SoccerWise - Weekend Recap: Decision Day Drama In MLS From Coast To Coast + NWSL Playoff Field Locking In

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

Wow what a day of action in North America. David recaps everything from Decision Day in MLS. He walks through the real time shifts in the LA fight for the top of the West, and the delicious matchups coming up. And then after Miami set the points record the race for the final playoff spot in the East WAS ON! Plus Bay FC solidify their standing for an inaugural season playoff spot and damage Racing Louisvilles hopes. If you want go over to Youtube to watch Tom & Gass's live reactions to the Eastern Conference playoff race finally. And they will be on live Tuesday night for the end of the Montreal-Atlanta game and into postgame. 2:02 Recap Race Top Of The West 6:30 Reset On Final Day Of West Action & Playoff Matchups 12:24 Miami Break The Record + Club World Cup Future 14:25 Recap Of The Race For The Wild Card Spots In The EastSoccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome back to Soccer Eyes What A Day. This is your weekend recap. It's a little early on the NWSL side, but MLS just had its decision day. I want to get this show out because me and Tom are going to be doing our full MLS show on Monday, a little bit earlier than normal, probably around noon, so that you have as much time to digest that. That way we can preview the wildcard rounds a little bit as well. Tuesday night, we know it'll be Montreal hosting Atlanta. I'll get into how we got there in a moment. And then Wednesday night, I believe it's a 1030 p.m. Eastern time kickoff. The Portland Timbers as the nine seed are hosting the Vancouver Whitecaps as the eight seed because

MLS going to MLS, baby. It is that time of year and we are ready for it. So a few NWSL games still to happen on Sunday that won't be updated here. But myself and Jordan Angeli will be back on Wednesday to break down all things NWSL and talk a little national team with the U.S. women's national team coming up on Thursday against Iceland in this window and Kelly O'Hara's send-off game into her retirement. Decision day, it was decision day for sure. Pure drama. Stoppage time goals. Last minute winners. Last minute VAR overturned goals that decided playoff spots in the East and Western conferences. And it was a ton of fun.

And Inter-Miami setting the points record. All-time highest point total in an MLS season on 74 points. And Gianni Infantino was in the house. The FIFA president to award them their spot in the Club World Cup and announced that they would be the team that would host and play in the opening match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup that's going to happen, this expanded tournament here in the United States coming up. Let's start in the Western Conference though with the recap because it just happened and I am juiced about it and I am ready to talk about it. So let's go. We're going to start

at the top. That was the major drama. LA Galaxy three points ahead of LAFC coming into this final weekend for a chance to win the Western Conference. We had their general manager Will Koontz on the show on Thursday. Phenomenal interview. Super interesting. And he said, we want to win the West. That's our first goal. And then we go from there all the way to trying to win MLS Cup. So that was the stated goal. That was the lineup Greg Vanney put out there in Houston for this one. LAFC were hosting San Jose behind by three points, so needed the Galaxy result. And then LAFC needed to better LA Galaxy's goal differential over the course of the season to be able to take over that spot. It was a three-goal gap. So you need the Galaxy to lose.

That takes them down one. That makes it a two-goal gap. Then LAFC needed to win by more than two goals at home against San Jose. And it was a bit of a shocker. San Jose got out to an early 1-0 lead. Then Houston gets the 1-0 lead over the LA Galaxy. So all things even. We continue on.

San Jose or LAFC finally gets the goal. Danny Buonga the first one. Eddie Atuesta comes off the bench. He scores on his first touch to go up to one but in dramatic fashion the LA Galaxy get a penalty upon VAR review right on the stroke of 90 minutes Gabriel Peck steps up he drills at home the Galaxy at that point are tied they're going on into first place in the Western Conference. Of course, that means the opportunity to host all the way up to MLS Cup, including what could be an El Trafico Western Conference Finals.

It was pure drama. LAFC ends up scoring again. They end up finishing their game before the LA Galaxy. And credit to the directors who caught all of this. All of the LAFC supporters are watching the Galaxy game on their phones in the stadium, waiting to see what will happen. They see the penalty kick. We watch them all watch the penalty kick, which Gabriel Peck scores.

