After a bit of a hiatus due to an eventful international break, MLS swings back into action this weekend when the playoffs officially kick off.
Fourteen teams have entered the fray after a lengthy regular season, including the Vancouver Whitecaps, who are back in the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Notable by their absences are defending MLS champions Columbus Crew, as well as Toronto FC, LA Galaxy, LA FC and Inter Miami, who rank among the top five teams in the league in terms of payroll.
Here’s what you need to know about the 2021 MLS playoffs.
The Format
The Eastern and Western Conference winners – New England Revolution (22-5-7) and Colorado Rapids (17-7-10) – have first-round byes.
The opening round consists of six matches with the winners advancing. All playoff matches are single elimination, rather than two-legged affairs. Here is the first-round schedule:
Eastern Conference
Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m. ET: New York Red Bulls (13-12-9) at Philadelphia Union (14-8-12)
Nov. 21, 3:00 p.m. ET: Atlanta United FC at New York City FC (14-11-9)
Nov. 23, 8:00 p.m. ET: Orlando City (13-9-12) at Nashville SC (12-4-18)
Western Conference
Nov. 20, 5:00 p.m. ET: Vancouver Whitecaps (12-9-13) at Sporting Kansas City (17-10-7)
Nov. 21, 5:30 p.m. ET: Minnesota United FC (13-11-0) at Portland Timbers (17-13-4)
Nov. 23, 10:30 p.m. ET: Real Salt Lake (14-14-6) at Seattle Sounders (17-8-9)
The second round will see Colorado host the winner of the Portland-Minnesota series on Nov. 25, while the winner of the New York-Atlanta series plays in New England on Nov. 30.
The Conference Finals are slated for Dec. 4-5. MLS Cup is scheduled to be hosted by the highest remaining seeded team on Dec. 11. As the regular season champions, New England has home field advantage all the way through the playoffs.
Vancouver Whitecaps waving the flag for Canada
The Vancouver Whitecaps will serve as Canada’s lone representative in this year’s playoffs following a remarkable turnaround.
Vancouver was at the bottom of the Western Conference standings early in the campaign, and three points out of a playoff spot (with an uninspiring 5-7-8 record) when they fired Canadian Marc Dos Santos as its head coach on Aug 27.
Vanni Sartini, formerly the Whitecaps’ director of methodology, seemed to have a Herculean task on his hands when he took over as interim coach. But the team came together under the Italian, and slowly climbed up the table to finish sixth in the West, clinching its first playoff berth since 2017 on the last day of the season. Sartini deserves a lot of the credit for Vancouver’s surge during the second half of the campaign, but there were other factors, too.
The mid-season addition of new Designated Player Ryan Gauld proved to be an astute move, as the Scot added some much-needed creativity to the midfield. A summer trade involving Brian White from the New York Red Bulls paid off, as the 25-year-old forward went on to score 12 goals and add five assists in 23 starts for Vancouver. Also, Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau had a banner year with a career-high six clean sheets.
While confidence is riding high in Vancouver, history is working against the Whitecaps, who have just one win in seven previous post-season games.
Notable Canadians on other teams
Taking the Whitecaps out of the equation, this year’s playoffs have plenty of Canadian content, with three members of the men’s national team featuring prominently on American clubs.
One of the reasons why New England romped to first place was the play of Tajon Buchanan. The 22-year-old from Brampton, Ont., finished his third MLS season with career highs in appearances (27), starts (19), goals (eight), and assists (five) en route to finishing as runner-up in voting for the MLS Young Player of the Year.
Alistair Johnston, a 23-year-old from Vancouver, has been a key cog in Nashville’s midfield this season with 26 appearances (24 as a starter), and scoring one goal and tallying an assist along the way.
Toronto-born Mark-Anthony Kaye, 26, has held things down in midfield for Colorado following a blockbuster mid-season trade from LAFC with one goal and a pair of assists in 15 appearances.
New England remain the heavy favourite
The New England Revolution were the class of the regular season, taking home the Supporters’ Shield – the award given to the first-place team – by setting a new MLS record for most points (73) in a single campaign.
The Revs steamrolled the competition, winning 22 of their 34 games (with just five losses), and boasted the league’s best attack (65 goals).
Veteran coach Bruce Arena has built a balanced side from front to back, highlighted by Buchanan’s dynamic play down the wing, the lethal scoring duo of Adam Buksa and Gustavo Bou (31 goals between them), goalkeeper of the year nominee Matt Turner and chief playmaker Carles Gil, who led MLS in assists (18) and is a finalist for the league’s MVP honour.
The Dark Horses
Don’t sleep on Atlanta United in the Eastern Conference. The Nine Stripes are on the road in the first round, but they enter the playoffs having gone unbeaten in their previous six games, and only lost three times in 18 matches over the course of the last three months of the regular season. Defender of the year finalist Miles Robinson anchored a defensive unit that ranked fifth overall in the league.
Out West, Sporting Kansas City could prove to be a bit of a surprise package. No Western team scored more goals (58) than K.C. who also had the third-best defence in the conference. MVP finalist Dániel Sallói bagged 16 goals in the regular season and has also been nominated for the league’s Comeback Player of the Year award.
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for a number of media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. To check out TFC Republic, click here.
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