Typically, the top seven sides in each Major League Soccer conference advance to the playoffs, but the league decided to change that to account for the shortened season. As a result, eight from the 12 Western Conference teams, and ten from the 14 Eastern Conference teams qualified for the 2020 playoffs.
All eight teams from the West earned automatic playoff spots, while only the top six teams in the East earned automatic playoff spots. The remaining four teams from the East, seeds No. 7 through 10, will participate in a play-in round to determine the seeds No. 7 and 8.
New England Revolution vs. Montreal Impact
No other head coach has won more playoff games than Bruce Arena as he looks for his 33rd with the New England Revolution. Conversely, Montreal head coach and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is looking for his first playoff win. The spotlight will cast over both coaches when the two sides meet on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET in Gillette Stadium.
The Revs will feel confident on Friday night when they step onto the pitch, having won three of their four games when facing Montreal this season. The Impact's only win came on the first game of the season on Feb. 29. However, Montreal does have one thing to be happy about and that is the Revs' poor home record. New England's record in Gillette Stadium is 2W-3L-5D while the Impact's away record is 4W-5L-1D. Also, Arena spoke about Henry and what he brings to this Montreal team that had not qualified to playoffs since 2016.
"One thing that I think that's been challenging for Thierry, as well as it's challenging for people like myself and all the other coaches in the league, is dealing with your players during the pandemic," Arena said Wednesday during a virtual press conference. "It was magnified in the case of Montreal given the fact that they had to leave home and take up shop in New Jersey. That's extremely challenging, and the fact that Thierry was able to get his team through this and qualify for the playoffs is remarkable. I would say he gets a real good grade in terms of being a leader of a club in a very difficult year."
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Nashville SC vs. Inter Miami CF
Nashville and Miami made their MLS debuts in March as the two expansion teams in 2020. Since then, the two sides have met twice with Nashville winning 1-0 on Aug. 30 and the Sept. 6 game ending in a goalless draw. The two very different expansion clubs will meet on Friday at 9 p.m. ET in Nissan Stadium to play their third and last meeting of the year.
Nashville SC enters the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs as a dark horse, boasting the best goals against-average (0.956) of any expansion club in league history. In addition, Music City kept nine clean sheets in 2020, tied for most in the league. The Protagonist in Nashville's defense is center-back Walker Zimmerman, who was named MLS Defender of the Year.
On the other hand, Inter Miami clinched playoffs on decision day after defeating FC Cincinnati 2-1 and a couple of other results around the U.S. went their way. Despite spending big bucks before and during the season on big names like Gonzalo Higuain – the highest-paid player in league history – Blaise Matuidi, Rodolfo Pizarro, Julian Carranza and Matias Pellegrini, the club has failed to live up to expectation. The Herons had a difficult season starting with five consecutive losses (worst start by an expansion team) and are yet to play in front of a full house at home. To make matters worse, key players in Higuain and inform Leandro Gonzalez Pirez will not be available for the play-in game after testing positive for COVID-19.
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