At that point, they're stuck in second place. They won't have the opportunity to host the Galaxy if they make it into the conference finals. And then, Houston Dynamo's own former LA Galaxy defender, Daniel Starris, pops up with a dramatic headed goal flicked onto the far post in deep stoppage time to give Houston the 2-1 lead. It knocks the LA Galaxy off that first spot into second place and ended that way. It was absolutely insane. I had the Galaxy game streaming. I had 360 up on my TV. I'm watching both two

minutes apart from each other. So I'm watching the LAFC fans watch the Galaxy game from two minutes behind me while I watch the Galaxy game. And it was absolutely absurd. Payne Sill yelling at the referee after the game because he had a goal earlier in the game that was called back for a foul by Maya Yoshida that I thought was two weeks in advance of when the goal was scored. All the way at midfield. Still on a 50-50 ball. And yet it got called back because that was technically what was called. A foul that started the phase of attacking play. Payne still had put that one in the top corner.

This game was everything. These two games. Ridiculous. All over the place. That's why you love having these games simultaneous. That's why it's really fun to watch it all go down at the same time and LAFC ends up taking over first place in the Western Conference so they will host all the way through and the potential still to host MLS Cup if they are able to as I talked about on Friday in the mailbag episode the Galaxy had already clinched

their spot in CONCACAF Champions Cup because they were the highest team left in the standings and everyone else ahead of them had already clinched via other ways that you can clinch so that wasn't on the table for either of these teams in all of that wasn't the only drama in the Western Conference though as we go down the standings minnesota who was out of the playoffs about a month ago they finish ending up all the way in sixth place in the western conference with a 4-1 win over st louis kelvin yoboa with a picture perfect pass on the opening goal to rob Ludd dropping deep and just feathers this through ball on the ground the perfect weight for Ludd to pick up and score so Robin Ludd now the second

best ever goals plus assist combined season in Minnesota United history and a huge season for him Minnesota continuing their form they conceded to Marcel Hartle late to make it 2-1 and then immediately scored two goals within a four-minute span right after that to get themselves back up. Sangbin Zhang, two goals off the bench in this game for this Minnesota United team. So they move up to sixth place.

They jump the Colorado Rapids on this final day, a brutal night to close the season for the Rapids. Colorado goes to Austin. They lose in stoppage time. They went down 1-0 early. They get a late Omer Fernandez penalty kick that he earned and finished himself. For them, it looked like to at least get a 2-2 draw in this game, they end up losing in stoppage time.

And even worse, the opening 15 minutes, Georgie Mihailovic had to be stretchered off the field. You could see on the replay, he completely rolls. His right ankle comes down full force with his foot turned, and he, taken off the field, looked like almost in tears. And on a stretcher, that is the last thing Colorado or any of us wanted to see going into the postseason. He is their most important, I think, maybe attacking player. Hoffa Navarro did get a goal in this one.

Ends up on 15 goals overall in the season. So a good DP performance from him up top. And they're going to need to ride him and he's going to need to carry them through the postseason. RSL, a dramatic win as well for them. So they finish in third place. Diego Luna, phenomenal in this one. He scores the equalizing goal, a gorgeous goal from outside the box, hits the crossbar a few moments later, and RSL eventually gets the late winner, a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps, who are a mess right now. They lose. That finishes their season after winning the Canadian Championship on four straight losses

in MLS. They have not won a league game since September 15th, over a month, and now they cannot host the wildcard postseason game that they have earned the right to host because there is a Supercross World Championship event happening at BC Place on October 26th. And load in and set up has already started. And therefore they cannot play there. And they will now play at the Portland Timbers for this game. It is an absolute mess. And this is what I've been talking about the last few weeks.

You have to be disheartened if you're a Vancouver Whitecaps fan. Every time this team looks like it's about to take a step forward. And change the narrative about them. Or take advantage of the market. And get people behind them in all of this. They take two steps back. And that is absolutely brutal to see. It's been tough to watch this team close out the season.

Ryan Galt came off the bench and scored in this one. A nice goal for him. Fafa Pico missed the penalty over the crossbar that he skied earlier on in this game. And the Portland Timbers finishing in ninth. Doesn't matter because they get to play as the home team. They went on the road and drew Seattle 1-1 in Seattle. Obed Vargas picks up a red card in this one on two yellow cards. I only saw the second one.

He pushes a defender, I don't remember who, and then upon the call turns around, screams and sort of throws his hand in frustration. I think the yellow card was for the reaction. So Obed Vargas will be suspended for the first game of the postseason coming up for Seattle. That game will be against the Houston Dynamo as Seattle fell into the fourth seed, getting jumped by RSL. It is now, I believe, 11 straight home games

without a victory over the Timbers. So that Cascadia rivalry, not a kind one to Brian Schmetzer and his squad. So the playoffs that we have, Vancouver at Portland as the 8-9 seed in the wildcard on Wednesday night. LAFC will face off against the winner of that one in the three-game first round. LA Galaxy, the home team against the Colorado Rapids. RSL hosting Minnesota, which is a tasty one. Some really good talent. Two teams that I think are in the dark horse conversation. And Seattle against Houston, which might be the best series of the entire first round across both conferences.

