2015 MLS Cup playoffs

Main article: 2015 Major League Soccer season

The 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs (officially the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons)^[1] was the 20th post-season tournament culminating the Major League Soccer regular season. The tournament began on October 28 with D.C. United defeating New England Revolution and culminated on December 6, 2015, with MLS Cup 2015, the twentieth league championship match for MLS.

2015 MLS Cup Playoffs

Tournament details
Country	United States Canada
Teams	12
Defending champions	LA Galaxy
Final positions
Champions	Portland Timbers (1st title)
Runners-up	Columbus Crew SC
Semifinalists	FC Dallas New York Red Bulls
Tournament statistics
Matches played	17
Goals scored	46 (2.71 per match)
Attendance	388,289 (22,841 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Kei Kamara (4 goals)
← 2014 2016 →

Twelve teams^[2] (top 6 per conference) competed, up from 10 the last 3 seasons. The first round of each conference had the third-seeded team hosting the sixth seed, while the fourth-seed hosts the fifth, in a single match to determine who advances to the Conference Semifinals. In the Conference Semifinals, the top seed plays the lowest remaining seed while the second seed plays the next-lowest. The winners advanced to the Conference Finals.

Both the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals are played as two-legged aggregate series. If teams are level at the end of the second leg, the away goals rule will be used in attempt to determine a winner. If the away goals rule does not resolve the deadlock, 30 minutes of extra time will be played, but the away goals rule will not be applied after extra time. If scores are still level following extra time, a penalty shootout will be conducted.

The winners advance to the MLS Cup final, a single match hosted by the participant with the better regular season record.^[3]

The winner of MLS Cup 2015, Portland Timbers qualified for the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League. If a Canadian team were to win the MLS Cup, the next-best team from the United States will take their place.^[4]

On March 6, 2015, Audi was announced as the official sponsor of the playoffs starting in 2015.^[1]

The Portland Timbers won the MLS Cup by defeating the Columbus Crew SC by a score of 2–1. The Timbers' Diego Valeri scored the fastest goal in MLS Cup history at 27 seconds after Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark, made a fundamental error after he miscontrolled his defender's back-pass; allowing Valeri to strike at the opportunity.^[5]

2015 MLS Conference standings

The top 6 teams from each conference advance to the MLS Cup playoffs. Green background denotes also qualified for 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League.

Eastern Conference Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 New York Red Bulls 34 60 2 Columbus Crew 34 53 3 Montreal Impact 34 51 4 D.C. United 34 51 5 New England Revolution 34 50 6 Toronto FC 34 49 7 Orlando City SC 34 44 8 New York City FC 34 37 9 Philadelphia Union 34 37 10 Chicago Fire 34 30 Source: MLS

Western Conference Pos Team v t e Pld Pts 1 FC Dallas 34 60 2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 34 53 3 Portland Timbers 34 53 4 Seattle Sounders FC 34 51 5 LA Galaxy 34 51 6 Sporting Kansas City 34 51 7 San Jose Earthquakes 34 47 8 Houston Dynamo 34 42 9 Real Salt Lake 34 41 10 Colorado Rapids 34 37 Source: MLS

Bracket

	Knockout round					Conference semifinals							Conference finals							MLS Cup
	October 29 – Stade Saputo					E3	Montreal Impact	2	1	3
	E6	Toronto FC	0			E2	Columbus Crew (a.e.t.)	1	3	4
													E2	Columbus Crew	2	0	2
	E3	Montreal Impact	3			Eastern Conference
													E1	New York Red Bulls	0	1	1
	October 28 – RFK Stadium					E4	D.C. United	0	0	0
																				December 6 – Mapfre Stadium
	E5	New England Revolution	1			E1	New York Red Bulls	1	1	2
																				E2	Columbus Crew	1
	E4	D.C. United	2
																				W3	Portland Timbers	2
	October 29 – Providence Park					W3	Portland Timbers	0	2	2
	W6	Sporting Kansas City	2 (6)			W2	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	0	0	0
													W3	Portland Timbers	3	2	5
	W3	Portland Timbers (p)	2 (7)			Western Conference
													W1	FC Dallas	1	2	3
	October 28 – CenturyLink Field					W4	Seattle Sounders FC	2	1	3 (2)
	W5	LA Galaxy	2			W1	FC Dallas (p)	1	2	3 (4)
	W4	Seattle Sounders FC	3

Source: ^[6]

Schedule

Knockout round

Eastern Conference

October 28

7:30 PM EST

D.C. United	2–1	New England Revolution
Pontius 45' Rolfe 83'	Report	Agudelo 15'

RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 11,554

Referee: Mark Geiger

---

October 29

7:00 PM EST

Montreal Impact	3–0	Toronto FC
Bernier 18' Piatti 33' Drogba 39'	Report

Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 18,069

Referee: Baldomero Toledo

Western Conference

October 28

10:00 PM EST

Seattle Sounders FC	3–2	LA Galaxy
Dempsey 5' Valdez 12' Friberg 77'	Report	Lletget 6' Zardes 22'

CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 39,537

Referee: Jair Marrufo

---

October 29

10:00 PM EST

Portland Timbers	2–2 (a.e.t.)	Sporting Kansas City
Wallace 57' Urruti 118'	Report	Ellis 87' Németh 96'
Penalties
Valeri Borchers Ridgewell Jewsbury Urruti Villafaña Asprilla Nagbe Powell Fochive Kwarasey	7–6	Feilhaber Dwyer Zusi Besler Nagamura Ellis Mustivar Peterson Abdul-Salaam Dia Kempin

