2014 MLS Cup Playoffs
The 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs presented by AT&T for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began in late October and culminated on December 7, 2014 with MLS Cup 2014, the nineteenth league championship for MLS.
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Country | United States Canada |
---|---|
Teams | 10 |
Defending champions | Sporting Kansas City |
Champions | LA Galaxy (5th title) |
Runners-up | New England Revolution |
Semi-finalists | |
Matches played | 15 |
Goals scored | 42 (2.8 per match) |
Top goal scorer(s) | ![]() ![]() (4 goals each) |
← 2013 2015 → |
The 2014 playoffs was the first time that the away goals rule was applied to the home-and-away, aggregate-goal series.[1] The first series impacted by the rule was a Western Conference semifinal that saw the Seattle Sounders advance past FC Dallas when the first match (held in Dallas) ended 1–1 and the second (held in Seattle) ended 0–0.[2]
LA Galaxy defeated New England Revolution 2–1 after extra time in the MLS Cup 2014, thus earning a spot in the 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League.
Sporting Kansas City were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round by New York Red Bulls.
Format
The top five teams from both the Western Conference and the Eastern Conference qualified and are seeded in the MLS Playoffs in order to determine conference champions. The two conference champions will face off in the MLS Cup.
Knockout Round
The fourth and fifth seeds in each conference play a single match hosted by the fourth seed. The winners advance to the conference semifinals.[3]
Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals
In the conference semifinals, the first seed in each conference plays the winner of their conference knockout round match. Also in that same round, the second and third seeded teams in each conference play one another. The teams winning the conference semifinal matches advance to their respective conference final.
In these two rounds, all matches are played in home-and-away aggregate-goal format. The lower seeded team hosts the first leg of the series and the higher seeded team hosts the second leg. The first leg lasts the usual 90-minutes and can end in a tie. In the second leg, if the two teams are tied after 90-minutes (180-minute total) then the team that scored more goals away from home advances to the next round.
If there is still a tie after the away goals rule is applied, a 30-minute overtime period (divided into two 15-minute periods) is played followed by a penalty kick shootout, if necessary. The away goals rule does not apply to goals scored in the overtime period.[3]
MLS Cup
The two conference champions face each other in the MLS Cup, a single match hosted by the team with the better regular season record.[3]
Qualification
Qualification for the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs was based on the results of the 2014 Regular Season. The five teams from each conference with the highest point totals were seeded into their conference playoff bracket.
The 2014 regular season ran from March 8, 2014 to October 26, 2014. Teams played 34 games total, 17 at home and 17 away and were awarded three points for a win, one point for a tie (draw), and zero points for a loss. When two or more teams have the same point totals, the following tiebreak rules were applied:[3][4]
- Total number of wins
- Goal Differential
- Goals For
- Fewest Disciplinary Points in the official points table
- Road Goals Differential
- Road Goal For
- Home Goals Differential
- Home Goal For
- Coin Toss (2 clubs) or Drawing of Lots (3 or more)
Eastern Conference Table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | D.C. United | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 52 | 37 | +15 | 59 | Conference Semi-finals & 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League |
2 | New England Revolution | 34 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 51 | 37 | +14 | 55 | Conference Semi-finals |
3 | Columbus Crew SC | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 52 | 42 | +10 | 52 | |
4 | New York Red Bulls | 34 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 55 | 50 | +5 | 50 | Knockout round |
5 | Sporting Kansas City | 34 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 49 | |
6 | Philadelphia Union | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 51 | 51 | 0 | 42 | |
7 | Toronto FC | 34 | 11 | 15 | 8 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 41 | |
8 | Houston Dynamo | 34 | 11 | 17 | 6 | 39 | 58 | −19 | 39 | |
9 | Chicago Fire | 34 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 41 | 51 | −10 | 36 | |
10 | Montreal Impact | 34 | 6 | 18 | 10 | 38 | 58 | −20 | 28 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) total wins; 3) total goal differential; 4) total goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) away goals scored; 7) away goal differential; 8) home goals scored; 9) home goal differential; 10) coin toss or drawing of lots.