Two teams that you could see making an MLS Cup run. Seattle have surged more recently, but you saw some of their struggles in this game against Portland to put away their chances and then to defend in some high leverage 1v1 situations. If you go back and watch Anthony's goal, he completely takes the whole left side of Seattle out of the play on two touches to get himself in for the goal scoring opportunity against the Houston Dynamo team that I think are in a really nice place right now. They get the victory at home against the Galaxy. It was their game. They controlled possession. They created chances.

Coco Carrasquilla looks good. Aceh Aceh was healthy in this one. Griffin Dorsey had the assist on that late goal with a deep cross. Ponce got a goal earlier in the game. It was a scrappy one on the end of a set piece, but you gotta love to see a DP center forward getting goals for you right now. So it feels like it's a Houston team that's been here before. They're healthy, they're playing the soccer

they wanna be playing, and there's a ton of potential for this team going forward. In the Eastern Conference, let's start with Miami. to be playing and there's a ton of potential for this team going forward in the eastern conference let's start with miami they went down 2-0 out the gate against the new england revolution for a chance with a win to set the points record the second one a laughable goal martinez goes flying defensively trying to make a tackle on the edge of the box. Aviles can't be strong enough to win a tackle inside his own six. And then Drake Callender lets the ball go between his legs. That's softly shot at him.

That was the second goal. Luca Langone with the first goal. And then Luis Suarez leads the comeback. Messi not in the starting lineup. The other players who went and played full internationals over the break did not get the start. Suarez led the line and he led this team. Ends up with a hat trick. Messi comes off the bench and within two minutes

has the second assist to set up what ends up being the winner for Benja Kramaski. And it goes from 2-0 to a 6-2 victory for Inter Miami in this one. And then post game, I don't know what was going on on the field. Jorge Mas gave a speech. David Beckham spoke Spanish and gave a speech and said they want to do more. I think they were thanking Tata Martino, talking to the fans.

And then Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, came out to congratulate them and then officially announced that Inter-Miami, as Supporter Shield winners, I believe, have qualified for the Club World Cup. And that Hard Rock Stadium in Miami will host the opener of that Club World Cup in which Inter-Miami will be playing. We also know that the Seattle Sounders, the other MLS team that's qualified via their CONCACAF Champions League win in 2021, they will be the host team for all their group stage games out at century link field so seattle will be a home team as will miami but not at their own stadium at hard rock instead um for that competition so that was the drama at the top columbus was already locked into that to their spot they did dramatically beat the red bulls in stoppage time three two uh to stay in that second place and then the drama was on the playoff line so coming into

this final day DC Montreal were tied in eighth and ninth on 40 points in the playoffs Toronto FC was sitting right behind them Toronto FC was already eliminated because they couldn't jump up because they didn't play this weekend they'd'd already played their full games. Philadelphia and Atlanta were each three points behind DC and Montreal. So they needed one or both of those teams to lose and they needed to be able to win themselves to jump up into the playoff spots. And this is where decision day started. Philadelphia scored in the second minute. Quinn Sullivan, Atlanta scored in the seventh minute from Saba Lobsunitsa. And all of a sudden, you're thinking, what is happening? Philadelphia and Atlanta getting their early leads. They're jumping up.

And both of them are playing against teams that are in the playoffs. Philadelphia is hosting FC Cincinnati. Atlanta are at Orlando, who are fighting for a home playoff seed in the fourth position in the Eastern Conference. And it was absolutely ridiculous. Montreal then, they go to business. Caden Clark gets the opening goal in the first half against NYCFC. Caden Clark in his seven games with Montreal, four goals and four assists. He has been unbelievable in those two attacking roles alongside Bryce Duke. Behind, Joseph Martinez. Joseph Martinez was electric in

this game. On Clark's goal, he had an elite soccer IQ moment. He dummies the ball. He draws all the defenders. He lets it roll through for Clark to finish it. And then Joseph got his own goal in first half stoppage time. That put them up 2-0. Killed any momentum or belief really from NYCFC. And basically sealed a playoff spot for Montreal. So you're sitting there. Montreal winning. Controls their own destiny.

They're in the playoffs. Philadelphia and Atlanta, they are leading. So it all fell on DC United hosting Charlotte with control of their own destiny and the golden boot leader and Christian Benteke up top and they could not perform. DC puts up a 0.73 XG in the game at home. Charlotte got the opener in the 58th minute. Another elite dummy this time from Patrick Augemang to allow Pep Biel to score the opening goal. And then Aji God put it away himself.

