2008 MLS Cup Playoffs

2008 MLS Cup Playoffs

Country	United States
Teams	8
Champions	Columbus Crew
Runner-up	New York Red Bulls
← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs were the postseason to Major League Soccer's 2008 season, and culminated with MLS Cup 2008 on November 23, 2008 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Format

Main article: MLS Cup Playoffs

At the 2008 season's end, the top three teams of each conference made the playoffs; in addition the clubs with the next two highest point totals, regardless of conference, were added to the playoffs. In the first round of this knockout tournament, aggregate goals over two matches determined the winners; the Conference Championships were one match each, with the winner of each conference advancing to MLS Cup. In all rounds, the tie-breaking method was two 15-minute periods of extra time, followed by penalty kicks if necessary. The away goals rule was not used.

Standings

Conference standings

Eastern Conference
Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Columbus Crew	57	30	17	7	6	50	36	+14
2	Chicago Fire	46	30	13	10	7	44	33	+11
3	New England Revolution	43	30	12	11	7	40	43	–3
4	Kansas City Wizards	42	30	11	10	9	37	39	–2
5	New York Red Bulls	39	30	10	11	9	42	48	–6
6	D.C. United	37	30	11	15	4	43	51	–8
7	Toronto FC	35	30	9	13	8	34	43	–9

	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs
	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs (Wild Card)

Western Conference
Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Houston Dynamo	51	30	13	5	12	45	32	+13
2	Chivas USA	43	30	12	11	7	40	41	–1
3	Real Salt Lake	40	30	10	10	10	40	39	+1
4	Colorado Rapids	38	30	11	14	5	44	45	–1
5	FC Dallas	36	30	8	10	12	45	41	+4
6	Los Angeles Galaxy	33	30	8	13	9	55	62	–7
7	San Jose Earthquakes	33	30	8	13	9	32	38	–6

	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs
	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs (Wild Card)

Overall standings

Pos	Club	Pts	GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD
1	Columbus Crew (E1)	57	30	17	7	6	50	36	+14
2	Houston Dynamo (W1)	51	30	13	5	12	45	32	+13
3	Chicago Fire (E2)	46	30	13	10	7	44	33	+11
4	New England Revolution (E3)	43	30	12	11	7	40	43	–3
5	Chivas USA (W2)	43	30	12	11	7	40	41	–1
6	Kansas City Wizards	42	30	11	10	9	37	39	–2
7	Real Salt Lake (W3)	40	30	10	10	10	40	39	+1
8	New York Red Bulls	39	30	10	11	9	42	48	–6
9	Colorado Rapids	38	30	11	14	5	44	45	–1
10	D.C. United	37	30	11	15	4	43	51	–8
11	FC Dallas	36	30	8	10	12	45	41	+4
12	Toronto FC	35	30	9	13	8	34	43	–9
13	Los Angeles Galaxy	33	30	8	13	9	55	62	–7
14	San Jose Earthquakes	33	30	8	13	9	32	38	–6

	MLS Supporters' Shield, 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs, 2009 U.S. Open Cup, 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League
	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs, 2009 U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League 2009–10
	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs, 2009 U.S. Open Cup, SuperLiga 2009
	2008 MLS Cup Playoffs

• ^Note 1 - Toronto FC cannot qualify for the U.S. Open Cup, as it is a Canadian-based team.
  If they had qualified for an automatic berth into the U.S. Open Cup, the next highest placed team not already qualified would have qualified.

• ^Note 2 - Toronto FC cannot qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League through MLS. Rather, they can qualify through the Canadian Soccer Championship.
  If they had qualified for the Champions League through MLS, then the highest placed team not already qualified would have qualified.

• ^Note 3 - The winner of the 2008 MLS Supporters' Shield (Columbus Crew) qualified for the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage. As they also won MLS 2008, the 2008 MLS Supporters' Shield runner-up (Houston Dynamo) also entered the Group Stage. The runner-up of MLS Cup 2008 (New York Red Bulls) and the winner of the 2008 U.S. Open Cup (D.C. United) qualified for the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round.

