Too many teams are part of the Major League Soccer playoffs. Six of the 10 teams in each conference made the postseason this year, which helps make the regular season feel meaningless. It's not until this week's conference finals — four teams competing for two MLS Cup spots — that the playoffs feel like they really matter. Ignoring that two of these teams finished 12 points behind the best in their conferences, this week is when the excitement really starts.
The East final is a cross-Canada battle. Toronto and Montreal play Tuesday, then have a week off before deciding their series on Wednesday. The odd schedule stems from the most Canadian of reasons: Toronto's stadium is hosting the Grey Cup next weekend.
All eyes will be on Toronto midfielder Sebastian Giovinco. The Italian had a hat trick in a 5-0 beating of NYC in the conference semifinals, his third hat trick of the season. Montreal, though, has had success containing him. Giovinco didn't score in either game of last season's playoffs against the Impact. He scored twice in a 2-0 victory early this season, but Montreal held him scoreless in each of the other two games this season.
While Giovinco has been neutralized in this matchup, Toronto has had an impossible time containing Montreal forward Ignacio Piatti, who has taken over for Didier Drogba as the Impact's main goal-scorer. Piatti scored all three of Montreal's league goals against its Canadian rivals this year. Like Giovinco, he is in form, having scored both goals in Montreal's recent playoff victory over New York. Only one of the two prolific goal-scorers can move on to the final, and one will provide Canada's first-ever MLS Cup participant.
Out West the matchup (Tuesday-Sunday next week) is between two different types of redemption stories. In 2014 and 2015, Colorado was one of the league's most embarrassingly bad teams, driving most fans from attending Rapids games and making the club into a laughingstock. This year, though, the Rapids finally surrounded forward Kevin Doyle with a few more pieces, including U.S. international players Jermaine Jones and Tim Howard, as well as Albanian forward Shkelzen Gashi. By adding them to the league's stingiest defense, which allowed less than a goal per game, the Rapids managed to climb all the way to second place this year.
Seattle, meanwhile, had a much shorter timeline on its fall and redemption. The Sounders, who have been perennial playoff bridesmaids over the past few seasons, crashed to the bottom of the West midway through the year. In the same week, they fired longtime coach Sigi Schmid, and brought in Uruguayan playmaker Nicolas Lodeiro. The combination of those moves, plus the dynamic presence of MLS Rookie of the Year Jordan Morris, pushed Seattle back to the playoffs.
With all four teams now within two games of the MLS Cup final, the excitement starts now.
Short Takes
• MLS is often derided as a "retirement league" by worldwide critics, thanks to a number of high-profile European players who have ended their careers collecting big checks on these shores. It looks like the league may lose three of them at once, though. Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Robbie Keane have all left their MLS teams in the past week.
