Orlando reach Conference Final
Orlando City SC roared to a 1-0 home victory over Atlanta United Sunday afternoon in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs, booking the club's first-ever Eastern Conference Final trip. Next up, Orlando will host the New York Red Bulls at Inter&Co Stadium Saturday (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
LA advance to Conference Final
LA Galaxy showed why they're the remaining favorite to win MLS Cup 2024 presented by Audi, cruising to a 6-2 rout of Minnesota United FC in their Western Conference Semifinal Sunday night at Dignity Health Sports Park. LA will host Seattle Sounders FC Saturday in the Western Conference Final (10 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
Orlando City broke the higher-seed curse. The Galaxy kept throwing haymakers. Let’s talk it out.
A deflected corner fell right to Ramiro Enrique, and that’s all Orlando City needed in this one. The Lions suffocated Atlanta’s attack the rest of the way and never faced a shot on target. That’s the perfect execution of an Orlando game plan under Oscar Pareja.
Is there really more to add than that? All of the talk about how Atlanta would struggle to create against a team that actually knew how to defend came to fruition. They put up a heckuva fight, but in the end, they were playing with one DP attacker on the field. When Jamal Thiaré went off injured, they were missing their only other transition threat besides Saba Lobjanidze. Even if he had been out there, there’s little guarantee Atlanta would find a breakthrough against Orlando.
It’s all in front of the Lions now. I mean, it was before Sunday’s game. But now it’s really, really in front of them. They’ll host the Eastern Conference Final later this week. They’re a home win away from MLS Cup. If they put in the kind of controlled performance they did tonight against New York, they’ll head west to MLS Cup. The path has been cleared for them, and so far, they’re taking advantage of it. It is the absolute best chance Pareja and this group will get at winning a league title.
There’s pressure with that. But man, we’ve come a long way from people calling for Pareja to be dismissed. The Lions have picked up the third most points in the East and the fourth most in MLS over the last three seasons. They’re the only one of those top four teams - LAFC, FC Cincinnati, and Columbus Crew - to not have a Supporters’ Shield or MLS Cup to their name in that span. They just got their biggest win in club history, though. Now, they’re a couple of wins away from turning all that league success into silverware.
Uh. Sheesh.
The Galaxy are on a warpath. Make it 15 goals in three playoff games for one of the best attacks we’ve ever seen in MLS. Even in the middle of a chaotic first half that saw five goals and 12 minutes of stoppage time, the Galaxy never truly felt out of control. That’s even after Kelvin Yeboah proved he’s the genuine product a couple of times. They are basically playing the way everyone pretended Miami could play this season.
So, is anyone going to stop them? Well, Seattle will be by far the best defense they’ve faced. They were the best defense anyone faced in MLS this year. Does that mean they can slow them down? Can either of the two Eastern Conference teams slow them down? It just doesn’t seem all that likely right now. In a postseason where so many higher seeds have faltered, the Galaxy have done nothing but mollywhop the teams in front of them.
They have hosting rights over the next two games. They’re the odds-on favorites to get this done. After a night like last night, are you going to pick against them?
- Orlando City are closer than ever to MLS Cup.
- LA Galaxy are on the verge of something special.
- Dax McCarty ended his legendary MLS career.
Good luck out there. Make sure they stay down.