Then set up by Pep Biel. Charlotte won 3-0. DC United are knocked out of the playoffs. But wait. Orlando scores one goal to come back and cut the deficit to 2-1 against Atlanta at home. Orlando stormed forward. The last 20 minutes was all Orlando. Luis Muriel and Duncan McGuire come off the bench.

They add to the attack. They're pouring chances on, opportunities in front of Brad Guzon consistently. And Duncan McGuire breaking through in the 89th minute to equalize. That tie pulls Atlanta out of the playoffs. It puts D.C. back into the playoffs because the Philadelphia Union had gone from 1-0 up to down 2-1, including a Jakob Glessner's own goal, one of the worst own goals of the year. So Philadelphia were out and Atlanta all of a sudden were out. D.C. were back in with

just a few minutes left in the two games. And then you get the report in Orlando that VAR has recommended a check. There could be a handball on Duncan McGuire. Now I do not see a clear and obvious error in this one, but in the end, the referee gives the handball, takes off Duncan Maguire's goal, puts Atlanta back into the playoffs. They end up tied on points with DC United on 40. They end up tied on wins with 10 each. They end up beating DC United to the postseason or at least to the wildcard spot whatever we want to call it on goal differential and for DC United their season is over Atlanta under Rob Valentino they are moving on to the postseason that one Tuesday night 7 30 p.m eastern time we obviously

will preview it for you on this show here on Monday with Tommy Scoops. And it means Joseph Martinez is hosting Atlanta in a post-season game in Montreal. That is going to be delicious. That's going to be fun. Me and Tom are going to do a live show post-game, but I think we're going to come on before the game ends to hang out and do a little bit of a watch-along on our YouTube channel, Twitch, Twitter,

wherever you want to watch us live. And then we'll do a post-game show and we'll clip it out and we'll post it as a podcast. We were on live for about an hour during these Eastern Conference games while this was going on. I'm standing up. I'm screaming as Asha Mong scores. Tom's yelling at the TV about Philadelphia. All of a sudden, we're both seeing the Duncan McGuire goal. We've got people in the comments updating us because they're getting it 10 seconds faster than us on potential handballs and VARs and all of that.

It was a ton of fun. So join us on Tuesday night for that around the wildcard game. And then we'll figure out what we're going to do on Wednesday night for that game as well. DC United on the final day eliminated. Wall Christian Benteke officially wins the Golden Boot. 23 goalsian benteke officially wins the golden boot 23 goals benteke finishes three goals ahead of denny buanga messi and louis suarez for that golden boot spot 23 goals is you know kind of cleanly in where we have seen um basically since covid in major league soccer we saw uh honey mukdar win this on the exact same number.

We have seen over the last few years, you know, similar marks, Tati Castellanos a little bit less in his season. And of course the COVID season, Diego Rossi, not a huge number there, but this all comes off the back of Joseph Martinez and Vela in back-to-back seasons, setting the goal scoring record. And a few years where you had Wando and Bradley Wright Phillips both pushing the

records so the goal scoring individual numbers have dropped a little bit over the last few years it'll be interesting to see what happens now going forward I think especially with continued expansion coming and continued high spending at the DP spots, you'd expect there to be some players who could put up some pretty big numbers, I think, going forward. And for DC United, you have to think there's some level of excitement and hope going into next year. This is a really tough way to end a year. But the first under a new GM and a new head coach, five of their top six highest paid players all are on options or their contracts are up. So Christian Benteke is already signed. He is the sixth of the top six. He's

already signed a contract extension. He's the golden boot winner. You want him to come back, but they've got flexibility in their other five spots. Just doing a quick thing today. I would give Aaron Long a designated designated player contract if he wants it you give him the bump from 1.3 million he's making to the 1.6 million that miles robinson's making remember aaron long former red bull player this is a team under troy lasagne that is trying to play a somewhat similar system and i think you need to improve the center back position individually quality um at those spots they need to go out and find themselves a central midfield. But I would say if you can go out and sign Aaron Long, you go out,

you trade for Nelson Palacio from RSL to get some energy and quality in central midfield. He only started five games this year with Pedro Ruiz coming back. He's going to be even further down the depth chart. You go trade for Patrick Ajamang, who if Swiderski and whatever DP10 are there, is not a starter on Charlotte and you probably give up a decent amount to get him but you get him on a good contract as well and you go sign Ariel Lassiter to play left wing back you are firmly a top six team in the east and if people are healthy and it all gels plus the other signings you make from

