The Seattle match had to go a full 120 minutes aster Ryan Hollingshead's 50th-minute goal was canceled out by Maxime Chanot's own goal. It was a botched clearance by the 35-year-old defender to beat his own goalkeeper Hugo Lloris but it was just enough to keep the Sounders in the clash.

It wasn’t pretty, but Jordan Morris came up big in the right spot for the Seattle Sounders. The Western Conference semifinal between Seattle and hosts Los Angeles FC had been a cagey affair. Regulation wasn’t enough to settle a rivalry deadlock,

Since the MLS Cup doesn't take place at a neutral location, the host team is determined by the Supporters' Shield rankings. Due to the Eastern Conference losing the top three representatives, it means that the odds are quite slim for an Eastern Conference side to host the Cup.

Red Bulls coach Sandro Schwarz and New York City FC coach Nick Cushing don’t expect to have to do much to get their respective squads ready for Saturday’s playoff edition of the Hudson River Derby. Even after both teams have had somewhat lengthy breaks since defeating their first-round opponents in the MLS Cup Playoffs,

NYCFC seeks its first championship since 2021, when it won the MLS Cup in its lone appearance in the final. The Red Bulls, meanwhile, still seek the first championship in the history of a franchise that debuted in 1994. Their only appearance in the final came in 2008.