2012 MLS Cup Playoffs

The 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs was the seventeenth post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began on October 31,[1] and culminated on December 1, 2012[1] with MLS Cup 2012, the seventeenth league championship for MLS, won by the Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 over Houston Dynamo. It was the second year that the playoffs included ten teams,[2] and the first playoff series since 2006 in which teams could not cross conference brackets.[3] 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 played in a single-elimination play-in match.

Main article: 2012 Major League Soccer season
2012 MLS Cup Playoffs
CountryUnited States
Canada
Teams10
Defending championsLos Angeles Galaxy
ChampionsLos Angeles Galaxy (4th title)
Runners-upHouston Dynamo
Semi-finalists
Matches played15
Goals scored34 (2.27 per match)
Top goal scorer(s) Robbie Keane
(6 goals)
← 2011
2013 →

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 first time in MLS Cup Playoffs history, each Conference Championship was also a two-leg aggregate series, as opposed to the traditional single elimination match.[3] The MLS Cup championship still remain a single match, but the team with the stronger regular season record, the Los Angeles Galaxy, hosting the final at their home venue.[2]

Los Angeles Galaxy were the defending champions, having defeated Houston Dynamo 1–0 in last year's championship.[4]

Both finalists directly entered the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League, with the champion earning a Pot A seed. They were joined by San Jose Earthquakes, the Supporters' Shield winner, and Sporting Kansas City, the 2012 U.S. Open Cup champion. However, none of these berths were available to the league's three Canadian teams, which instead participate in the Canadian Championship for that country's single berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.[5]

Format

For 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 top five teams in each conference will 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][2]

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.[1]

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.[2]

Qualification

Eastern Conference

Pos Team Pld W L D GF GA GD Pts
1 Sporting Kansas City (E1) 34 18 7 9 42 27 +15 63 2012 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2 D.C. United 34 17 10 7 53 43 +10 58
3 New York Red Bulls 34 16 9 9 57 46 +11 57
4 Chicago Fire 34 17 11 6 46 41 +5 57 2012 MLS Cup Knockout Round
5 Houston Dynamo 34 14 9 11 48 41 +7 53
6 Columbus Crew 34 15 12 7 44 44 0 52
7 Montreal Impact 34 12 16 6 45 51 −6 42
8 Philadelphia Union 34 10 18 6 37 45 −8 36
9 New England Revolution 34 9 17 8 39 44 −5 35
10 Toronto FC 34 5 21 8 36 62 −26 23
Updated to match(es) played on 18:04 EDT October 28, 2012. Source: MLS

(E1) = Eastern Conference champion

Western Conference

Pos Team Pld W L D GF GA GD Pts
1 San Jose Earthquakes (SS, W1) 34 19 6 9 72 43 +29 66 2012 MLS Cup Conference Semifinals
2 Real Salt Lake 34 17 11 6 46 35 +11 57
3 Seattle Sounders FC 34 15 8 11 51 33 +18 56
4 LA Galaxy 34 16 12 6 59 47 +12 54 2012 MLS Cup Knockout Round
5 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 34 11 13 10 35 41 −6 43
6 FC Dallas 34 9 13 12 42 47 −5 39
7 Colorado Rapids 34 11 19 4 44 50 −6 37
8 Portland Timbers 34 8 16 10 34 56 −22 34
9 Chivas USA 34 7 18 9 24 58 −34 30
Updated to match(es) played on October 28, 2012. Source: MLS

(SS) = Supporters Shield winner; (W1) = Western Conference champion

Tiebreak rules

When two or more teams are tied in standings on points the following tiebreak rules[2][6] apply:

  1. Goals for
  2. Goal differential
  3. 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.)
  4. Road goals
  5. Road goal differential
  6. Home goals
  7. Home goal differential
  8. Coin toss (2 teams) or drawing of lots (3 or more teams)

Bracket
East Wild Card
   
E4 Chicago 1
E5 Houston 2
West Wild Card
   
W4 Los Angeles 2
W5 Vancouver    1
  Conference Semifinals Conference Finals MLS Cup 2012
                                     
