Home advantage was 100% telling as MLS’ 2019 Play-offs got underway yesterday.
Much can be said about the move towards the new single-match knockout-out format introduced this season, but Atlanta, Seattle, Toronto and Real Salt Lake won’t be complaining. At least not this morning.
There was the usual play-off drama peppered throughout the day, but if the MLS needs play-offs to determine its champion club (and in North America, of course, play-offs are deep in the sports-fan’s psyche) then you wonder why they’ve diluted the purity of competition.
At least they rewarded teams with the best regular season records with home ties, but you still wonder why they’ve reduced the knock-out phase of their competition to a one-off 90-minute contest that favours the home side so emphatically.