2013 MLS Cup Playoffs

2013 MLS Cup Playoffs
Country United States
Canada
Teams 10
Defending champions Los Angeles Galaxy
Champions Sporting Kansas City (2nd title)
Runners-up Real Salt Lake
Matches played 15
Goals scored 42 (2.8 per match)
Top goal scorer(s) France Aurélien Collin
(3 goals)
← 2012 2014 →

The 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs was the eighteenth post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began in late October and culminated on December 7, 2013 with MLS Cup 2013, the eighteenth league championship for MLS. This was the third year that the playoffs included ten teams,[1] and the second playoff series since 2006 in which teams could not cross conference brackets.[2] The top five teams in both the Eastern and Western conferences of the league earned berths, with the top three clubs in each conference earning direct byes to the conference semifinals. The fourth and fifth-place finishers of both conferences competed in a single-elimination play-in match.

The play-in winner played their respective conference regular season champion in the conference semifinals, which was a two-leg aggregate series, without the away goals rule enforced. For the second year in a row, each Conference Championship will also be a two-leg aggregate series, as opposed to the traditional single elimination match.[2] The MLS Cup championship will once again remain a single match, but the team with the stronger regular season record will host the final at their home venue.[1]

Los Angeles Galaxy were the defending champions, having defeated Houston Dynamo 3–1 in the 2012 MLS Cup.

In a break from previous years, only Sporting Kansas City, the MLS Cup winner, directly entered the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League, earning a Pot A seed. They were joined by the New York Red Bulls, the Supporters' Shield winner; the Portland Timbers, the conference winner from the conference opposite the Supporters' Shield winner; and D.C. United, the 2013 U.S. Open Cup champion. However, none of these berths were available to the league's three Canadian teams, which instead participated in the Canadian Championship for that country's single berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. The change from the MLS Cup runner-up gaining entry to the CONCACAF Champions League to the opposite conference winner gaining entry was new for 2013. The change was announced after the MLS Cup had been played, with the announcement stating that the teams knew in advance.[3]

Format

For 2013, the league kept the format the same as the 2012 edition. In 2012, the league's previous system of "wild card" qualification—which had the potential for "crossover" series in which one team could play in the other conference's bracket—was scrapped. Instead, the current system has the top five teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and the two conference brackets are entirely separate. The First Round of each conference is a one-off match between the 4th and 5th place teams, similar to the previous wild card system, with the 4th-place team hosting. The First Round winner advances to play the conference's top seed in the Conference Semifinals.[1][4]

Conference Semifinals and Conference Championship series are conducted in a home-and-away aggregate-goal format. The lower-seeded team in the Conference Semifinal hosts the first game, and the higher seed hosts the second. If the teams are tied after two games, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) will be played followed by penalty kicks, if necessary. The away goals rule or golden goal is not used.[4]

In the case of ties in the First Round and MLS Cup, extra time and penalty kicks are used in the same manner as above.[1]

Qualification

Eastern Conference

Pos
Team
 Pts
 GP
 W
 L
 T
 GF
 GA
 GD
Qualification or relegation
1 New York Red Bulls (SS) (E1) 59 34 17 9 8 58 41+17 2013 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2 Sporting Kansas City 58 34 17 10 7 47 30+17
3 New England Revolution 51 34 14 11 9 49 38+11
4 Houston Dynamo 51 34 14 11 9 41 410 2013 MLS Cup Knockout Round
5 Montreal Impact 49 34 14 13 7 50 49+1
6 Chicago Fire 49 34 14 13 7 47 52−5
7 Philadelphia Union 46 34 12 12 10 42 44−2
8 Columbus Crew 41 34 12 17 5 42 46−4
9 Toronto FC 29 34 6 17 11 30 47−17
10 D.C. United 16 34 3 24 7 22 59−37

Updated to matches played on October 27, 2013 6:55 p.m. EDT. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

(SS) = Supporters Shield winner
(E1) = Eastern Conference champion

Western Conference

Pos
Team
 Pts
 GP
 W
 L
 T
 GF
 GA
 GD
Qualification or relegation
1 Portland Timbers (W1) 57 34 14 5 15 54 33+21 2013 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2 Real Salt Lake 56 34 16 10 8 57 41+16
3 LA Galaxy 53 34 15 11 8 53 38+15
4 Seattle Sounders FC 52 34 15 12 7 42 420 2013 MLS Cup Knockout Round
5 Colorado Rapids 51 34 14 11 9 45 38+7
6 San Jose Earthquakes 51 34 14 11 9 35 42−7
7 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 48 34 13 12 9 53 45+8
8 FC Dallas 44 34 11 12 11 48 52−4
9 Chivas USA 26 34 6 20 8 30 67−37

Updated to matches played on October 27, 2013 8:00 p.m. PDT. Source: MLSSoccer.com
Notation Key:

(W1) = Western Conference champion

Tiebreak rules

When two or more teams are tied in standings on points the following tiebreak rules[1][5] apply:

  1. Most wins
  2. Goals for
  3. Goal differential
  4. Fewest disciplinary points in the official points table (foul: 1 pt, first yellow: 3 pts, second yellow: 5 pts, straight red: 6 pts, disciplinary commission suspension: 6 pts, etc.)
  5. Road goals
  6. Road goal differential
  7. Home goals
  8. Home goal differential
  9. Coin toss (two teams) or drawing of lots (three or more teams)

Bracket

East Knockout
   
E4 Houston 3
E5 Montreal 0
West Knockout
   
W4 Seattle 2
W5 Colorado 0
  Conference Semifinals Conference Finals MLS Cup 2013
                                     
E1  New York 2 1 3  
E4  Houston (a.e.t.) 2 2 4  
  E4  Houston 0 1 1  
Eastern Conference
  E2  Kansas City 0 2 2  
E2  Kansas City (a.e.t.) 1 3 4
E3  New England 2 1 3  
  E2  Kansas City (p) 1 (7)
  W2  Salt Lake 1 (6)
W1  Portland 2 3 5  
W4  Seattle 1 2 3  
  W1  Portland 2 0 2
Western Conference
  W2  Salt Lake 4 1 5  
W2  Salt Lake (a.e.t.) 0 2 2
W3  Los Angeles 1 0 1  

Schedule

Knockout round

Eastern Conference

October 31, 2013
7:30 p.m. CDT
Houston Dynamo 3–0 Montreal Impact
Bruin  16', 72'
García  27' (pen.)		 Report
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston
Attendance: 10,476
Referee: Mark Geiger

Western Conference

October 30, 2013
7:30 p.m. PDT
Seattle Sounders FC 2–0 Colorado Rapids
Evans  28'
Johnson  90+3'		 Report
CenturyLink Field, Seattle
Attendance: 32,204
Referee: Silviu Petrescu

Conference Semifinals

Eastern Conference

November 2, 2013
8:00 p.m. EDT
New England Revolution 2–1 Sporting Kansas City
Dorman  55'
Rowe  67'		 Report Collin  69'
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough
Attendance: 15,164
Referee: Ismail Elfath

Sporting Kansas City won 4–3 on aggregate

November 3, 2013
3:30 p.m. EST
Houston Dynamo 2–2 New York Red Bulls
Clark  51'
Cummings  90+2'		 Report Cahill  22'
Alexander  32'
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston
Attendance: 20,626
Referee: Ricardo Salazar

November 6, 2013
8:00 p.m. EST
New York Red Bulls 1–2 (a.e.t.) Houston Dynamo
Wright-Phillips  23' Report Davis  36'
Cummings  104'
Red Bull Arena, Harrison
Attendance: 22,264
Referee: Silviu Petrescu

Houston Dynamo won 4–3 on aggregate

Western Conference

November 2, 2013
7:00 p.m. PDT
Seattle Sounders FC 1–2 Portland Timbers
Alonso  90' Report Johnson  15'
Nagbe  67'
CenturyLink Field, Seattle
Attendance: 38,507
Referee: Baldomero Toledo

November 7, 2013
8:00 p.m. PST
Portland Timbers 3–2 Seattle Sounders FC
Johnson  29' (pen.)
Valeri  44'
Danso  47'		 Report Yedlin  74'
Johnson  76'
Jeld-Wen Field, Portland
Attendance: 20,674
Referee: Hilario Grajeda

Portland Timbers won 5–3 on aggregate

November 3, 2013
6:00 p.m. PST
Los Angeles Galaxy 1–0 Real Salt Lake
Franklin  48' Report
StubHub Center, Carson
Attendance: 27,000
Referee: Kevin Stott

November 7, 2013
7:00 p.m. MST
Real Salt Lake 2–0 (a.e.t.) Los Angeles Galaxy
Velásquez  35'
Schuler  102'		 Report
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy
Attendance: 19,042
Referee: Baldomero Toledo

Real Salt Lake won 2–1 on aggregate

Conference Finals

November 23, 2013
6:30 p.m. CST
Sporting Kansas City 2–1 Houston Dynamo
Sapong  14'
Dwyer  63'		 Report Garcia  3'
Sporting Park, Kansas City
Attendance: 21,650
Referee: Baldomero Toledo

Sporting Kansas City won 2–1 on aggregate

November 10, 2013
7:00 p.m. MST
Real Salt Lake 4–2 Portland Timbers
Schuler  35'
Findley  41'
Sandoval  48'
Morales  82'		 Report Johnson  14'
Piquionne  90+4'
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy
Attendance: 17,333
Referee: Armando Villarreal

November 24, 2013
6:00 p.m. PST
Portland Timbers 0–1 Real Salt Lake
Report Findley  29'
Jeld-Wen Field, Portland
Attendance: 20,674
Referee: Mark Geiger

Real Salt Lake won 5–2 on aggregate

MLS Cup

Main article: MLS Cup 2013

Result

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Competition Rules and Regulations". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Big changes for MLS Cup Playoffs format in 2012". MLSsoccer.com. November 20, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Portland Timbers headed to 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League after USSF rule change approved". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved March 10, 2014.
  4. 1 2 "2012 MLS Cup Playoffs". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  5. ↑ "New tiebreakers designed to encourage attacking play". MLS Communications. MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
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