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The MLS Cup playoffs are down to their final four. Rather surprisingly for this league, it’s the usual suspects: your Supporters’ Shield winners, LAFC; the Philadelphia Union, who finished the season level on points with the Black and Gold; Austin FC, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference; and New York City FC, your defending MLS Cup champions.
Sure, this postseason has seen some upsets, but this is one of the most regular-season-representative set of conference finals in recent memory. LAFC, Philadelphia and Austin were three of the league’s five best teams from start to finish this season, and apart from some CONCACAF Champions League-related hiccups and an adjustment period following the departures of 2021 Golden Boot winner Valentin Castellanos and respected manager Ronny Deila, NYCFC could consider themselves part of that group, too.
With the conference finals kicking off on Sunday, ESPN asked Jeff Carlisle and Austin Lindberg to break down both matchups, and had Kyle Bonagura and Dan Hajducky help them predict which two teams will head to the MLS Cup next Saturday.
Eastern Conference
The end of last season’s playoffs must surely have been tough to stomach for Philadelphia. Having fallen in an Eastern Conference final defeat to NYCFC while 11 players were absent because of COVID protocols, the Union then had to watch from home as the Bronx Blues went to Portland and beat the Timbers to MLS Cup.
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That should be motivation enough on Sunday. Philly still have more to prove, though.
The Union won both contests against NYCFC this season, 2-1 at home and 2-0 on the road, bettering their opponents in both expected goals (xG) 4.06-2.78 and chances 22-19 across the two games. Despite Philadelphia’s dominance this season as the Eastern Conference champions, tied for most points in the league in 2022 and its highest-scoring team, they were fairly pedestrian in chance creation (13th) and shots conceded (14th), and…
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Source : espn
