MLS Roundup: San Diego make history, Messi wins Golden Boot, playoffs set

Tom Weber

• 21 Oct 2025 14:01 CDT
• 5 min read

News

The Major League Soccer regular season concluded with an explosive Decision Day.

All the teams were in action across two time slots to determine the final playoff seeding, while the small matter of top spot in the Western Conference had to be decided.

Eastern Conference: Cincinnati defend second place against Miami

In the Eastern Conference, all the playoff teams had long been confirmed by Decision Day, while the Philadelphia Union were uncatchable at the summit, having won the Supporters' Shield as the best regular season team.

However, second place was still up for grabs, with FC Cincinnati only ahead of Inter Miami on the wins tiebreaker. The latter, therefore, needed to beat Nashville and hope that eliminated Montreal took points off Cincy.

Miami managed to do their job: they resoundingly defeated the Open Cup winners 5-2. Lionel Messi notched a hat-trick and an assist, falling just one goal contribution short of equalling Carlos Vela's regular season record of 49. He did, however, comfortably win the Golden Boot with 29.

Unfortunately for the Herons, Cincy also got the job done, easily beating Montreal 3-0 to defend second place and set up a Hell is Real derby clash with the Columbus Crew in the best-of-three round one. Miami will face Nashville again in the first round.

Elsewhere in the East, Charlotte beat the Union to cement fourth place while their main rivals, NYCFC, lost to the Seattle Sounders on home soil. Charlotte thus secured home advantage against NYCFC in round one.

Chicago and Orlando finished in the Wild Card spots, so they will have to face off to determine who will get the chance to face top-seeded Philly. Last year, Wild Card winners Atlanta beat Supporters' Shield champs Miami. Speaking of the Five Stripes, they have sacked Ronny Deila after finishing second bottom.

Western Conference: RSL, Dallas qualify as San Diego make history

Over in the West, San Diego finished the regular season as the best-performing expansion side in MLS history, finishing top of the Conference on 63 points after destroying Portland 4-0.

Vancouver had been well-placed to finish top of the West, but an early red card against FC Dallas saw them fall to a 2-1 defeat, thus surrendering their place in the sun due to the wins tiebreaker.

For Dallas, this victory meant that they not only confirmed their spot in the playoffs, but they even jumped ahead of the Timbers and out of the Wild Card positions. Dallas and the Whitecaps will face off again in round one.

Real Salt Lake only mustered a draw against St. Louis, but due to their superior number of wins, they managed to beat the San Jose Earthquakes to the final playoff spot despite the Quakes beating Austin FC 2-1. RSL will have to travel to Portland for the Wild Card game.

Minnesota United fell to a 2-1 defeat to the LA Galaxy, with the latter inadvertently helping their El Trafico rivals LAFC to finish third. The Black and Gold only managed a 2-2 draw with the Colorado Rapids and will face Austin, while the Loons host the Sounders in round one.

Decision Day - all the results

Atlanta United 1-1 DC United

Toronto FC 4-2 Orlando City

New York City FC 1-2 Seattle Sounders

New England Revolution 2-2 Chicago Fire

Nashville SC 2-5 Inter Miami

Columbus Crew 2-1 New York Red Bulls

FC Cincinnati 3-0 CF Montreal

Charlotte FC 2-0 Philadelphia Union

Portland Timbers 0-4 San Diego FC

LA Galaxy 2-1 Minnesota United

Sporting KC 0-0 Houston Dynamo

Vancouver Whitecaps 1-2 FC Dallas

St. Louis City 2-2 Real Salt Lake

San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Austin FC

Colorado Rapids 2-2 Los Angeles FC

MLS playoffs: Wild Card match-ups

Chicago Fire - Orlando City (22 October)

Portland Timbers - Real Salt Lake (22 October)

MLS playoffs: Round one match-ups

Philadelphia Union - Chicago Fire/Orlando City

Game 1: 26 October (Philadelphia)

Game 2: 1 November (Chicago/Orlando)

Game 3: 8 November (Philadelphia)

FC Cincinnati - Columbus Crew

Game 1: 27 October (Cincinnati)

Game 2: 2 November (Columbus)

Game 3: 8 November (Cincinnati)

Inter Miami - Nashville SC

Game 1: 24 October (Miami)

Game 2: 1 November (Nashville)

Game 3: 8 November (Miami)

Charlotte FC - New York City FC

Game 1: 28 October (Charlotte)

Game 2: 1 November (New York)

Game 3: 7 November (Charlotte)

San Diego FC - Portland Timbers/Real Salt Lake

Game 1: 26 October (San Diego)

Game 2: 1 November (Portland/Salt Lake City)

Game 3: 9 November (San Diego)

Vancouver Whitecaps - FC Dallas

Game 1: 26 October (Vancouver)

Game 2: 1 November (Dallas)

Game 3: 7 November (Vancouver)

Los Angeles FC - Austin FC

Game 1: 29 October (Los Angeles)

Game 2: 2 November (Austin)

Game 3: 8 November (Los Angeles)

Minnesota United - Seattle Sounders

Game 1: 27 October (Saint Paul)

Game 2: 3 November (Seattle)

Game 3: 8 November (Saint Paul)

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