Lots of action on the MLS decision day leads into playoffs

by Madison Bibbey

Staff Writer

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

The Columbus Crew celebrate a 2-1 win against the New York Red Bulls on October 1st. Photo taken by Elizabeth Elsass.

The MLS decision day was Sunday Oct 9 to finalize the 14 teams in the 2022 playoffs. Going into decision day three spots were open in the eastern conference and two in the west. Columbus, Cincinnati, and Orlando were in playoff contention in the east. Portland, Minnesota, Salt Lake, and Vancouver were in playoff contention in the west. The MLS games are popular because the games are unpredictable “because the talent level is so high on every team” Becky Alcox, the girls varsity soccer coach said. It’s very true with high stakes games and loads of talent anything can happen.

The eastern games kicked off at 2:30pm eastern time and the western games

kicked off at 5:00pm eastern time. Cincinnati took a convincing win over DC United with a final score of 5 to 2. Orlando and Columbus had a dramatic game with Orlando coming out with a 2 to 1 win. Real Salt Lake clinched their playoff spot with a 3 to 1 win over Portland. Minnesota grabbed their spot in the playoffs with a 2 to 0 win over Vancouver. The playoff eastern standings are as follows: Philadelphia at 1, Montreal at 2, New York City FC at 3, New York at 4, FC Cincinnati at 5, Inter Miami CF at 6, Orlando City SC at 7. The playoff western standings are as follows: Los Angeles FC at 1, Austin FC at 2, FC Dallas at 3, Los Angeles at 4, Nashville SC at 5, Minnesota at 6, Real Salt Lake at 7.

Miami clinched their playoff spot with a 4 to 1 win over Orlando on Wednesday October 5. Charlotte were knocked out of playoff contention Wednesday night with a tie against Columbus. Los Angeles FC and Philadelphia have bye’s in round one with each finishing first in their conference. In round one of the western conference games Los Angeles will play Nashville, Dallas will play Minnesota, and Austin will play Real Salt Lake. Round one of the eastern conference games will have New York playing Cincinnati, New York City playing Miami, and Montreal playing Orlando.

The 2022 season for our local team the Columbus Crew ended on decision day. The Crew finished their season leading the league in ties with 16. They were only two off the league record for a season. Most of their ties were games they were leading in and gave up late goals. Also losing their most important game by giving up two goals in the second half after going up one. Lots of crew fans had hoped for the playoffs, Makenna Bibbey (10) said she “thought the crew would make it to the playoffs”. Crew fans have been disappointed these last two seasons having a team of playoff caliber but missing the playoffs. The franchise has plans to make next year’s decision day the start of their postseason. October 10th they fired their head coach and are planning to make multiple changes with the coaching staff. The crew are determined to make the playoffs next year with or without a win on decision day.