Doug McIntyre
Football journalist
The 2024 MLS Cup playoffs will start on Tuesday after a marathon common season, with Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami the clear favorites to win the title.
Messi and Miami will meet the winner of Tuesday’s Eastern Conference wildcard knockout between CF Montreal and Atlanta United. The Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers will compete within the West play-in on Wednesday, with the best-of-three video games within the Round 1 collection beginning with the Oct. 25 opener between the Herons and Atlanta/Montreal. All matches can be found on Apple TV.
Messi simply led Miami to the best common season within the 29-year historical past of MLS; the GOAT scored an 11-minute hat trick in Saturday’s season-ending comeback win over the New England Revolution, a victory that gave the Herons a league-record 74 factors.
The Supporters Shield triumph means Miami will get pleasure from home-court benefit all through the postseason. It additionally certified Tata Martino’s workforce for the 2025 Club World Cup, FIFA president Gianni Infantino introduced on the pitch at Chase Stadium after Saturday’s victory. Infantino additionally revealed that the Herons will host the event’s opening sport on the 65,000-seat Hard Rock Stadium.
FIFA’s resolution was not with out controversy, nevertheless, and for good purpose: The MLS Cup is the league’s most prestigious prize, the one which has decided the champion of the highest U.S. and Canadian leagues for almost three a long time. The Supporters Shield doesn’t.
Yet whereas the industrial attractiveness of Miami’s participation within the expanded Club World Cup is clear, it isn’t that Marino’s workforce – rounded out by Messi’s former Barcelona teammates Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Luis Suárez – doesn’t is a greater than worthy consultant for the MLS.
Of course, Miami could make FIFA’s resolution moot by profitable the MLS Cup. Easier mentioned than completed.
Finishing first in eight months and 34 common season video games has not often been a predictor of what’s going to occur within the fall. Only eight Supporters Shield holders have achieved the double since MLS’s inception in 1996. Only 5 have completed it this century.
Given that Messi and co have dominated all MLS arrivals in 2024, it would not shock anybody if Miami grew to become the sixth double winner on December 7. They will even face stiff competitors to achieve the championship match, with the defending champion. Columbus Crew a possible enemy within the East ultimate of a sport.
In the West, the 2 Los Angeles powerhouses took the highest seeds. The LA Galaxy squandered their bid for first place by dropping the common season finale with a last-gasp aim in Houston on Saturday. Meanwhile, the 2022 LAFC champions outlasted their cross-town rivals by beating the hapless San Jose Earthquakes.
Here are the primary spherical matches.
Eastern Conference
Inter Miami vs. Atlanta United or CF Montreal
There will likely be loads of storylines no matter which workforce emerges to face the No. 1 seed. Martino led Atlanta to the 2018 MLS Cup title. His star performer with the Five Stripes? Former Miami ahead Josef Martinez, left for Montreal final winter and helped the workforce Blue-White-Black punches their postseason ticket with a Decision Day win over New York City.
Orlando City vs. Charlotte FC
Orlando misplaced its final sport to Atlanta, however was beforehand in glorious kind, going 6-1 in its earlier seven video games. One of these was the decisive 2-0 win over Charlotte on September 18. The Lions and Crown tied at North Carolina in June of their solely different assembly in 2024. The collection begins Sunday at Central Florida (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Export/Apple TV).
FC Cincinnati vs. NYCFC
Last 12 months’s Supporters Shield winners managed simply three wins of their final twelve video games to complete fifth general. But regardless of dropping key defenders Nick Hagglund and Matt Miazga to season-ending accidents, FCC nonetheless boasts an elite roster led by 2023 MLS MVP Lucho Acosta. And whereas the Pigeons had their most up-to-date assembly earlier this month, Cincy beat NYCFC twice at residence to win the season collection. The playoff schedule opens at TQL Stadium on Oct. 28 (6:45 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/Apple TV).
Columbus Crew vs. New York Red Bulls
After profitable every thing final December, Wilfried Nancy’s workforce is prepared for one more nice success this autumn. The Crew already hosted a bit of silverware in 2024, the Leagues Cup, and misplaced within the Concacaf Champions Cup ultimate.
They should not have an excessive amount of bother outlasting the Red Bulls, who’ve made the playoffs for 15 consecutive seasons and not using a single MLS Cup look to point out for it. Ohio’s capital metropolis will host the grand opening on Oct. 29 (6:45 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/Apple TV).
Western Conference
LAFC vs Portland Timbers or Vancouver Whitecaps
Last 12 months’s runner-up, LAFC, opens its playoff schedule Sunday (9:45 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/Apple TV) with excessive hopes of returning to the ultimate for the third straight 12 months. During the common season, LAFC went 4 video games undefeated towards the Timbers and Caps, beating the latter each at residence and north of the border.
Seattle Sounders vs. Houston Dynamo
The Sounders are all the time robust this time of 12 months. And with a report of 18W-6L-8T towards the Dynamo, they owned the all-time collection. Last month, Seattle beat Houston at Lumen Field, which is able to host the rematch subsequent Monday (9 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/Apple TV). The two groups met 2-2 in Texas in June.
Real Salt Lake vs. Minnesota United
Winning the MLS Cup usually means getting scorching when it counts. Minnesota enters the playoffs on fireplace, the Loons have received six of their final eight video games.
On the opposite hand, RSL was constant all 12 months, ending sixth general. Choosing a winner shouldn’t be simple; the groups have drawn each instances they’ve met in 2024. The ultimate opener of Round 1 begins Oct. 29 (9 p.m. ET, FS1/FOX Deportes/Apple TV).
LA Galaxy vs. Colorado Rapids
The Galaxy should be kicking themselves after final weekend’s loss; The Rapids, underneath first-year coach Chris Armas, are one of the improved groups within the league this season. But Colorado suffered a blow on Decision Day, when playmaker Djordje Mihailović was compelled off the sector with a sprained ankle. It is unclear whether or not Mihailović will be capable to return later within the collection.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports. A former editor at ESPN and Yahoo Sports, he coated the United States males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups on the FIFA World Cup on 5 continents. Follow him @By Doug McIntyre.
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