Last year’s Knockout Round was a cavalcade of absurdity, a four-game slice of madness that featured a truly ridiculous amount of drama.
We all remember the double post game in Portland, with all of its attendant weirdness. We remember Jermaine Jones’ freak out in D.C., Patrice Bernier’s man of the match performance against Toronto and a couple of howlers and an Erik Friberg bazooka in Seattle.
We remember those moments, and we get psyched for this week’s quartet of KO matches. It’ll all get started tonight, with Toronto set to host Philadelphia at BMO Field (7:30 pm ET; ESPN2 and UniMas in the US; TSN2 in Canada) before LA welcomes Salt Lake to StubHub Center (10:30 pm ET; UniMas in the US; TSN1/5 and RDS in Canada). We’ll get another pair of intriguing encounters on Thursday, with Montreal and D.C. kicking things off at RFK Stadium (7:30 pm ET; UniMas in the US; TSN1/5, RDS2 in Canada) before the resurgent Seattle Sounders host Sporting KC at CenturyLink Field (10:30 pm ET; FS1, UniMas in the US; TSN1/5 in Canada).
Before we make any more memories this week, however, I thought it’d be informative to take a deeper look at some of the top moments from last year's Knockout Round, the first in MLS history to feature four games.
With that, here are my top-four moments from the 2015 Knockout Round. Let’s hope we see a few moments of this caliber play out over the next couple of nights:
Double post drama
If I’m being honest, this list could’ve been made up entirely of moments from this match. From Kevin Ellis’ equalizer in the 87th, to Krisztian Nemeth’s go-ahead strike in the 110th, to Maxi Urruti’s 118th minute equalizer that sent the match to penalties, all the way through the twists and turns of one of the most epic shootouts in playoff history that ended with SKC backup ‘keeper Jon Kempin having a shot saved by Timbers backstop Adam Kwarasey, this game had enough crazy for an entire postseason.
But the wildest moment, the one that I’ll think of whenever I remember this match, was Saad Abdul-Salaam’s ninth-round spot kick with a chance to send Sporting through the conference semis:
I still can’t believe that didn’t go in. One of the great “What ifs?” in MLS history.
Revs lose match, Jones loses mind
I didn’t expect Jermaine Jones to end his stint with New England quietly, but I’d be lying if I told you I thought the fiery midfielder would end his Revs tenure like that.
With D.C. leading 2-1 New England in second-half stoppage time of their Knockout Round match at RFK Stadium last October, Jones collected a ball in the left side of the area and clipped it into the air, where it appeared to bounce off the hand of United’s Sean Franklin. The Revs turned expectantly toward referee Mark Geiger, who had awarded a controversial penalty that D.C. failed to convert 20 minutes before, but a call didn’t come.
That was enough to set off Jones, who raised his arms and rushed at Geiger, screaming, gesticulating and, eventually, shoving the official. He was shown a red card for the display, then banned for the first six matches of 2016. He never played again for New England, who shipped the US international to Colorado late in the 2016 preseason.
Friberg golazo sends Seattle through
Last year’s Seattle-LA Knockout Round contest at CenturyLink Field got off to a wacky start, with high-profile players from both sides scoring a pair of odd goals to make it 2-2 in the opening 22 minutes.
Four total goals in less than a quarter of a match is a lot to handle, and things, thankfully, cooled down a bit for most of the rest of the game. But it wouldn’t be the Knockout Round without a final twist, and we got that in Seattle last fall. Sounders cult hero Erik Friberg did the deed, blasting a left-footed volley past LA goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts in the 73rd minute to give the Sounders a 3-2 lead and slay Seattle’s Galaxy dragon.
Bernier breaks Toronto
The biggest 401 Derby ever was decided by one of Montreal’s favorite soccer sons, as Impact captain and Quebec native Patrice Bernier notched a goal and an assist in a rare start to power his club a 3-0 victory over Toronto FC last October.
The veteran midfielder got the Impact on the board early, running onto a marvelous Ignacio Piatti through ball and slotting home to give Montreal a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute. After Piatti made it 2-0 a few minutes later, Bernier nearly scored a second in the 39th, getting denied by a solid save from Chris Konopka before collecting his own rebound and picking out Didier Drogba with a wonderful cross to give the Impact a 3-0 lead.
After the game, Bernier drew praise from Drogba, who won’t play in Thursday’s playoff match at D.C. We’ll see if Montreal can repeat their Knockout Round win from last year in D.C. without their Ivorian star.
