Major League Soccer’s playoff matchups were set after a chaotic final day of the regular season across the league Saturday.
The postseason opens Wednesday with a pair of wild-card games. Eighth-seeded Sporting Kansas City will host the No. 9 San Jose Earthquakes in the Western Conference. In the Eastern Conference bracket, the eighth-seeded New York Red Bulls will host No. 9 Charlotte, which made the playoffs for the first time.
With this “Decision Day” for MLS, games in each of the league’s conferences were played simultaneously Saturday, with the East kicking off three hours before the West. There were five playoff spots still up for grabs when the games began.
Dénis Bouanga scored in Los Angeles FC’s 1-1 road draw with the Vancouver Whitecap to win the league’s Golden Boot with 20 goals in his first full MLS season. He is the third LAFC player to win the award for the league’s leading regular-season scorer in the last five years, joining Carlos Vela in 2019 and Diego Rossi in 2020.
The Red Bulls made the playoffs in dramatic fashion: John Tolkin scored on a penalty in stoppage time for a 1-0 victory over Nashville. The Red Bulls have advanced to the postseason for 14 consecutive seasons, the longest active playoff streak in pro sports.
“Honestly, when I was stepping up, I was just so nervous for my mom because I knew she was probably having a heart attack back at home,” Tolkin said.
If the Red Bulls advance, they’ll face the East’s top seed, Cincinnati — which had earlier claimed the Supporters’ Shield for the league’s best record — in the opening round of the playoffs. Cincinnati, which played to a 2-2 draw Saturday with Atlanta United, will get home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The East’s second seed, Orlando City, will host No. 7 Nashville. Third-seeded Columbus will play No. 6 Atlanta, and fourth-seeded Philadelphia will host No. 5 New England.
Under a new format this season, the opening round is a best-of-three series. The games will start Saturday and go until Nov. 12. The conference semifinals are set for Nov. 25-26, with the conference finals played Dec. 2-3. The MLS Cup championship final will take place on Dec. 9.
St. Louis City had already clinched the top seed in the Western Conference, becoming the first expansion team to claim the top spot in league history. But it fell a point short of LAFC’s expansion record for points (57) after a 2-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders.
The West’s second seed, Seattle, will host No. 7 Dallas in the opening round. Third-seeded LAFC will host No. 6 Vancouver, and fourth-seeded Houston will host Real Salt Lake.
Miami was already eliminated going into the final match, but Lionel Messi played a full 90 minutes in his team’s 1-0 loss to Charlotte.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner who spurred Messi Mania in the United States by joining MLS will now turn his attention to Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Uruguay in November.
Former U.S. captain Michael Bradley retired from soccer after Toronto’s 2-0 loss to Orlando on Saturday. The 36-year-old midfielder scored 17 goals in 151 international appearances from 2006-19. He has played for Toronto since 2014 and helped the team win the 2017 MLS title.
New York City FC defeated the Chicago Fire 1-0 but will miss out on the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
Four other teams — Chicago, Minnesota, Montreal and Portland — also came up short Saturday in their bids for a postseason berth.