LAFC prepares for MLS' new playoff format

The 2022 MLS Cup playoffs produced the first final in 19 years between the top seeds from the opposing conferences.

And the instant classic that followed netted the Los Angeles Football Club its initial league trophy.

For last year's Supporters' Shield winners, collecting a rare double meant coming out ahead in three straight knockout games at home.

Capped by the thriller with the Philadelphia Union at BMO Stadium, that format could not have worked out better for the players, the league or anyone else involved, LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo suggested after the 34-game MLS regular season concluded last weekend with a draw for the defending champions in Vancouver.

“So it makes perfect sense to go change everything,” Cherundolo noted, offering a wry smile.

LAFC's path to becoming the first MLS champion to repeat since the Galaxy in 2014 will look significantly different than the journey the club took during Cherundolo's impressive debut season — and not just because LAFC failed to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, a tough task up against the most demanding schedule in league history.

The postseason format that was announced prior to opening day in late February still deems winning three knockout games necessary in order to lift the Cup, but those will only come following the new best-of-three opening-round series.

Tying 1-1 in Vancouver clinched third place in the Western Conference for LAFC (14-10-10, 52 points), giving the team an advantage for the home-awayhome series, unusual as that is in soccer, against the same opponent it faced in the regular-season finale.

If three games are needed to determine a winner against the sixth-seeded Whitecaps (12-10-12, 48 points), the first stage of the postseason would last as long as LAFC's Cup-winning excursion from a year ago. And L.A. would face Vancouver seven times over 51 matches in all competitions.