Western Conference Table
Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Seattle Sounders FC | 34 | 20 | 10 | 4 | 65 | 50 | +15 | 64 | Conference Semi-finals & 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League |
2 | LA Galaxy | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 69 | 37 | +32 | 61 | Conference Semi-finals |
3 | Real Salt Lake | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 54 | 39 | +15 | 56 | |
4 | FC Dallas | 34 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 55 | 45 | +10 | 54 | Knockout round |
5 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 42 | 40 | +2 | 50 | |
6 | Portland Timbers | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 61 | 52 | +9 | 49 | |
7 | Chivas USA | 34 | 9 | 19 | 6 | 29 | 61 | −32 | 33 | |
8 | Colorado Rapids | 34 | 8 | 18 | 8 | 43 | 62 | −19 | 32 | |
9 | San Jose Earthquakes | 34 | 6 | 16 | 12 | 35 | 50 | −15 | 30 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) total wins; 3) total goal differential; 4) total goals scored; 5) disciplinary points; 6) away goals scored; 7) away goal differential; 8) home goals scored; 9) home goal differential; 10) coin toss or drawing of lots.
Bracket
East Knockout | ||||
E4 | New York Red Bulls | 2 | ||
E5 | Sporting Kansas City | 1 | ||
West Knockout | ||||
W4 | FC Dallas | 2 | ||
W5 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 1 | ||
Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | MLS Cup 2014 | ||||||||||||||||
E1 | D.C. United | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E4 | New York Red Bulls | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
E4 | New York Red Bulls | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Eastern Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
E2 | New England Revolution | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||||
E2 | New England Revolution | 4 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||||||||
E3 | Columbus Crew | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||||
E2 | New England Revolution | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
W2 | LA Galaxy (a.e.t.) | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
W1 | Seattle Sounders FC (a) | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
W4 | FC Dallas | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
W1 | Seattle Sounders FC | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
Western Conference | ||||||||||||||||||
W2 | LA Galaxy (a) | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||||||
W2 | LA Galaxy | 0 | 5 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
W3 | Real Salt Lake | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Schedule
Eastern Conference
New York Red Bulls | 2–1 | Sporting Kansas City |
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Wright-Phillips ![]() |
Report | Dwyer ![]() |
Western Conference
Eastern Conference
Columbus Crew | 2–4 | New England Revolution |
---|---|---|
Meram ![]() Higuaín ![]() |
Report | Davies ![]() Tierney ![]() Nguyen ![]() |
New England Revolution | 3–1 | Columbus Crew |
---|---|---|
Nguyen ![]() Gonçalves ![]() Bunbury ![]() |
Report | Tchani ![]() |
New England Revolution won 7–3 on aggregate
D.C. United | 2–1 | New York Red Bulls |
---|---|---|
DeLeon ![]() Franklin ![]() |
Report | Luyindula ![]() |
New York Red Bulls advanced 3–2 on aggregate
Western Conference
Los Angeles Galaxy advanced 5–0 on aggregate
Seattle Sounders advanced on an away goal
Conference Finals
New York Red Bulls | 1–2 | New England Revolution |
---|---|---|
Wright-Phillips ![]() |
Report | Bunbury ![]() Jones ![]() |
New England Revolution | 2–2 | New York Red Bulls |
---|---|---|
Davies ![]() |
Report | Cahill ![]() Luyindula ![]() |
New England Revolution advanced 4–3 on aggregate
Los Angeles Galaxy advanced on an away goal
Goalscorers
Rank | Player | Club | Goals[6] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
New England Revolution | 4 |
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New York Red Bulls | ||
3 | ![]() |
LA Galaxy | 3 |
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New York Red Bulls | ||
5 | ![]() |
New England Revolution | 2 |
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LA Galaxy | ||
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New England Revolution | ||
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FC Dallas | ||
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LA Galaxy | ||
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New England Revolution | ||
11 | ![]() |
FC Dallas | 1 |
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Seattle Sounders FC | ||
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New York Red Bulls | ||
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D.C. United | ||
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Seattle Sounders FC | ||
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Sporting Kansas City | ||
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Seattle Sounders FC | ||
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D.C. United | ||
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New England Revolution | ||
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Columbus Crew | ||
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Vancouver Whitecaps FC | ||
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New England Revolution | ||
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LA Galaxy | ||
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Columbus Crew | ||
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Columbus Crew | ||
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LA Galaxy |
References
- "Major League Soccer to introduce away-goals rule for first time in 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs". Major League Soccer. March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 9, 2014.
- Itel, Dan (November 10, 2014). "Seattle Sounders 0, FC Dallas 0 - MLS Cup Playoffs Match Recap". Major League Soccer. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
- "Competition Rules and Regulations". Major League Soccer. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
- Bonn, Kyle (March 7, 2014). "MLS releases new playoff tiebreakers and salary regulations". NBC Sports ProSoccerTalk. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
- "MLS 2014 Playoff Schedule". Major League Soccer. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
- "Major League Soccer Stats: Top Goal Scorers – 2014". ESPN FC. ESPN. Retrieved November 1, 2014.