MLS Cup Playoff Takeaways: Round 2
Photo from Major League Soccer
Everyone talks about how Supporters’ Shield should matter more because that’s how other leagues work, and three of the top seeds have been eliminated before we even reached the conference finals.
Welcome to American sports, MLS.
The best team doesn’t always win the championship. And it’s better that way.
Here’s what we learned in round 2.
Portland Timbers defeat Colorado Rapids 1-0
I mentioned in my playoff preview post that the Rapids didn’t have a match winner on the roster, and that showed against Portland.
They didn’t necessarily get outplayed because of it, but in a one leg playoff format sometimes you need a guy to just get you a goal.
It never came, and one mistake off a set piece led to a Timbers winner in the 90th minute.
Portland will now host the Western Conference Final, but without superstar attacker Sebastian Blanco due to injury.
It will be interesting to see how they handle it.
Real Salt Lake defeat Sporting Kansas City 2-1
One round after not having a single shot attempt for 120 minutes, RSL went into Kansas City and outplayed them through and through in the second half, resulting in a Bobby Wood stoppage time winner.
That’s the 8th stoppage time goal for RSL, and they now face Portland with a lot of momentum.
Why shouldn’t they believe?
They beat the 2 seed on the road. They beat the 3 seed on the road. The 4 seed should be a cakewalk.
For SKC, it’s another early exit despite a season full of promise.
It’s becoming a trend.
Philadelphia Union defeat Nashville SC 1-1 (2-0 on penalties)
In my playoff preview, I mentioned how Nashville doesn’t lose.
They love to draw, but they don’t lose. And drawing just gets you into penalty kicks. Anything can happen there.
Nashville took that to heart and took it to penalties.
One small problem. If you want to draw your way to MLS Cup, you might want to make your penalty kicks.
Nashville went 0-4, and now Philly will head to their first ever conference final.
Two wins for the Union is officially their deepest playoff run ever!
And they’ll host the Eastern Conference Final, thanks to some lovely help from Taty Castellanos and NYCFC, in more ways than one.
New York City FC defeat New England Revolution 2-2 (5-4 on penalties)
This game had “NYCFC blows it” all over it.
They were the better team all game, and that’s not a small feat against the Supporters’ Shield winners.
But they couldn’t get the goal. No matter how many chances they had, they simply could not get the goal.
And then they did.
Taty Castellanos, the Golden Boot winner in MLS this season, headed home the winning goal in the 110th minute.
NYCFC had avoided throwing away a great opportunity.
And then Castellanos got a red card for an incredibly stupid tackle while already on a yellow card.
Right after that, Tajon Buchanan scored in the 118th minute to tie it back up, and suddenly the let down was back on.
But Sean Johnson made the only save necessary, and NYCFC pulled through on penalties.
They won’t have their best goal scorer on the road against Philly to make MLS Cup Final, but they had still pulled off the upset.
The far and away best team in MLS went one and done in the postseason.
And that’s a good thing.
MLS is not like other soccer leagues around the world.
If we treated it the same way, the season would have been over months ago when it was clear the Revs would be champions. That won’t draw eyes to the game and help it grow.
Sure, there are battles for the CONCACAF Champions League still, but casual fans don’t care about CCL.
Hell, I don’t really even care about CCL.
The playoffs are a more fun way to decide a champion, even if it means the one who wins isn’t actually the best team.
Welcome to American sports.
They’re all like this.
