The 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs was the seventeenth post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began on October 31,[1] and culminated on December 1, 2012[1] with MLS Cup 2012, the seventeenth league championship for MLS, won by the Los Angeles Galaxy 3–1 over Houston Dynamo. It was the second year that the playoffs included ten teams,[2] and the first playoff series since 2006 in which teams cannot cross-conference brackets.[3] The top five teams in both the Eastern and Western conferences of the league earned berths, with the top three clubs in each conference earning direct byes to the conference semifinals. The fourth and fifth-place finishers of both conferences played in a single-elimination play-in match.
The play-in winner played their respective conference regular season champion in the conference semifinals, which was a two-leg aggregate series, without the away goals rule enforced. For the first time in MLS Cup Playoffs history, each Conference Championship was also a two-leg aggregate series, as opposed to the traditional single elimination match.[3] The MLS Cup championship still remain a single match, but the team with the stronger regular season record, the Los Angeles Galaxy, hosting the final at their home venue.[2]
Los Angeles Galaxy were the defending champions, having defeated Houston Dynamo 1–0 in last year's championship.[4]
Both finalists directly entered the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League, with the champion earning a Pot A seed. They were joined by San Jose Earthquakes, the Supporters' Shield winner, and Sporting Kansas City, the 2012 U.S. Open Cup champion. However, none of these berths were available to the league's three Canadian teams, which instead participate in the Canadian Championship for that country's single berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.[5]
^ abCite error: The named reference mlscup2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ab"Competition Rules and Regulations". MLSsoccer.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
^ ab"Big changes for MLS Cup Playoffs format in 2012". MLSsoccer.com. November 20, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
^"History: MLS Cup 2011". MLSsoccer.com. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
^"Champions League Qualifying 2013-14". CONCACAF. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
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