MLS playoffs in flux, Inter Miami on the brink of history on Decision Day
While teams are fighting to improve their playoff position on Decision Day, Inter Miami will be attempting to make Major League Soccer history.
The Lionel Messi-led squad has the opportunity to secure the league's all-time points record on Saturday against the New England Revolution. The Revolution set the record in 2021 with 73 points, and Miami currently has 71.
Miami has already clinched the top spot in the Eastern Conference and secured the Supporters Shield.
Messi, a front-runner for the MLS MVP this season, has 17 goals and 15 assists despite playing just 18 games because of an ankle injury and commitments with the Argentine national team.
Messi may not start against New England since the match doesn't have any playoff implications, and he just returned this week from national team duty.
"On the 20th of January, it would have seemed illogical to talk about aiming for the points record; but now it’s within reach, we would like to get it," Miami coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino said. "However, we are not [going] to do anything crazy because six days later, we start the most important games. That’s where I must be careful (managing players’ minutes)."
[Related: Lionel Messi leaves door open for 2026 World Cup: 'We will see']
D.C. United's Christian Benteke is on the verge of winning the 2024 MLS Golden Boot with a league-high 23 goals. Benteke is ahead of 2023 winner LAFC's Denis Bouanga and the Crew's Cucho Hernández, who have 19 goals each.
There are still two playoff berths open in the Eastern Conference heading into Decision Day. D.C. United and Montreal are in the eighth and ninth spots but haven't clinched yet, while Philadelphia and Atlanta are still in contention.
Benteke said D.C. United won't be scoreboard watching during its final game against Charlotte. All the East's matches on Saturday occur simultaneously.
"We had some ups and downs through the season, and now this is it," Benteke said. "We are there. We can see the final line. Man, it's exciting because this is our chance. We've worked so hard and we've been through many, many things."
The No. 8 and No. 9 seeds in each conference play in a match for the last playoff spot and a chance to play the top-seeded team — Miami in the East and either the LA Galaxy or LAFC in the West.
Although all nine playoff berths were already clinched in the West, the Galaxy and LAFC are still jockeying for the top seed. The Galaxy needs a win or draw at Houston on Saturday to lock it down.
With a win, the Galaxy will finish with 67 points, matching the team's 2011 total when it went on to win the MLS title.
"I think it's great that the game is meaningful," Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. "At this time of year, I would rather have a meaningful game that we're playing for something, rather than a game where you feel like you're not playing for something right before you really start playing for something. So I think that keeps the right intensity and the right attention in the group."
The top four seeds in each conference after Decision Day win home-field advantage for the first round.
Further down the table in the West, Cascadia Cup rivals Portland and Vancouver hold the wild card positions. That could change, as the bottom five playoff-bound teams are all within six points of each other.
The Whitecaps hope to move up the table this weekend at Real Salt Lake, but Vancouver has been winless in its last six matches.
"Obviously, we’ve had a bad run of results recently," striker Brian White said. "So it’d be great to go into playoffs with a little bit of more positive energy, a win, and see what we can do from there."
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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