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The 2024 MLS regular season is in the books and team competing in the upcoming MLS Cup Playoffs now know who they’ll take on before things get rolling the Wild Card matches.
Last season, Columbus Crew went all the way under new head coach Wilfried Nancy to lift MLS Cup and deny LAFC from repeating as champions. The Crew remain strong favorites after a solid season while the Black and Gold are just as capable of mounting a run themselves.
While the likes of D.C. United and Philadelphia Union were eliminated on the final day of the regular season, Atlanta United and CF Montréal clinched the final two Eastern Conference postseason slots.
Here’s how thing stand in both conferences ahead of the highly-anticipated MLS Cup Playoffs.
Out West, LAFC clinched the top spot in the division after a 3–1 over San Jose Earthquakes while rivals LA Galaxy fell to second place after its 2–1 defeat to Houston Dynamo. The Black and Gold have home field advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs and will look to get to make use of that to reach MLS Cup for the third straight season.
LAFC will take on the winner of the Wild Card match in Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers. Whichever team wins will travel to BMO Stadium to take on the Black and Gold for the first match of the Best of Three Round One Series.
LA Galaxy is set to take on Colorado Rapids in its Round One matchup. Greg Vanney’s side will be favorites to advance to the conference semi finals with Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec, Marco Reus and Joseph Paintsil leading the way.
The winner of the Galaxy-Rapids Round One series will take on the winner of the Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota United Round One series. RSL have been one of the most consistent teams over the course of the regular season and should get the job done over the Loons to advance in the postseason with striker Cristian ‘Chicho’ Arango the focal point of the attack.
Perhaps the most intriguing Round One matchup in the West is Seattle Sounders vs. Houston Dynamo. Like RSL, both teams were fairly consistent throughout the regular season and have great coaches in Brian Schmetzer and Ben Olsen. The winner of this matchup will square off against LAFC/ in the conference semi finals.
On the opposite side of the league, Inter Miami is arguably the strongest team thanks to a certain Lionel Messi who’s in fine form as of late. Messi also has the best supporting cast in the league in Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Diego Gómez and Julian Gressel, just to name a few players.
The Herons will take on the winner of the Atlanta United–CF Montréal Wild Card clash in the their Round One Best of Three Series, looking to begin the postseason on the front foot at home.
Orlando City and Charlotte FC clash in a Round One series with the Lions as slight favorites. Charlotte are strong defensively but don’t have the same attacking quality that Orlando has up front, meaning the Lions should advance to set up an all-Florida conference semifinal with Miami should the Herons take care of business in their Round One matchup.
NYCFC are another Eastern Conference team with loads of attacking talent but have struggled to consistently perform during the season. FC Cincinnati, however, have been one of the most consistent team ever since Pat Noonan took over in 2022, meaning they should have enough to reach the next phase.
The most balanced Round One matchup in the Eastern Conference is without a doubt Columbus Crew vs. New York Red Bulls. The reigning MLS Cup champions Columbus should be slight favorites, however, given that Nancy is one of the best coaches in MLS and has been working with his group of players longer than new head coach Sandro Schwarz has at Red Bulls.
Should Columbus advance past Red Bulls, it would set up a mouthwatering conference semi final against in-state rivals Cincinnati—the two sides met in last season’s Eastern Conference final with Christian Ramirez scoring a 115th minute winner to send the Crew to MLS Cup.
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