New York Red Bulls 2 at NYCFC 0 (MLS Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference Semifinal) - November 23, 2024

I have little interest in the MLS Cup but when a friend offered a free ticket to Saturday's Hudson River Derby playoff match at Citi Field, I gladly accepted, because it gave me a chance to do what I enjoy most: complain. You see, the MLS Cup playoffs are a joke. Out of 29 teams, 18 make the postseason, a rate of 62%, much higher than the Big 4 (NBA: 53%; NHL: 50%; NFL 44%; MLB 40%). 

The silliness continues with a wild card game between the 8th and 9th place teams in each conference, a concept similar to the NBA's ridiculous play-in tournament. But no sports league ever went broke overestimating the gullibility of its fans (see City Connect jerseys for another example). In this round, penalties are used if the score is tied after 90 minutes, and in the Eastern Conference, ninth seed Atlanta United beat #8 CF Montreal 5-4 in the skills competition after the clubs tied at 2.

Then, in a vain attempt to give the top seeds a better chance at advancing, Round One consists of a best-of-three series. What is particularly stupid about this is that all matches must end with a winner, so again penalty kicks are used after 90 minutes. Of the 20 matches in Round One, 8 finished in this manner. As well, four of the eight matchups saw upsets, including Atlanta knocking off Supporters Shield winners Inter Miami, though at least all three matches ended in regulation. If you have multiple games in a soccer series, then total points should be used and a draw should be counted as such, with total goals a tiebreaker before penalty kicks ensue. In the series between the Columbus Crew and the Red Bulls, New York won the opening match at Columbus and then the clubs tied 2-2 in New Jersey. This should have sent the series back to Columbus where the Crew had a chance to win that match; instead, the defending champions were eliminated 7-6 on PKs.

The next problem is that that the playoffs occur during the international break, so after Round One, there were two weeks off. Those teams that swept their Round One series had an extra week to rest; the LA Galaxy had 23 days between matches, nearly half the length of the playoff schedule. In fact, this international break leads to the most damning statistic: over the 47 days of the playoffs, there are only 29 playoff matches, or 0.61 matches per day. In the most recent playoffs in the Big 4, the same statistic was MLB: 43 in 30 (1.43); NHL: 88 in 66 (1.33); NBA 82 in 59 (1.39), NFL 13 in 30 (0.43). Of course, the NFL playoffs are a special breed, with two weeks off before the Super Bowl, but it is safe to say that event is slightly more popular than the MLS conference semifinals.

To be fair, the playoffs are somewhat interesting now, with seven elimination games over two weeks. I also enjoy the fact that the MLS Cup site is not known until the week before. Every year, I hope that it will be close to me and every year it ends up being too far, with flight tickets too expensive at the last minute. That happened again as it will be in either Los Angeles or Seattle.

There has been talk of moving the MLA schedule to start in August like most other leagues do, but at the same time, they should rethink the entire structure of the league and its playoff system. With 30 teams after San Diego joins next season, a new format is needed. I have some ideas, but I'll leave those for a future post.

The Game

My ticket was in the Red Bulls supporters area on the second level behind the net (below) and I stood with them for the first five minutes before starting to move around, which is why the pictures are from different angles. 

In the 16th minute, Red Bull Felipe Carballo scored a spectacular goal with a rising shot from outside the box that left NYCFC keeper Brad Freese flailing at air. Just nine minutes later, Dante Vanzeir doubled the lead after the ball fell to him off a corner and he banked it in off the far post. 

The Red Bulls let up a bit after that and allowed NYCFC to control the game, but they could only muster six shots on goal and keeper Carlos Coronel (below) stopped them all.

With the win, the Red Bulls now travel to Orlando (who beat Atlanta 1-0) for the Eastern Conference Final, while the Western Conference will see Seattle at the Galaxy, the winner of which will host the MLS Cup on December 7.

Notes

Attendance was capped at 25,000 because Citi Field is being shut down for the winter, as happens annually for maintenance. In the end, only 109 tickets were left unsold. 

The game could not be played at Yankee Stadium because it was hosting the football game between Notre Dame and Army, which the Irish won 49-14. I had considered going to that but tickets were too expensive and, in the end, I was glad to get a free ticket to this one instead. Thanks Mike!

NYCFC will open their own soccer-specific stadium next to Citi Field in 2027. It was recently revealed that Etihad would be the naming rights sponsors (no surprise as NYCFC is part of the City Football Group investment portfolio). You can even put your stadium deposit down now, over two years in advance.

Next Up

December is family time, so my NCAA basketball quest is taking a back seat. I do have two family trips planned that will have me see games at Cincinnati and Colgate, and I will continue to visit the lower division venues in NYC. After that, the first three months of 2025 will have several journeys, including the Leafs in Vancouver and Utah. As always, recaps will be posted here.

Best,

Sean