LOS ANGELES (AP) — Major League Soccer’s playoff system rarely rewards the league’s best regular-season teams with the championship celebration they would get in most other top domestic leagues.
This season, the identity of the league’s best team will be crystal-clear when the MLS Cup is raised Saturday.
Los Angeles FC and the Philadelphia Union were the top teams in their respective conferences all year long, and they finished the regular season with identical point totals. They’ve survived the playoff gauntlet to play for both franchises’ first MLS Cup title in a rare instance of the best truly facing the best.
“I think it’s two teams that deserve to be here, the best two teams in the regular season,” Philadelphia captain Alejandro Bedoya said.
For the first time in 19 years, MLS’ two conference leaders are playing for the title. They’ll meet at Banc of California Stadium amid the roiling, raucous fan atmosphere created for LAFC, which is seeking the crowning achievement to its half-decade of success since joining MLS in 2018.
“I said from the first day, this club is special,” LAFC captain Carlos Vela said. “This is a really good chance for us, for myself to do something good for them and get something back for fans, for the club, for families, for everybody that’s involved in this club. We have to enjoy it and bring everything, because it’s the most important game of this club.”
LAFC will attempt to become only the second team in the past 11 years to win both the Supporters’ Shield as the regular season’s top team — the championship standard in nearly all other top soccer leagues — and the postseason playoff trophy. Just seven of the league’s first 26 regular season champions also won the MLS Cup final.
Philadelphia and LAFC were the two highest-scoring teams in the league this season while topping their respective conferences and finishing with 67 points apiece. LAFC won the Supporters’ Shield because it had two more victories, but Philadelphia had a far superior goal differential.
These two teams have reached their league’s pinnacle together by taking dissimilar paths. They’ve been two of MLS’ most consistently successful teams over the past half-decade, winning three of the past four Supporters’ Shield trophies.
Philadelphia’s foundation is built on the products of its innovative player academy, and the Union bolster their lineup with under-the-radar transfer acquisitions. The Union’s starting…