MLS: FC Dallas clinches playoff berth, three teams are eliminated

• by Paul Kennedy  @pkedit, Sep 18, 2022

FC Dallas became the sixth team to clinch a berth in the 2022 MLS playoffs with a 1-1 tie at San Jose.

The one point was enough to clinch a playoff berth when Real Salt Lake and Seattle both lost on Saturday night.

FC Dallas, which sits in third Western Conference behind LAFC and Austin FC, missed the 2021 playoffs but has been one of the most consistent teams in MLS this season under first-year head coach Nico Estevez. It has lost back-to-back games once in 2022, a pair of 2-1 losses in May.

After the sale of Ricardo Pepi to Augsburg for a reported $20 million, FC Dallas went out and acquired Argentine winger Alan Velasco from Independiente for what the club said was a record transfer fee and Paul Arriola from D.C. United for an MLS record amount of allocation money. It also brought in young Dutch keeper Maarten Paes and Marco Farfan, the former Portland Timbers Homegrown player who spent 2020 and 2021 at LAFC, and acquired Sebastian Lletget this summer.

FC Dallas returned a nucleus of young Homegrown players, including Paxton Pomykal, Edwin Cerrillo, Brandon Servania and Jesús Ferreira, who has tied FC Dallas’ single-season scoring record of 18 held by Jason Kreis (1999) and Kenny Cooper (2008).

• On Saturday, Chicago and Toronto FC were eliminated from the playoffs with losses. Sporting KC, which has been in the Western Conference basement a month ago, beat Minnesota United, 4-1, to extend its unbeaten streak to six games, but it was not enough to stay alive when the LA Galaxy beat Colorado, 4-1.

Eastern Conference:
NYCFC 2 NY Red Bulls 0. (Goals: Callens 1, Rodríguez 23. Att.: 30,151.)
Atlanta United 0 Philadelphia 0. (Att.: 42,521.)
New England 0 CF Montréal 1. (Goal: Johnston 72. Att.: 35,455.)
Orlando City 4 Toronto FC 0. (Goals: Torres 9, Kara 22, own goal 47, Akindele 84. Att.: 17,189.)
Chicago 2 Charlotte FC 3. (Goals: Pineda 3, Duran 30; Swiderski 68, 90+6, Nuno Santos 76. Att.: 21,450.)

Top 7: 1. *Philadelphia 64 points. 2. *CF Montreal 59, 3. *NY Red Bulls 50, 4. NYCFC 49, 5. Orlando City 45 (31 games). 6. FC Cincinnati 45 (31), 7. Columbus 41 (30).
Bottom 7: 8. Atlanta United 40, 9. Inter Miami 39 (30), 10. Charlotte FC 38 (31), 11. New England 38, 12. ^Chicago 35, 13. ^Toronto FC 34, 14. ^D.C. United 27 (31).
Note: All teams have played 32 games unless noted.
*Clinched playoff berth; ^Eliminated from playoffs.

Western Conference:
Sporting KC 4 Minnesota United 1. (Goals: Own goal 31, Thommy 41, Agada 45, 81; García 57. Att.: 19,680.)
Austin FC 1 Nashville SC 1. (Goals: Driussi 61; Mukhtar 56 pen. Att.: 20,738.)
Vancouver 2 Seattle 1. (Goals: Vite 29, Gressel 37; Bruin 89. Att.: 19,722.)
LA Galaxy 4 Colorado 1. (Goals: Brugman 22, 52, Edwards 28, Chicharito 31; Nicholson 90+1. Att.: 20,325.)
San Jose 1 FC Dallas 1. (Goals: Ebobisse 24 pen.; Obrian 16. Att.: 12,355.)

Top 7: 1. *LAFC 61 points (31 games). 2. *Austin FC 55, 3. *FC Dallas 50, 4. Nashville SC 47, 5. Minnesota United 45,  6. Portland 45 (31), 7. LA Galaxy 43 (31).
Bottom 7: 8. Real Salt Lake 43, 9. Vancouver 40, 10. Seattle 39 (31), 11. Colorado 39, 12. Sporting KC 37, 13. ^Houston 33 (31), 14. ^San Jose 31 (31).
Note: All teams have played 32 games unless noted.
*Clinched playoff berth; ^Eliminated from playoffs.


Inter-conference:
Real Salt Lake 2 FC Cincinnati 2. (Goals: Chang 35; Brenner 44, 76. Att.: 20,222.)