Only four teams remain in the battle to win the MLS Cup, and whatever destiny holds for these four clubs, the winners will be those who watch their games en route to the title.
Three former champions made it all the way to the Conference finals, joined by the best team in the league and who also happen to have the MVP for the 2023 season. With those credentials, all that is left to do is to gear up for the games, which will be held with a couple of hours between them on Saturday evening.
Without further delay, here are the main talking points to keep an eye on before both matches kick off. We will guide you through each fixture in chronological order.
Cincinnati vs Columbus Crew - The winners of the 2023 Supporters' Shield welcome the two-time MLS Cup champions in a match that cannot be predicted as easily as you could expect. The Hell is Real Derby will have its highest stakes up until this moment in history, following a run that has seen Columbus beat Cincinnati in six of their previous 13 games. Meanwhile, the Orange and Blue club has beaten their visitors three times.
The big issue to sort out for Cincy's coach, Pat Noonan, will be how to stop Columbus' strikers from wreaking havoc among their defense, since the most recent game between these teams ended three-nil for Columbus, with a stellar performance by Cucho Hernández. The Colombian striker has hit his best form during the playoffs, and he will be keen on scoring one more time to lead the Crew to another MLS Cup battle. Meanwhile, Cincinnati will try to make their defense work as it has done during the playoffs, where they have only conceded once in three games.
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Los Angeles FC vs Houston Dynamo - The 2022 MLS Cup champions return to defend their Western Conference throne against the Houston Dynamo, a club that went through a couple of tough ties to reach this stage. The Dynamo are no strangers to the Conference finals, as they won the MLS Cup twice, but its been fifteen years since their last triumph and they want to end that drought right away.
As for the Black and Gold, Carlos Vela and Co. are unbeaten in three MLS Playoff matches, where they have conceded only twice (both in the same game) while seeing their strikers scoring seven goals. LAFC may have missed out on the top seed for this conference, but they found a way to host the conference title match and they will want to go back to the MLS Cup, where they will try to become the fourth team in league history to win back-to-back titles after D.C. United (1996-97), Houston Dynamo (2006-07), and the LA Galaxy (2011-12).
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
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