made the playoffs during their first year of MLS play.
The Knockout Rounds
In the first round, Philadelphia traveled to play NYCFC. NYC won, decisively beating Philly 3-1. Also, Columbus Crew traveled to Washington D.C. to play D.C. United. At the end regulation time, the game was tied, which sent the game into extra time. Each team scored one goal in overtime time, ending the game 2-2, which sent the game to penalty kicks where the Crew won 4-2. This meant that Columbus would be playing NY Red Bulls in one side of the Conference Semis and that NYC would play Atlanta on the other side. In the west, Sporting KC and the Seattle Sounders were the two teams to get a first-round bye. The Sounders, looking for their third straight MLS Cup appearance, had come back from being in last place in the west to be 2nd in the west. In the knockout round, Real Salt Lake traveled to Los Angeles to play the first-year team LAFC. RSL beat LA 3-2 to go through to play Kansas City in the Conference Semi-Finals. Struggling team FC Dallas played Portland Timbers at home and lost 2-1 despite Portland having a player ejected.
The Semi-Finals
In the conference Semis, Atlanta traveled to New York to play NYC and beat them 1-0 on a tap-in from Atlanta defensive midfielder Eric Remedi. Later in the week, NYC traveled to Atlanta where the Five Stripes beat them 3-1 on two goals from Josef Martinez and a beautiful free kick goal from Miguel Almiron to send them to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Red Bulls traveled to Columbus for the first leg where they were beaten 1-0 on a goal from forward Gyasi Zardes. In the second leg, Columbus traveled to New York where the Red Bulls won 3-0 to advance to play Atlanta in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the west, Sporting KC traveled to Salt Lake City where RSL and SKC drew on a Cobra Kai style goal from Damir Kreilach and a goal from Sporting forward Diego Rubio. In the second leg, RSL went to Kansas City where they lost 4-2 and allowed Sporting to advance to the Conference Finals. On the other side of the bracket, Portland played Seattle Sounders at home where they beat the Sounders 2-1. In the second game, the Sounders beat the Timbers 3-2 to tie the game up 4-4 on aggregate to send the game to PKs. The Timbers won the shootout 4-2 to secure a spot against Kansas City in the conference finals.
The Conference Finals
In the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Red Bulls went to play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Atlanta, having never beaten the Red Bulls, came out swinging. In the 32nd minute, Josef Martinez scored against NYRB keeper Luis Robles. After that, everything went downhill for New York. In the 55th minute, Bradley Wright-Phillips scored only to have VAR (Video Assistant Referee) overturn his goal. In the 71st minute, Franco Escobar scored a beautiful goal to put the Five Stripes up 2-0. In the 95th minute, Tito Villalba put Atlanta up 3-0 after he curved a shot around two defenders, essentially putting the series away. To move on to the MLS Cup, the Red Bulls would have to beat Atlanta by four goals. Sadly for New York fans, that didn’t happen. In game two, Atlanta was very defensive The Red Bulls only scored once off of a lucky goal from defender Tim Parker. The game ended 1-0 sending Atlanta to the MLS Cup. In the west, Portland hosted Kansas City. The game ended in a 0-0 draw, meaning a win or any non-0-0 tie will send Portland to the MLS Cup. But Portland didn’t want to draw, they wanted to win. Portland went down in the 20th minute off of a goal from Daniel Salloi, but they tied it up in the 52nd with a beautiful strike from midfielder Sebastian Blanco. Ten minutes later, Portland midfielder Diego Valeri put another one on the board for the Timbers when he headed the ball past SKC keeper Tim Melia and defender Ike Opara to put Portland up 2-1. In the 81st minute, Sporting’s Gerso Fernandes tied up the game, but it was still not enough to put Kansas City through. They needed one more, but they let Diego Valeri score one more instead to win it for Portland. After almost nine long months of waiting, we finally have our MLS Cup Final matchup.
The Finals
December 8, 2018, 8 pm. Atlanta v. Portland. Atlanta’s 83rd match, Portland’s 900th. Atlanta defender Michael Parkhurst was in this situation in 2015. Playing the Timbers at home in MLS Cup. That year, the Timbers won the league, giving Parkhurst his fourth MLS Cup loss. Darlington Nagbe, a former Timbers midfielder now playing for Atlanta was looking for his 2nd MLS Cup win in 4 years after he left Portland for the Five Stripes over the offseason in early 2018. The game started off with an incredible tifo depicting the “A-Train” running over the NYCFC and NY Red Bulls logos with the Portland logo tied to the tracks in front of it. There was also an outline of the MLS Cup created by fans holding up plastic sheets.
The game started off slow, with referee Alan Kelly calling very few fouls. Finally, in the 39th minute Josef Martinez received the ball when Michael Parkhurst tackled Portland player Jeremy Ebobisse sending the ball to Martinez who shot around Portland keeper Jeff Attinella to put Atlanta up 1-0. The game stayed 1-0 until the 55th minute when Franco Escobar tapped in a header from Josef Martinez to put the Five Stripes up 2-0. After that, Portland never broke through Atlanta’s rock solid defense. As the game reached the 80-minute mark, the traveling Portland fans, known as the Timbers Army, started sitting down all over the stadium and Atlanta fans covering the sold-out Mercedes-Benz started celebrating despite being at least 10 minutes from the end of the game. By the time Alan Kelly blew the final whistle after five minutes of stoppage time, Atlanta fans were jumping, singing, and celebrating as AU players on the sidelines went running to their still playing teammates when an ear-splitting cheer went up from the Five Stripes faithful as Atlanta United won its first-ever MLS Cup, becoming the second-fastest MLS team to win the championship.
