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2013 MLS Cup Playoffs

Tournament details
Country	United States Canada
Teams	10
Defending champions	Los Angeles Galaxy
Final positions
Champions	Sporting Kansas City (2nd title)
Runner-up	Real Salt Lake
Semifinalists	Houston Dynamo Portland Timbers
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	42 (2.8 per match)
Attendance	328,402 (21,893 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Aurélien Collin (3 goals)
← 20122014 →

The 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs was the eighteenth post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began in late October and culminated on December 7, 2013, with MLS Cup 2013, the eighteenth league championship for MLS. This was the third year that the playoffs included ten teams, and the second playoff series since 2006 in which teams could not cross conference brackets. The top five teams in both the Eastern and Western conferences of the league earned berths, with the top three clubs in each conference earning direct byes to the conference semifinals. The fourth and fifth-place finishers of both conferences competed in a single-elimination play-in match.

The play-in winner played their respective conference regular season champion in the conference semifinals, which was a two-leg aggregate series, without the away goals rule enforced. For the second year in a row, each Conference Championship will also be a two-leg aggregate series, as opposed to the traditional single elimination match. The Conference winners meet in the MLS Cup, a single match hosted by the finalist with the better regular season record.

Los Angeles Galaxy were the defending champions, having defeated Houston Dynamo 3–1 in the 2012 MLS Cup.

In a break from previous years, only Sporting Kansas City, the MLS Cup winner, directly entered the 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League, earning a Pot A seed. They were joined by the New York Red Bulls, the Supporters' Shield winner; the Portland Timbers, the conference winner from the conference opposite the Supporters' Shield winner; and D.C. United, the 2013 U.S. Open Cup champion. However, none of these berths were available to the league's three Canadian teams, which instead participated in the Canadian Championship for that country's single berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. The change from the MLS Cup runner-up gaining entry to the CONCACAF Champions League to the opposite conference winner gaining entry was new for 2013. The change was announced after the MLS Cup had been played, with the announcement stating that the teams knew in advance.

Format

For 2013, the league kept the format the same as the 2012 edition. In 2012, the league's previous system of "wild card" qualification—which had the potential for "crossover" series in which one team could play in the other conference's bracket—was scrapped. Instead, the current system has the top five teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs and the two conference brackets are entirely separate. The First Round of each conference is a one-off match between the 4th and 5th place teams, similar to the previous wild card system, with the 4th-place team hosting. The First Round winner advances to play the conference's top seed in the Conference Semifinals while the other two teams play each other in the other series.

Conference Semifinals and Conference Championship series are conducted in a home-and-away aggregate-goal format, with the higher seed hosting the second leg. If the teams are tied after two games, a 30-minute extra time period (divided into two 15-minute periods) will be played followed by penalty kicks, if necessary. The away goals rule or golden goal is not used.

In the case of ties in the First Round and MLS Cup, extra time and penalty kicks are used in the same manner as above.

Qualification

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Tiebreak rules

When two or more teams are tied in standings on points the following tiebreak rules apply:

1. Most wins
2. Goals for
3. Goal differential
4. Fewest disciplinary points in the official points table Archived August 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (foul: 1 pt, first yellow: 3 pts, second yellow: 5 pts, straight red: 6 pts, disciplinary commission suspension: 6 pts, etc.)
5. Road goals
6. Road goal differential
7. Home goals
8. Home goal differential
9. Coin toss (two teams) or drawing of lots (three or more teams)

Bracket

Schedule

Knockout round

Eastern Conference

Houston Dynamo	3–0	Montreal Impact
Bruin 16', 72' García 27' (pen.)	Report

Western Conference

Seattle Sounders FC	2–0	Colorado Rapids
Evans 28' Johnson 90+3'	Report

Conference semifinals

Eastern Conference

New England Revolution	2–1	Sporting Kansas City
Dorman 55' Rowe 67'	Report	Collin 69'

Sporting Kansas City	3–1 (a.e.t.)	New England Revolution
Collin 41' Sinovic 79' Bieler 113'	Report	Imbongo 70'

Sporting Kansas City won 4–3 on aggregate

Houston Dynamo	2–2	New York Red Bulls
Clark 51' Cummings 90+2'	Report	Cahill 22' Alexander 32'

New York Red Bulls	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Houston Dynamo
Wright-Phillips 23'	Report	Davis 36' Cummings 104'

Houston Dynamo won 4–3 on aggregate

Western Conference

Seattle Sounders FC	1–2	Portland Timbers
Alonso 90'	Report	Johnson 15' Nagbe 67'

Portland Timbers	3–2	Seattle Sounders FC
Johnson 29' (pen.) Valeri 44' Danso 47'	Report	Yedlin 74' Johnson 76'

Portland Timbers won 5–3 on aggregate

Los Angeles Galaxy	1–0	Real Salt Lake
Franklin 48'	Report

Real Salt Lake	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Los Angeles Galaxy
Velásquez 35' Schuler 102'	Report

Real Salt Lake won 2–1 on aggregate

Conference finals

Sporting Kansas City	2–1	Houston Dynamo
Sapong 14' Dwyer 63'	Report	Garcia 3'

Sporting Kansas City won 2–1 on aggregate

Real Salt Lake	4–2	Portland Timbers
Schuler 35' Findley 41' Sandoval 48' Morales 82'	Report	Johnson 14' Piquionne 90+4'

Portland Timbers	0–1	Real Salt Lake
	Report	Findley 29'

Real Salt Lake won 5–2 on aggregate

MLS Cup

Result

Sporting Kansas City	1 – 1 (a.e.t.)	Real Salt Lake
Collin 76'	Report	Saborío 52'
Penalties
Bieler Nagamura Besler Feilhaber Zusi Sinovic Sapong Olum Myers Collin	7–6	Saborío Grabavoy Beckerman Plata Morales Schuler Beltran Velásquez Borchers Palmer

See also

• 2013 in American soccer
• 2013 Major League Soccer season
• 2013 U.S. Open Cup

References

1. ^ "Competition Rules and Regulations". MLSsoccer.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
2. ^ "Big changes for MLS Cup Playoffs format in 2012". MLSsoccer.com. November 20, 2011. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
3. "Portland Timbers headed to 2014-15 CONCACAF Champions League after USSF rule change approved". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved December 13, 2013.
4. ^ "2012 MLS Cup Playoffs". MLSsoccer.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2012. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
5. "New tiebreakers designed to encourage attacking play". MLS Communications. MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved October 1, 2012.

• MLS Cup playoffs
• 2013 Major League Soccer season