outside the league you have the potential to be a home team in the playoffs next year. It was an awesome night. It was so much fun to follow all these games. So many wild things happening, red cards and VAR calls, crazy goals, dramatic swings, all of that. So a ton of fun to watch all of MLS Decision Day. And I cannot wait for our coverage this week. So the MLS show on Monday, the live show Tuesday during the wild card game. Wednesday, of course, we've got our NWSL show with Jordan Angeli. And then Thursday, Tom will be back on for us to react to all the wild card games and then start to preview the first round fully as we go forward. And we'll talk about maybe having some guests on as well. I've already got an interview, but I'm excited for all of you to hear coming up on Friday

with FC Porto's U17 coach about a program he works in around periodization and training youth coaches and maybe a little bit about why Portugal has been so successful in their youth development. On the NWSL side of things, obviously not all the games have been completed so far for the weekend. We still have a big Sunday of action, the best game of the weekend coming up 5 p.m. Eastern time as Gotham FC hosts Shield winners, Orlando Pride, the Spirit hosting the Red Stars at the same time, and then Angel City and Utah facing off later in the day. That game doesn't count for anything anymore because of the results here on Saturday.

So KC Current roasting San Diego 4-1. Temwa Shoeinga continues to make history. She has now scored against every team in NWSL this season. She also adds with her one more goal her total number to 20 now continuing to pad the all-time record for the kc current louisville trying to keep their playoff alive hopes alive in their final home game they scuffed they scuffled to a 1-0 win over portland taylor flint the headed goal off a corner kick in the 88th minute to get them that 1-0 victory a reminder Louisville of course they've got all in this season just to make the

postseason they are currently sitting in ninth place and it is a very very thin margin for them to try and make the postseason as Bay FC got an 83rd minute set piece goal from who else but Abby Dahlkemper. She finished off the Rachel Kundanandji curled free kick to the far post. To make it 1-0 and to win the game. Dahlkemper has been elite for this team. Since she has been added to this squad. They have 10 points. They've only conceded multiple goals in one game.

And for Bay FC now, they sit three points ahead of Louisville going into the final weekend of NWSL action in which they play at the Houston Dash, the worst team in the league with nothing to play for. A tie clinches a spot in the playoffs for Bay FC but Louisville beat Portland 1-0 at home so Portland are now tied with Bay FC on that final playoff spot it means that Bay FC could jump up and finish seventh and not even be the last team in in their expansion year. So a huge opportunity. For this Bay FC squad. The victory tonight. Eliminated Utah and Angel City. From the postseason.

And now an opportunity to clinch it. With just a tie. Or if Louisville drops any points. Then Bay FC would clinch as well. So an exciting weekend of action. Cannot wait for the coverage. This week. I'm so glad for everyone who's in the discord. And joined us. If you exciting weekend of action. Cannot wait for the coverage this week. I'm so glad for everyone who's in the Discord and joined us. If you haven't joined yet, sign up to our Patreon.

It gets you access to our Discord. You can hang out and talk during all the playoff games or as you get nervous and you want to talk about MLS or NWSL throughout the day and throughout the night. Everyone in there enjoying so much the action. So come join us there as well as getting access to our depth charts and our salary tables. That's what I used real quick this evening as I was thinking, how can DC get better? Boom, you go look at how much Aaron Long makes. You look at the contract lens. You look at the flexibility for some of these teams and you start to put together some really cool moves or understand when teams make moves what's going on one of the odd things that happened today was Minnesota officially announced that they've declined the options on

Clint Irwin and Franco Fragapane you don't normally hear that until after the last game a team has played especially in a spot where Minnesota had clinched the playoff spot I think it was a sign of intent from their new head CSO as well as head coach saying things are changing and things are different and these players don't fit with you know what we are building I think that should be exciting for Minnesota fans because things haven't been good over the last few years and now it's starting to turn around the DPs they've added have looked good some of the additions they've made have looked good Jefferson Diaz and Joseph Rosales look really good. So you see things like that happening, and then you start to go through,

and you go through the salary cap tables, and you go through the depth charts, and you look at things, and you say to yourself, oh, okay, you look at a player like Franco Fragopane who's in this team for this Minnesota squad. He's making $317,000. Okay, that's a player that you don't want to keep around. who's in this team for this Minnesota squad. He's making $317,000. Okay, that's a player that you don't want to keep around. Clint Irwin on a similar number if they're not going to play. And when you look at the depth charts in the files that we have,

Fragapane, we have as the third in his position, a position that six different players can play. Clint Irwin, of course, the backup goalkeeper. So already the changing of the guard in Minnesota. Thank you once again to all of you for listening. I cannot wait. And I'll talk to you again very, very soon. you