When Steve Cherundolo announced last spring that he would leaves LAFC at the end of the season to reunite with his wife's family in her native Germany, he seemed excited about the reunion.
Six months later, with LAFC getting ready to enter MLS Playoffsthis reunion is just a loss. So now Cherundolo, who led LAFC to Twice MLS Cup final in his first three seasons as a coach, he hopes to delay his departure for a couple more months.
“I’d like to stay until early December,” he said. “That would be ideal. That's what we're all trying to achieve at LAFC.”
And that appears to be within reach for LAFC (17-8-9), which has six wins and 19 points in its last eight games, most recently a 2-2 draw on Saturday in Colorado. As a result, LAFC, seeded third in the conference, will enter the playoffs as the hottest team in the West and perhaps the best team in MLS since acquiring the striker in mid-summer. Son Heung-min.
LAFC lost just one of the 10 games the former Tottenham captain played in, with Son scoring nine goals and providing assists in the other three. He also provided great support for the winger. Denis Buangawho has scored 11 times in his last 10 games, making LAFC the league's most dynamic scoring tandem.
LAFC opens the best-of-three conference quarterfinals next weekend against Austin (13-13-8) at BMO Stadium. The second leg will be played in Texas and the third game, if necessary, will be played in Los Angeles.
Austin is one of two teams to beat LAFC twice this season, although it enters the postseason having lost three of its last four. Cherundolo said none of those numbers matter now. In the playoffs, not only do regular season records get thrown out the window, but even the rules change. For example, in the first round of the MLS postseason, games that are tied at the end of regulation time immediately go to penalties.
“It's a new scenario. So it changes the way you play a little bit,” Cherundolo said. “I don't think current form has anything to do with it. There were a few surprises in the first round of the play-offs last season.
“We will do everything possible to prevent this from happening to us.”
If LAFC, which has never lost in the first round of the playoffs under Cherundolo, beats Austin, it will face the winner of the Vancouver-Dallas series in the conference semifinals. It could be a matchup between Son and Vancouver's Thomas Muller, who has scored seven goals and three assists since joining the Whitecaps from Germany's Bayern Munich two months ago.
The Western Conference playoffs open with Wednesday's match between Portland and Real Salt Lake City. The winner of this game will face the San Diego Conference champion in the first round. The other final first-round series pits fourth-seeded Minnesota against fifth-seeded Seattle.
Regardless of who reaches the MLS Cup, the league will not have a repeat winner for the 13th straight season. The Galaxy (7-18-9), who won the title last season, were eliminated from playoff contention a month ago and finished with the franchise's worst wins (seven) and points (30) all season while tying their record for most losses with 18.
However, they finished on a high note, defeating Minnesota 2-1 in the season finale for their third win in their last four games. This allowed them to climb out of the conference basement and finish two points ahead of last place Sporting Kansas City (7-20-7).
Messi won the Golden Boot
Inter Miami star Lionel Messi celebrates scoring against Atlanta on October 11.
(Lynn Sladky/Associated Press)
I'm still thinking Lionel Messi don't care about MLS?
In a tight race for the league's top goalscorer title entering the final month of the season, Messi took his game to the next level (if that's possible) and scored five goals in Inter Miami's last two matches to claim the Golden Boot by a wide margin over Bouanga.
Messi scored a hat trick against Nashville on Saturday, capping the game with his third goal in the 81st minute to give him 29 goals in 28 games. This is the fourth-best single-season result in MLS history. Buanga finished with a career-best 24 goals, tied for second with Nashville's Sam Surridge.
Messi also made five assists in three October matches and finished with a league-best 19, which also placed him fourth on the all-time list. Messi's 48 goals (29 goals, 19 assists) ranks second behind Carlos Vela, who scored 34 goals and 15 assists for LAFC in 2019.
Eastern Conference Playoff Field
MLS calls the last day of the regular season “Decision Day” because it is the day the postseason field is determined. But in the Eastern Conference, nine playoff qualifiers had already been decided by the final weekend. It was the same for the conference champion Philadelphia Union (20-8-6), which secured the league's best overall record and home field advantage in the playoffs two weeks ago.
However, some playoff pairings were determined on Decision Day.
With a win over Montreal, Cincinnati (20-9-5) moved into second place in the postseason tournament via a tiebreaker over Inter Miami (19-7-8). Both teams finished with 65 points, but Cincinnati had one more regular season win.
As a result, Cincinnati will open the playoffs against seventh-seeded Columbus (14-8-12), and Inter Miami will face sixth-seeded Nashville (16-12-6).
The win over Philadelphia moved Charlotte (19-13-2) into fourth place and into a playoff opener against New York City FC (17-12-5) the following weekend. The two wild-card teams, Chicago (15-11-8) and Orlando (14-9-11), will meet Wednesday in Chicago, with the winner facing the Union in the conference quarterfinals.
