Sporting Kansas City will begin the team's quest for MLS Cup against the New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Revolution secured the East's third seed with a 1-0 win at Columbus on Sunday, while Sporting KC slipped to second in the East (and in the Supporters' Shield standings) on the final day of the regular season following New York's 5-2 victory over Chicago.
2013 MLS Cup Playoffs - Eastern Conference
- New York Red Bulls (17-9-8, 59 pts)
- Sporting Kansas City (17-10-7, 58 pts)
- New England Revolution (14-11-9, 51 pts)
- Houston Dynamo (14-11-9, 51 pts)
- Montreal Impact (14-13-7, 49 pts)
Sporting Kansas City will travel to Gillette Stadium for the opening leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals at 7 p.m. CT on Nov. 2 with Sporting Park hosting the decisive second leg on Nov. 6 or Nov. 7. Tickets for 2013 MLS Cup Playoff games at Sporting Park will go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday, Oct. 29 via Ticketmaster.com. The Conference Semifinals are decided by aggregate goals scored over two games.
Major League Soccer is expected to announce the complete 2013 MLS Cup Playoff schedule in the next 24 hours. Sporting Kansas City will compete in the MLS Cup Playoffs for the 12th time in the team's 18-year history and third straight season.
Sporting Kansas City is 23-13-11 all-time against New England and is unbeaten in the team's last six matches with the Revolution. The teams, both charter members of Major League Soccer, have never met in the postseason.
The Revolution -- unbeaten in their last six MLS matches -- reach the playoffs for the 11th time in club history and first time since 2009. Veteran goalkeeper Matt Reis has returned to start nine of the team's last 10 matches and boasts a 0.72 goals against average in 2013. Offensively, 18-year-old forward Diego Fagundez leads the club with 13 goals and 20-year-old forward Juan Agudelo has nine goals to his name this season.
