Outside90’s Dan Cunningham looks at where things stand as Major League Soccer wraps up the regular season.
So, the 2015 regular season came down to this: Sunday, 25 October, 2015.
After almost eight months of competition, it was time to decide which MLS teams head home and which embark on their playoff journey.
#DecisionDay
Heading into the final day, there was a fairly strong idea of who would make it and who might not, but still with plenty still to determine.
Of course, MLS took the opportunity to create some drama and made the day as big as possible with the aptly branded #DecisionDay. In among other accolades – here is what was up for grabs:
- who earns an Playoff berth, in general;
- who gets a Knockout Round playoff bye;
- who wins the 2015 Supporters’ Shield
How this works
The six teams from each conference who finish the 34-game regular season with the most points qualify for the playoffs to bring the total field to 12 participants fighting it out to be MLS Cup champion.
The top two teams in each conference get byes; third through to sixth place teams in each conference play a first round knockout.
How things panned out on the East
In the Eastern Conference, the race for the play-offs was all but wrapped up.
What was to be determined was the prestigious Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular season record – the highest points tally in the league – across both conferences over the course of the season.
Going into the final day, both the Red Bulls of the east and FC Dallas of the Western Conference entered the field with an impressive 57-point haul, but it was New York Red Bulls who edged it with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire.
This saw them finish the regular season with 60 pints and a 18-10-6 record and for the second time in three years lift the Supporters’ Shield.
They move onto the play-off semi-finals as number one seed and with Columbus Crew SC annihilating D.C. United 5-0, they vault into the number two spot and earn a knockout round bye into the play-offs.
The rest of the eastern places are made up of:
- New York Red Bulls
- Columbus Crew SC
- Montreal Impact
- DC. United
- New England Revolution
- Toronto FC
How things panned out on the West
Over in the Western Conference, it was a little different.
There was the on-going surprise at the decline of both current champions LA Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders.
But also multiple scenarios of what could occur on #DecisionDay to take certain teams through – there were three playoff spots up for grabs with five teams jockeying for them.
FC Dallas took the top seed, as expected. They were followed by the Whitecaps, who despite heading into the #DecisionDay decider against the Houston Dynamo winless in their last five MLS matches, managed a 3-0 victory and clinching the all-important bye into the conference semi-finals.
The Portland Timbers’ 4-1 victory concluded their season with a three-game winning streak to take into the play-offs. Meanwhile, the Seattle Sounders were fighting for their play-off lives and gambled by playing both star players (both not fully fit), Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. The gamble paid off with a 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake.
The LA Galaxy, having won just one of their last seven MLS games – and having slipped from number one in the league to number five in the west – finished the regular season with another loss which saw them miss out on a bye into the conference semi-finals, but still with a shot. Sporting Kansas City made up the numbers, so the Western Conference lineup looks like this:
- FC Dallas
- Vancouver Whitecaps FC
- Portland Timbers
- Seattle Sounders FC
- LA Galaxy
- Sporting Kansas City
How do things play out now?
The top two teams in each conference automatically qualify to the conference semi-finals, and enjoy a week break that serves as a reward for regular-season performance.
Meanwhile, the other four teams in each conference face a quick turnaround for the knockout round, which pits the number three and number six seeds and the number four and number five seeds in winner-take-all matches hosted by the higher seed.
So the 2015 play-offs officially kick off with the following matchups:
- DC. United (4) vs. New England Revolution (5)
- Seattle Sounders FC (4) vs. LA Galaxy (5)
- Montreal Impact (3) vs. Toronto FC (6)
- Portland Timbers (3) vs. Sporting KC (6)
The post-season is a new season
The play-offs are like a season in themselves. This is a time when the preceding eight months hold no merit, and situations when teams like the Galaxy can build an edge on past experience, steeled through three MLS Cup titles in the past four years.
With the final chapter still to go, there is plenty to play for and plenty of drama to be had before determining the 2015 MLS Cup Champion on 6 December.
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