E1 Kansas City 0 1 1  
E5 Houston 2 0 2  
  E5 Houston 3 1 4  
Eastern Conference
  E2 D.C. United 1 1 2  
E2 D.C. United 1 1 2
E3 New York 1 0 1  
  E5 Houston 1
  W4 Los Angeles 3
W1 San Jose 1 1 2  
W4 Los Angeles 0 3 3  
  W4 Los Angeles 3 1 4
Western Conference
  W3 Seattle 0 2 2  
W2 Salt Lake 0 0 0
W3 Seattle 0 1 1  

[7]

Schedule

Knockout round
Chicago Fire1 – 2Houston Dynamo
Alex  83' Report Bruin  12', 46'
Attendance: 10,923
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Los Angeles Galaxy2 – 1Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Magee  69'
Donovan  73' (pen.)		 Report Mattocks  3'
Attendance: 14,703
Referee: Silviu Petrescu

Eastern Conference
Houston Dynamo2 – 0Sporting Kansas City
Moffat  18'
Bruin  75'		 Report
Attendance: 20,689
Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
Sporting Kansas City1 – 0Houston Dynamo
Sinovic  64' Report
Attendance: 20,894
Referee: Allen Chapman

Houston Dynamo won 2 – 1 on aggregate

D.C. United1 – 1New York Red Bulls
Miller  61' (o.g.) Report Hamid  65' (o.g.)
Attendance: 17,556
Referee: Jair Marrufo
New York Red Bulls0 – 1D.C. United
Recap DeLeon  88'
Attendance: 14,035
Referee: Mark Geiger

D.C. United won 2 – 1 on aggregate. Note: While D.C. United won the right to host the second leg as the higher seed, the order of the legs was reversed due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy.[8] The second leg was originally scheduled for November 7 but was postponed one day due to snow.[9]

Western Conference
Los Angeles Galaxy0 – 1San Jose Earthquakes
Report Bernárdez  90+4'
Attendance: 27,000
San Jose Earthquakes1 – 3Los Angeles Galaxy
Gordon  82' Report Keane  21', 34'
Magee  39'
Attendance: 10,744
Referee: Kevin Stott

Los Angeles Galaxy won 3 – 2 on aggregate

Seattle Sounders FC0 – 0Real Salt Lake
Report
Attendance: 34,941
Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Real Salt Lake0 – 1Seattle Sounders FC
Report Martínez  81'
Attendance: 19,657
Referee: Chris Penso

Seattle Sounders won 1 – 0 on aggregate

Conference Championships
Houston Dynamo3 – 1D.C. United
Hainault  51'
Bruin  68'
Sarkodie  81'		 Report DeLeon  27'
Attendance: 22,101
D.C. United1 – 1Houston Dynamo
Bošković  83' Report García  34'
Attendance: 20,015
Referee: Baldomero Toledo

Houston Dynamo won 4 – 2 on aggregate

Los Angeles Galaxy3 – 0Seattle Sounders FC
Keane  46', 67'
Magee  64'		 Report
Attendance: 27,000
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Seattle Sounders FC2 – 1Los Angeles Galaxy
Johnson  12'
Scott  57'		 Report Keane  68' (pen.)
Attendance: 44,575
Referee: Mark Geiger

Los Angeles Galaxy won 4 – 2 on aggregate

MLS Cup
Main article: MLS Cup 2012
Los Angeles Galaxy3 – 1Houston Dynamo
Gonzalez  60'
Donovan  65' (pen.)
Keane  90+4' (pen.)		 Report Carr  44'
Attendance: 30,515

Post-season statistical leaders

Note: Statistics only for post-season games.

See also

References
  1. "2012 MLS Cup Playoffs". MLSsoccer.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2012. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  2. "Competition Rules and Regulations". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
  3. "Big changes for MLS Cup Playoffs format in 2012". MLSsoccer.com. November 20, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  4. "History: MLS Cup 2011". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  5. "Champions League Qualifying 2013-14". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
  6. "New tiebreakers designed to encourage attacking play". MLS Communications. MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  7. "MLS Cup Playoffs 2012". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  8. "Hurricane Sandy forces Red Bulls, D.C. United to switch home dates for playoff series". NJ.com.
  9. "Snow postpones Red Bulls-DC United". ESPNFC.com.
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