Bracket

	Conference Semifinals						Conference Finals					MLS Cup 2008
	E1	Columbus Crew	1	2
	E4	Kansas City Wizards	1	0
							E1	Columbus Crew	2
	Eastern Conference
							E2	Chicago Fire	1
	E3	New England Revolution	0	0
	E2	Chicago Fire	0	3
												E1	Columbus Crew	3
												W4	New York Red Bulls	1
	W1	Houston Dynamo	1	0
	W4	New York Red Bulls	1	3
							W4	New York Red Bulls	1
	Western Conference
							W3	Real Salt Lake	0
	W3	Real Salt Lake	1	2
	W2	Chivas USA	0	2

¹ The New York Red Bulls earned the eighth and final playoff berth, despite finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. They represent the fourth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket, as only three teams in the Western Conference qualified for the playoffs.

Conference Semifinals

November 1, 2008 7:00 PM CDT	Columbus Crew	1 – 1	Kansas City Wizards	Community America Ballpark, Kansas City, Kansas Attendance: 10,385 Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
	Padula 84' Lenhart  90+2' Carroll 90+3'	[1]	Jewsbury 40' Arnaud  53' Gomez  75'

November 8, 2008 7:30 PM EST	Kansas City Wizards	0 – 2	Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 11,153 Referee: Ricardo Salazar
	Arnaud 39' Wahl 49'	[2]	Evans  7' 63' Rogers  57' 66' Hejduk 87' Ekpo 90'

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October 30, 2008 7:30 PM EDT	Chicago Fire	0 – 0	New England Revolution	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts Attendance: 5,221 Referee: Alex Prus
	Soumare 16' Pause 59' Blanco 69'	[3]	Mansally 42' Castro 73'

November 6, 2008 7:30 PM CST	New England Revolution	0 – 3	Chicago Fire	Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Illinois Attendance: 17,312 Referee: Jair Marrufo
	Albright 7'  83' Igwe 45+2' Joseph 53'	[4]	Thorrington 36' Rolfe  45+2' Conde  47' Busch 62' Segares  74'

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November 1, 2008 4:00 PM EDT	Houston Dynamo	1 – 1	New York Red Bulls	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey Attendance: 11,578 Referee: Kevin Stott
	Mullan 53' Kamara  85'	[5]	Richards 29' Angel 37'  48'

November 9, 2008 2:00 PM CST	New York Red Bulls	3 – 0	Houston Dynamo	Robertson Stadium, Houston, Texas Attendance: 30,053 Referee: Baldomero Toledo
	van den Bergh 5' Richards  25' Goldthwaite 28' Angel  36' (pen.) Sassano 45+2' Wolyniec  81'	[6]	Robinson 62' Onstad 69' Mullan 73'

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November 1, 2008 4:00 PM MDT	Chivas USA	0 – 1	Real Salt Lake	Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah Attendance: 14,719 Referee: Ricardo Salazar
	Razov 66' Thomas 75'	[7]	Williams 29' Beckerman 42' Movsisyan  90'

November 8, 2008 7:30 PM PST	Real Salt Lake	2 – 2	Chivas USA	Home Depot Center, Carson, California Attendance: 19,256 Referee: Michael Kennedy
	Mathis 10' Borchers 30' Kovalenko  39' 42' Morales  77'	[8]	Nagamura 22' Kljestan  30' (pen.) Braun  83' Bornstein 60' Razov 86' Thomas 90+1'

Conference finals

November 13, 2008 7:30PM EST	Chicago Fire	1–2	Columbus Crew	Columbus Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio Attendance: 14,688 Referee: Terry Vaughan
	Soumare 22' McBride  29' Segares 48' Prideaux 67'	[9]	Marshall  49' Gaven  55' O'Rourke 57' Hesmer 90+2'

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November 15, 2008 7:30PM MST	New York Red Bulls	1–0	Real Salt Lake	Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah Attendance: 20,008 Referee: Jair Marrufo
	van den Bergh  28' Goldthwaite 45' Rojas 64' Leitch 90+4'	[10]

MLS Cup

See also: MLS Cup 2008

November 23, 2008 12:30 PM PST	New York Red Bulls	1–3	Columbus Crew	Home Depot Center, Carson, California Attendance: 27,000 Referee: Baldomero Toledo
	Leitch 4' Wolyniec  51'		Moreno  31' Marshall  53' Padula 68' Hejduk  82'

Additional References

• MLS Cup 2008
• MLS Cup Playoffs
• 2008 Major League Soccer season