When Steve Cherundolo announced last spring that he would be leaving LAFC at the end of the season to rejoin his wifes family in her native Germany, he seemed excited about the reunion.
Six months later, with LAFC preparing to enter the MLS playoffs, that reunion is just a loss away. So now Cherundolo, who took LAFC to the MLS Cup final twice in his first three seasons as coach, is hoping to put off that departure for another couple of months.
I’d love to stay until early December, he said. That would be ideal. That is what we’re all trying to achieve at LAFC.
And that appears well within reach for LAFC (17-8-9), which has six wins and 19 points in its last eight games, the last a 2-2 draw Saturday in Colorado. As a result LAFC, the No. 3 seed in the conference, will enter the playoffs as the hottest team in the West and arguably the best team in MLS since the mid-summer acquisition of forward Son Heung-min.
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LAFC has lost just one of the 10 games the former Tottenham captain has played in, with Son scoring nine goals and assisting on three others. He has also provided a big boost to winger Denis Bouanga, who scored 11 times in his last 10 games, giving LAFC the most dynamic scoring tandem in the league.
LAFC will open the best-of-three conference quarterfinals next weekend against Austin (13-13-8) at BMO Stadium. The second leg will be played in Texas with a third game, if necessary, in Los Angeles.
Austin is one of just two teams that beat LAFC twice this season, though it enters the postseason having lost three of its last four. Cherundolo said none of those numbers matter now. Not only do regular-season records get thrown out for the playoffs, but even the rules change. In the first round of the MLS postseason, for example, games that are tied at the end of regulation go straight to penalty kicks.
It’s a new scenario. So it does change the way you play a little bit, Cherundolo said. I don’t think current form has a ton to do with it. Last season there were some surprises in the first round of playoffs.
We’ll do our very best to make sure that doesn’t happen to us.
Should LAFC, which has never lost in the first round of the playoffs under Cherundolo, make it past Austin it will face the winner of the Vancouver-Dallas series in the conference semifinals. That could be a matchup between Son and Vancouvers Thomas Muller, who has seven goals and three assists since joining the Whitecaps from German power Bayern Munich two months ago.
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The Western Conference playoffs will open with Wednesdays wild-card match between Portland and Real Salt Lake. The winner of that game will meet conference champion San Diego in the first round. The other final first-round series will see No. 4 seed Minnesota face fifth-seeded Seattle.
Regardless of who reaches the MLS Cup, for the 13th consecutive season the league will not have a repeat winner. The Galaxy (7-18-9), which won the title last season, were eliminated from playoff contention a month ago and finished the season with franchise-worst totals for wins (seven) and points (30) in a full season while matching the record for most losses with 18.
They did end on a high note, however, beating Minnesota 2-1 in their season finale for their third win in their final four games. That allowed them to escape the conference cellar and finish two points ahead of last-place Sporting Kansas City (7-20-7).
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Locked in a tight battle for the league scoring title entering the final month of the season, Messi took his game to another level if thats possible and scored five times in Inter Miamis final two matches to claim the Golden Boot by a wide margin over Bouanga.
Messi had a hat trick against Nashville on Saturday, putting the game away with a third goal in the 81st minute to finish with 29 goals in 28 games. Thats the fourth-best single-season total in MLS history. Bouanga finished with a career-best 24 goals, tying him for second place with Nashvilles Sam Surridge.
Messi also had five assists in three October games to finish with a league-high 19, tying him for fourth place on the all-time list there as well. Messis 48 goals contributions (29 goals, 19 assists) is second all-time to Carlos Vela, who scored 34 times and had 15 assists for LAFC in 2019.
MLS bills the final day of the regular season Decision Day because its the day the postseason field is determined. But in the Eastern Conference, the nine playoff qualifiers had already been decided by the final weekend. So had the conference champion, with the Philadelphia Union (20-8-6) having secured the leagues best overall record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs two weeks ago.
Still, some playoff pairings were determined on Decision Day.
With its win over Montreal, Cincinnati (20-9-5) grabbed the second seed in the postseason tournament on a tiebreaker over Inter Miami (19-7-8). Both teams finished with 65 points, but Cincinnati had one more regular-season victory.
As a result Cincinnati will open the playoffs against seventh-seeded Columbus (14-8-12) while Inter Miami will face No. 6 Nashville (16-12-6).
With its win over Philadelphia, Charlotte (19-13-2) clinched a fourth-place finish and home field for its playoff opener with New York City (17-12-5) next weekend. The two wild-card teams, Chicago (15-11-8) and Orlando (14-9-11), will meet Wednesday in Chicago with the winner facing the Union in the conference quarterfinals.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.