It didn’t take long for the MLS Cup Playoffs to heat up. Leave it to Florida to get this crazy party started.
While the playoffs technically started Friday with a couple of play-in games, the first round began Saturday with an afternoon clash between Orlando City and NYCFC in Orlando.
Randall Leal and Hany Mukhtar scored 10 minutes apart in the first half and Dax McCarty added some second-half insurance as host Nashville SC rolled to a 3-0 win over Inter Miami on Friday night in an MLS Eastern Conference postseason play-in game.
In a matchup of expansion sides, it was all Nashville, which finished seventh in the Eastern Conference during a uniquely memorable first season in the league. Miami, meanwhile, saw its special season come to an end while playing short-handed after claiming the 10th and final playoff spot in the East.
Matthew McConaughey, minority owner of incoming MLS club Austin FC and Texan renaissance man, appeared on the Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week to drink bourbon and talk about watching Survivor. While CBS aired a lengthy interview, an unaired segment posted to YouTube the next day showed what we really wanted to see: a Matthew McConaughey Austin FC starting XI of Austinites.
We’re still well over a year away from even seeing Angel City take the pitch, but the NWSL club might already be the most popular team in the league. Now we know where they’ll be playing their games and who will be footing some of the tab.
The latest meeting between the Montreal Impact and the New England Revolution will carry the highest stakes yet when the Revolution host the Impact on Friday in a winner-take-all MLS Cup Playoffs play-in game.
Due to the pandemic-influenced nature of the 2020 MLS schedule, the Impact and Revolution played four times at four different venues during the regular season. The Revolution went 3-1-0, winning each of the past three meetings.
The Seattle Sounders are slight favorites to repeat as MLS Cup champions, but several teams are considered strong contenders with the playoffs set to begin Friday.
The Sounders tied with Sporting Kansas City atop the Western Conference standings with 39 points, although Seattle played one more game. Sporting KC open the playoffs being offered at 8-1 to win the MLS Cup by SportsBetting.com.
Los Angeles FC star Diego Rossi tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the team's playoff game against the Seattle Sounders.
The forward was tested following Uruguay's loss to Brazil in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. He did not appear in the game.
Rossi is the third LAFC player to test positive while playing with his national team in the past week. Midfielder Jose Cifuentes and defender Diego Palacios, members of Ecuador's team, also tested positive and likely will miss the playoff opener on Nov. 24 in Seattle, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Seattle baseball icon Ken Griffey Jr. is now a part-owner of Seattle Sounders FC, the club announced Tuesday.
Griffey spent 13 of his 22 big league seasons with the Mariners and remains among the most popular athletes in the city's history.
The Houston Dash of the NWSL and Dynamo of MLS took a massive step in their club’s history on Tuesday with a rebrand featuring new logos. The new Houston Dynamo logo has strayed far away from the original badge the club donned in its inaugural 2006 season. The Dash logo took a similar approach as well.
We grind. We shine. We are Houston.
The FIFA Club World Cup, originally planned for December, will now be held from Feb. 1 to Feb. 11 in Doha, Qatar, organizers FIFA said on Tuesday.
The tournament brings together the six continental champions from across the world, with European Champions League winners Bayern Munich the first to have qualified. Last season's tournament ended with Liverpool beating Brazilian club Flamengo in the final.