Decision Day lived up to its name. The results from the MLS Eastern Conference are in, and New York City FC will face Inter Miami FC at Red Bull Arena in the First Round of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Monday, October 17 at 7 pm ET.
Inter Miami, FC Cincinnati, Orlando City, and Columbus Crew were all in contention to face NYCFC, which held on to their No 3 seed with a 1-2 away win against Atlanta United. Miami climbed a spot in the table despite losing to CF Montréal when Orlando converted a late penalty to beat Columbus and end their season.
udson River Blue ran a poll asking our readers which team they want NYCFC to face in the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs. The winner? Orlando, which NYCFC comprehensively outplayed last week. Miami earned the last votes, most likely because of their recent surge in form.
NYCFC and Miami faced each other twice this year. New York City won the first matchup, which was played in July at Yankee Stadium, by the score of 2-0. That was the last game that Taty Castellanos played for NYCFC.
But NYCFC threw away a result when they traveled to Ft. Lauderdale in August, and New York City-killer Alejandro Pzuelo scored the game-winner in the 84th minute.
Miami were underwhelming today against a composed Montréal who were playing at home and comfortably won 3-1. In fact, Miami never found the back of the net – Montreal defender Joel Waterman scored an own-goal in the 84th minute.
Eastern Conference Decision Day Scoreboard
NYCFC 2 – 1 Atlanta United
Inter Miami 1 – 3 CF Montréal
Orlando City 2 – 1 Columbus Crew
New Jersey Red Bulls 2 – 0 Charlotte FC
DC United 2 – 5 FC Cincinnati
Philadelphia Union 4 – 0 Toronto FC
Chicago Fire 1 – 1 New England Revolution
UPDATE: This article was updated on Sunday, October 9 at 9:47 pm ET once NYCFC announced the date and time of the game against Miami.
