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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,[1] and the second playoff series since 2006 in which teams could not cross conference brackets.[2] 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.
 | |
| 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 | |
| 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) |
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.[2] The Conference winners meet in the MLS Cup, a single match hosted by the finalist with the better regular season record.[1]
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.[3]
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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.[1][4]
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.[4]
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.[1]
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| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York Red Bulls | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 58 | 41 | +17 | 59 | MLS Cup Conference Semifinals |
| 2 | Sporting Kansas City | 34 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 47 | 30 | +17 | 58 | |
| 3 | New England Revolution | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 49 | 38 | +11 | 51 | |
| 4 | Houston Dynamo | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 51 | MLS Cup Knockout Round |
| 5 | Montreal Impact | 34 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 50 | 49 | +1 | 49 | |
| 6 | Chicago Fire | 34 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 47 | 52 | −5 | 49 | |
| 7 | Philadelphia Union | 34 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 42 | 44 | −2 | 46 | |
| 8 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 12 | 17 | 5 | 42 | 46 | −4 | 41 | |
| 9 | Toronto FC | 34 | 6 | 17 | 11 | 30 | 47 | −17 | 29 | |
| 10 | D.C. United | 34 | 3 | 24 | 7 | 22 | 59 | −37 | 16 |
Source: MLS
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portland Timbers | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 54 | 33 | +21 | 57 | MLS Cup Conference Semifinals |
| 2 | Real Salt Lake | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 57 | 41 | +16 | 56 | |
| 3 | LA Galaxy | 34 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 53 | 38 | +15 | 53 | |
| 4 | Seattle Sounders FC | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 42 | 42 | 0 | 52 | MLS Cup Knockout Round |
| 5 | Colorado Rapids | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 45 | 38 | +7 | 51 | |
| 6 | San Jose Earthquakes | 34 | 14 | 11 | 9 | 35 | 42 | −7 | 51 | |
| 7 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 53 | 45 | +8 | 48 | |
| 8 | FC Dallas | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 48 | 52 | −4 | 44 | |
| 9 | Chivas USA | 34 | 6 | 20 | 8 | 30 | 67 | −37 | 26 |
Source: MLS
Tiebreak rules
When two or more teams are tied in standings on points the following tiebreak rules[1][5] apply:
- Most wins
- Goals for
- Goal differential
- 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.)
- Road goals
- Road goal differential
- Home goals
- Home goal differential
- Coin toss (two teams) or drawing of lots (three or more teams)
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| Knockout | Conference semifinals | Conference finals | MLS Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||
| E1 | New York | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
| E4 | Houston | 3 | E4 | Houston (a.e.t.) | 2 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| E5 | Montreal | 0 | Eastern Conference | E4 | Houston | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| E2 | Kansas City | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Kansas City (a.e.t.) | 1 | 3 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||
| E3 | New England | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||||||||||
| E2 | Kansas City (p) | 1 (7) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| W2 | Salt Lake | 1 (6) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| W1 | Portland | 2 | 3 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| W4 | Seattle | 2 | W4 | Seattle | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| W5 | Colorado | 0 | Western Conference | W1 | Portland | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||||||||
| W2 | Salt Lake | 4 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
| W2 | Salt Lake (a.e.t.) | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||
| W3 | Los Angeles | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||
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
| 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' |
Real Salt Lake won 5–2 on aggregate
MLS Cup
Result
MLS Cup
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