MLS: Breaking down the Eastern Conference Playoffs

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HARRISON, NJ – JULY 14: Héber and Valentin Castellanos of New York City FC celebrate Héber’s goal during the MLS match between New York City FC and New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on July 14, 2019 in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images) /

The 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs begin this week. Here is a look at how each of the seven Eastern Conference teams made it and what could be in store this postseason.

The Major League Soccer postseason is here. And the MLS playoffs are split into two conferences, East and West. Here we look at the East.

The Eastern Conference postseason picture features both New York sides, along with the two most recent MLS Cup winners, in Atlanta United and Toronto FC. Four-time MLS Cup winners D.C. United are also in the mix, along with the Philadelphia Union and the New England Revolution, who are both looking to lift the trophy for the first time in their history.

light. Related Story. MLS: 5 teams who excelled expectations in 2019

The playoffs see the 14 teams seeded from one to seven in their respective Conferences, with the number one seed receiving a bye to the Conference semi-finals and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Seeds two through seven now face off in the first round to reach the semi-finals, with the two seed playing the seven seed, three seed playing the six seed and four versus five. The winner of the four-vs-five clash will travel to the number one seed, while the two winners from the two seed, three seed, six seed and seven seed matches will play one another.

First Round Fixtures:

[1] New York City FC – Bye

[4] Toronto FC v [5] D.C. United

[2] Atlanta United v [7] New England Revolution

[3] Philadelphia Union v [6] New York Red Bulls

HARRISON, NJ – JULY 14: Héber, Maximiliano Moralez and Anton Tinnerholm of New York City FC celebrate Héber’s goal during the MLS match between New York City FC and New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on July 14, 2019 in Harrison, New Jersey. (Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images) /

[1] New York City FC

The best team in the Eastern Conference is New York City FC, who eventually ran away at the top of the standings following some cracking late season form. This will be their fourth consecutive appearance in the Conference semi-finals, but their first having gone through as Conference winners. However, they have been dumped out of the playoffs at that stage in each of the last three postseason campaigns.

They managed to excel this year, even without their influential talisman David Villa up top. Brazilian forward Heber came in and scored 15 goals in all competitions, to help the team to the top of the East. And they accomplished all this without winning any of their first six games. NYCFC drew five of those, with a 4-0 loss to Toronto in the middle. They bounced back superbly though, going on to lose just five of their remaining 28 games, including going on an unbeaten run of nine games in August and September.

A 4-1 victory over table-topping rivals Atlanta at the end of September was enough to secure the Eastern Conference title for the Sky Blues, securing a place in semi-finals. They will play either Toronto FC or D.C. United in that clash in a week’s time, having not beaten the Canadian side in the regular season, while they took four points from their two clashes with the team from the capital.

Can NYCFC go any further than they previously have? And will the new playoff system work in their favour?

First Round Fixture:

[1] New York City FC – Bye

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