Via Doug McIntyre
FOX Sports Soccer Writer
The conference finals have been set and MLS Cup knockout has now been reduced to the following eight teams FC Dallas and the defending champion New York City FC both advanced on Monday night.
Here are five thoughts on Round One and a preview of what’s going on as the post-season action continues with a pair of games on Thursday.
Dallas tops Minnesota to set up Texas derby
It took 120 dramatic minutes plus penalties, but FC Dallas finally beat the bad luck Minnesota United on Monday evening.
It was a well-deserved victory for the West’s third seed, who took the lead 19-7 (9-3 on target) and controlled 60 percent of the ball. FCD still had to dig deep after Emanuel Reynoso gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the second half which was canceled out by Facundo Quignón nine minutes later:
In the shootout, they have to be perfect. Goalkeeper Dayne St. Minnesota’s Clair made eight saves in the open but made no saves from 12 yards, as Dallas buried all five of their penalties. Alan Velasco converted the winner, setting up a game in great shape between an original MLS club and second- and second-year seed Austin FClet’s beat Real salt lake in the tiebreaker the day before. That game, in the Texas capital, was played on Sunday night.
Defend the champion that outlasts Miami, visit Montreal next
Seems silly to consider NYCFC – the title of champion MLS Cup 2021 – a black horse repeats as the champion. It’s a fair assessment, though: only three teams have won consecutively in 27 MLS seasons, and Pigeon took a different look after losing coach Ronny Deila and subsequent MLS leader is Taty Castellanos for European players in the summer.
City finally found their feet in the hands of caretaker boss Nick Cushing at the end of the campaign, and on Monday they sent out Inter Miami relatively easy, winning 3-0 thanks to goals from Gabriel Pereira, Maxi Morales and Heber. All three were sloppy gifts from tourists, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t worthy either; the hosts ran all over Miami from start to finish. Morales, 35, might be the best of the three:
Cushing & Co. rewards? A rigorous test on Sunday as they travel to Montreal to go up against a team with legitimate MLS Cup aspirations of its own. Team Canada finished third overall in the regular season (after LAFC and Philadelphia) and are the clear favorites to advance to the Eastern Finals with the regular conference champion of the season Philly or upstart Cincinnati.
However, NYCFC still has the hard-earned swagger of a champion. They know exactly what it takes to win. And they have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to weather all kinds of adversity – with their home Yankee Stadium unavailable, Monday’s game was played elsewhere (this time at Citi Field in Queens) for the first time. eleventh in 2022 – that would put most opponents on hold for months. formerly. Defeated or not, these pigeons will not go quietly.
El Trafico stands out in the quarterfinals
The match everyone – except the fans who live in Tennessee – wants to see comes true after LA Galaxy beat Nashville SC to set up a post-season El Trafico match between Galaxy and LAFC on Thursday (10pm ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX Sports app).
On the surface, it’s a mismatch. LAFC – the team that eliminated the Galaxy led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2019 – just won the Supporters Shield for the second time in four years, while Greg Vanney’s side have only returned to the playoffs for the second time since 2016.
But LAFC showed some obvious defensive holes towards the end of the regular season, going 3W-5L-1 in their last nine games. Galaxy entered the competition on Thursday losing only one of their last 10.
Undoubtedly Steve Cherundolo’s team remains the most popular; FOXBet brings to Galaxy only a 20 percent chance beat their Los Angeles rivals and advance to the Western Conference final against Austin or Dallas.
Then again, there’s a reason why only one Shield winner has also won the MLS Cup over the past decade. Momentum is everything in the MLS knockouts, and anything can happen in a one-on-one, one-half match. When that game is also arguably the best derby in the league, it’s an absolute must-see.
Union products are looking to annoy their old team
FC Cincinnati was a joke in its first three years of existence, a case study of how Not to run an MLS team. The FCC recruited five coaches (including two temporary employees) and one superintendent for 2019-21. They don’t smell post-production.
Things eventually changed when the club hit Union’s front office and backroom staff, appointing Philly’s former assistant technical director Chris Albright as GM and Union boss Jim’s deputy Pat Noonan Curtin served as head coach late last year. Two MLS players took the lessons they learned to help Philadelphia establish itself as one of the best performing clubs in the league and turn Cincy into a Philly-lite.
They have brought Brazilian star Brenner back to the track this year after a poor debut season and turned journeyman Brandon Vazquez into 18-scorer and US World Cup contender. Scorer Luciano Acosta, the third member of the FCC’s three-headed attacking monster, also scored double-digit goals and led the MLS in assists. FC Cincinnati overcame the lone disappointment of Round 1 by defeating New York Red Bulls on the road.
Students will attempt to complete assignments on Thursday (8pm ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX Sports app). It won’t be easy; This Union team was on a mission to win the MLS Cup they thought it deserved last year before a COVID outbreak on the eve of the Eastern finals ruined their roster. Whatever happens this week, no one laughs at the FCC anymore.
The home field advantage is still huge
When the MLS changed to its current knockout playoff format in 2019, the idea was to give teams that have seeded higher seeds in 34 regular-season games a bigger advantage in the post-season than they were in the regular season. with at home and home, the total goal set previously.
As far as possible. Although the switch remains the subject of much debate – some group executives privately complain that margin of error is thinner – it is difficult to dispute the results. Through 26 Round 1 matches in the last 4 rounds, the lower division has caused discomfort only six times. Half of that came in 2020, which shortened the pandemic, when the knockout stage was expanded by four places. In 2019, 2021 and this year, the favorite team won 5-1 in the opening round.
So live long with one-and-dones. Not only are the MLS Cup knockouts now more fair and reasonable because of them, but this revamp also makes the regular season more important.
Doug McIntyre is a football writer for FOX Sports. Prior to joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was an editor for ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he covered the US men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
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