By Staff Writer: James Schryver
The Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs are now in full swing with the first round under way.
The Wild Card teams for the Eastern and Western Conferences were chosen and played on 10/25/2023. In the Eastern Conference, the No. 8 New York Redbulls pulled out an astounding 5-2 win over No. 9 Charlotte FC. And in the Western Conference, things were a little more exciting in this matchup between No. 8 Sporting Kansas City and No. 9 San Jose Earthquakes. After full time, the game was tied 0-0. This year the wildcard games were not given extra time in the match, so the teams went straight to a penalty shootout. SKC started the shootout making their first shot. After a miss on their second shot, they finished the five shot shootout making four goals. The San Jose Earthquakes struggled finding the back of the net in the shootout and fell to Sporting KC with a final score of 4-2.
Now onto Round One or the Best of Three Round. This round has already seen teams rise up and advance to the next round without having the full three games.
In the Western Conference, No. 8 Sporting KC was matched up against No. 1 St. Louis City FC. The No. 1 seed in the West fell to the No. 8 seed in two games. The first game between these two teams was 4-1 and the second finished with a score of 2-1. No. 4 Houston FC leads No. 5 Real Salt Lake in their first game of the series. Their next match in on 11/6. No. 3 LAFC swept No. 6 Vancouver Whitecaps in two matches. Their scores were 5-2 in the first game and 1-0 in the second game. There seems to be trouble brewing for the No. 2 Seattle Sounders as they are 1-1 in their first two games of the series against No. 7 FC Dallas. The third game will be played at a later date.
Over in the Eastern Conference, No. 1 Cincinnati FC is moving on after beating No. 8 New York Red Bulls 3-0 in their first game and then winning a thrilling penalty shootout 8-7. No. 2 Orlando, No. 3 Columbus Crew, and No. 4 Philadelphia Union all lead in their series 1-0 against No. 7 Nashville FC, No. 6 Atlanta United FC, and No. 5 New England Revolution. Orlando City and the Columbus Crew will continue their respective series on 11/7 and Philadelphia will continue play on 11/8.
Just to recap, the teams moving on to the Semi-finals so far will be Sporting KC (West), LAFC (West), and Cincinnati FC (East).