How Columbus or NY Red Bulls can advance to the Conference Championships

Playoffs - 2018 - CLBvRBNY - leg 2 grid

Leg 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals between Columbus Crew SC and New York Red Bulls ended in a 1-0 win for Crew SC at MAPFRE Stadium on Sunday. The teams will match up again on Sunday, November 11 (7:30 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes; TSN, TVAS) for the decisive second leg. Below is a grid showing the scoreline that each team needs to advance to the Eastern Conference Championship.


How to read the grid: if the match on November 11 (Leg 2) is RBNY 2, CLB 1 at the end of regulation time (aggregate score of RBNY 2, CLB 2), Columbus will advance to the Eastern Conference Championship on away goals (see below for more information on the away goals rule).

How Columbus or NY Red Bulls can advance to the Conference Championships - https://league-mp7static.mlsdigital.net/images/CPL18-RBNYvCLB-Scenarios%20(1).jpg

The away goals rule: The away goals rule is a tiebreaking method that is used to determine the winner of a two-legged series, such as the MLS Conference Semifinals and Conference Championships. If two teams are tied on aggregate at the end of regulation time of the second leg, the away goals rule is applied as the first tiebreaker. The winner is the team with the most goals scored away from home.