Providence Park, Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 21,144

Referee: Armando Villarreal

Conference semifinals

Eastern Conference

November 1

3:00 PM EST

D.C. United	0–1	New York Red Bulls
	Report	McCarty 72'

RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Attendance: 19,525

Referee: Fotis Bazakos

---

November 8

3:00 PM EST

New York Red Bulls	1–0	D.C. United
Wright-Phillips 90+2'	Report

Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey

Attendance: 25,219

Referee: Ted Unkel

New York Red Bulls win 2–0 on aggregate

November 1

7:00 PM EST

Montreal Impact	2–1	Columbus Crew SC
Bernier 37' Venegas 77'	Report	Higuaín 33'

Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 17,655

Referee: Chris Penso

---

November 8

5:00 PM EST

Columbus Crew SC	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Montreal Impact
Kamara 4', 111' Finlay 77'	Report	Duka 40'

MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 19,026

Referee: Armando Villarreal

Columbus Crew wins 4–3 on aggregate

Western Conference

November 1

5:00 PM EST

Portland Timbers	0–0	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
	Report

Providence Park, Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 21,144

Referee: Allen Chapman

---

November 8

10:00 PM EST

Vancouver Whitecaps FC	0–2	Portland Timbers
	Report	Adi 31' Chara 90+4'

BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

Attendance: 27,837

Referee: Ismail Elfath

Portland Timbers win 2–0 on aggregate

November 1

9:30 PM EST

Seattle Sounders FC	2–1	FC Dallas
Ivanschitz 67' Dempsey 86'	Report	Castillo 18'

CenturyLink Field, Seattle, Washington

Attendance: 39,599

Referee: Kevin Stott

---

November 8

7:30 PM EST

FC Dallas	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Seattle Sounders FC
Akindele 84' Zimmerman 90+1'	Report	Marshall 90'
Penalties
Diaz Hollingshead Akindele Zimmerman	4–2	Dempsey Ivanschitz Barrett Rose

Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas

Attendance: 17,287

Referee: Baldomero Toledo

FC Dallas wins 4–2 on penalties after 3–3 draw on aggregate

Conference finals

Eastern Conference

November 22

5:00 PM EST

Columbus Crew SC	2–0	New York Red Bulls
Meram 1' Kamara 85'	Report

MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 21,617

Referee: Allen Chapman

---

November 29

7:30 PM EST

New York Red Bulls	1–0	Columbus Crew SC
Abang 90+3'	Report

Red Bull Arena, Harrison, New Jersey

Attendance: 25,219

Referee: Baldomero Toledo

Columbus Crew wins 2–1 on aggregate

Western Conference

November 22

7:30 PM EST

Portland Timbers	3–1	FC Dallas
Ridgewell 23' Asprilla 53' Borchers 90+1'	Report	Texeira 62'

Providence Park, Portland, Oregon

Attendance: 21,144

Referee: Ted Unkel

---

November 29

5:00 PM EST

FC Dallas	2–2	Portland Timbers
Hollingshead 68' Pérez 73'	Report	Adi 54' Melano 90+5'

Toyota Stadium, Frisco, Texas

Attendance: 20,966

Referee: Ismail Elfath

Portland Timbers win 5–3 on aggregate

MLS Cup

Main article: MLS Cup 2015

December 6

4:00 p.m. EST

Columbus Crew SC	1–2	Portland Timbers
Kamara 18'	Report	Valeri 1' Wallace 7'

MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

Attendance: 21,747

Referee: Jair Marrufo

Goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals [7]
1	Kei Kamara	Columbus Crew SC	4
2	Fanendo Adi	Portland Timbers	2
	Patrice Bernier	Montreal Impact
	Clint Dempsey	Seattle Sounders FC
	Rodney Wallace	Portland Timbers
6	Anatole Abang	New York Red Bulls	1
	Juan Agudelo	New England Revolution
	Tesho Akindele	FC Dallas
	Dairon Asprilla	Portland Timbers
	Nat Borchers	Portland Timbers
	Fabian Castillo	FC Dallas
	Diego Chará	Portland Timbers
	Didier Drogba	Montreal Impact
	Dilly Duka	Montreal Impact
	Kevin Ellis	Sporting Kansas City
	Ethan Finlay	Columbus Crew SC
	Erik Friberg	Seattle Sounders FC
	Federico Higuaín	Columbus Crew SC
	Ryan Hollingshead	FC Dallas
	Andreas Ivanschitz	Seattle Sounders FC
	Sebastian Lletget	LA Galaxy
	Chad Marshall	Seattle Sounders FC
	Lucas Melano	Portland Timbers
	Dax McCarty	New York Red Bulls
	Justin Meram	Columbus Crew SC
	Krisztián Németh	Sporting Kansas City
	Blas Pérez	FC Dallas
	Ignacio Piatti	Montreal Impact
	Chris Pontius	D.C. United
	Liam Ridgewell	Portland Timbers
	Chris Rolfe	D.C. United
	David Texeira	FC Dallas
	Maximiliano Urruti	Portland Timbers
	Nelson Valdez	Seattle Sounders FC
	Diego Valeri	Portland Timbers
	Johan Venegas	Montreal Impact
	Bradley Wright-Phillips	New York Red Bulls
	Gyasi Zardes	LA Galaxy
	Walker Zimmerman	FC Dallas