The MLS Cup Playoffs have never been set in stone. In the league’s 27 seasons, no fewer than four playoff formats have been used to varying degrees of success. The current system, which features a single elimination format with seven teams from each conference, is easy to understand and follow but could definitely use some improvement, at least according to MLS.
New York City FC went inside the belly of the beast Sunday at Saputo Stadium and showed off its playoff expertise by eliminating CF Montréal 3-1 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals against Philadelphia Union on Oct. 30 at Subaru Park in Chester.
Facing an intense atmosphere, NYCFC started out aggressively and got an early sixth-minute goal from veteran Argentine playmaker Maxi Moralez.
️ MAXI MORALEZ
Cristian Arango scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage to lift Los Angeles FC to a dramatic 3-2 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy in a Western Conference semifinal on Thursday night.
Denis Bouanga scored the first two goals for LAFC and also contributed indirectly to Arango's match winner to lift the home side to their second Western Conference final since joining MLS in 2018.
LAFC STRIKES FIRST IN EL TRAFICO! ⚫️
Leon Flach scored his first competitive goal of the year and the second of his MLS career to lift the Philadelphia Union to a 1-0 victory over visiting FC Cincinnati in their Eastern Conference semifinal on Thursday night.
Flach's goal lifts the East's top seed Philadelphia (19-5-10, 67 points) to their second consecutive conference finals, which they will host on Oct. 30 against the winner of Sunday's other East semifinal between CF Montreal and New York City FC.
Los Angeles Football Club and the LA Galaxy will meet for the fourth time this season in Thursday night's Western Conference semifinal, but the dynamics are considerably different than their last match in early July.
Regular season West champions LAFC have added European stars like attacker Gareth Bale and defender Giorgio Chielini, as well as more under-the-radar additions up front in Cristian Tello and Denis Bouanga.
After a big summer window in Major League Soccer that saw the arrivals of household names like Lorenzo Insigne, Gareth Bale and Héctor Herrera, an updated list of the MLS highest paid players 2022 has been released by the Players Association.
It's October in North American soccer, meaning it's time for fans in this portion of the world to widely celebrate the one event that largely separates us from the rest of the planet: the playoffs.
It's been glorious.
Austin FC has advanced to the Western Conference semifinals of the MLS Cup Playoffs after overcoming the realest of Real Salt Lake challenges: Pablo Mastroeni's team — a massive underdog away from home at Q2 Stadium — played down a man for 68 minutes, faced 38 shots and still managed to get it to a penalty shootout.
There’s an old cliché in football that the table doesn’t lie. In MLS — where the Supporters’ Shield is a nice accolade but pales significantly to lifting MLS Cup — that couldn’t be further from the truth.
America's most promising goalkeeping prospect is officially heading abroad, as Gabriel Slonina is set to begin a 13-day training spell with Chelsea.
The youngest signing in Chicago Fire history and the youngest starting keeper in MLS history, Slonina became Chicago's most expensive player ever on Aug. 2 when he joined Chelsea for a $15 million fee. The keeper was then loaned back to the Fire for the remainder of the MLS season.