Messi's clutchness, Nashville's comeback & more from Matchday 34

By Charles Boehm

One week to go. Only three spots left up for grabs in the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs. And that famed postseason tension? It was unmistakable across Matchday 34, which unfolded a little differently, with games spread across the weekend as Halloween trick-or-treaters hit the streets on Saturday evening.

Into the candy bag we go…

Inter Miami CF

Messi stuns the Militia in the race for second

As dramatic as the rest of the weekend’s proceedings were, Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire delivered the goods, and as has so often been the case, Lionel Messi was the reason.

Second place in the Eastern Conference (and the advantages that conveys in the playoffs) was on the line as Inter Miami visited the red-hot New England Revolution in front of 54,112 souls at Gillette Stadium, and the game lived up to the occasion.

Dániel Gazdag staked the Revs to a 1-0 lead after a swashbuckling run by teenage prodigy Peyton Miller, prompting the traditional volley of celebratory musket fire from the End Zone Militia, New England’s glorious band of Revolutionary War-era reenactors in full period garb. Then Germán Berterame responded with an instinctive 69th-minute equalizer. All of which turned out to be the prelude to yet another clutch Messi moment:

With the 2-1 win, which we should note was saved by a tight offside decision on a Revs equalizer mere moments after Messi’s tally, the Herons have their noses back in front of New England. Then again, will home-field advantage REALLY be that crucial for Miami? Their 10 road wins are far and away the most in MLS this season.

Nashville SC

A rainy, riveting Shield party

As cinematic as the scenes were in Massachusetts, for this correspondent’s money, Sunday’s signature setting was in Nashville.

The home team at GEODIS Park would celebrate last week’s Supporters’ Shield capture with a postgame ceremony, yet still had eyes on matching or eclipsing Miami’s 2024 MLS single-season points record as Red Bull New York arrived needing a positive result to stave off elimination from the playoff hunt.

It looked like Julian Hall and the ‘Baby Bulls’ would live to fight on Decision Day when Rafael Mosquera stretched RBNY’s lead to 2-0 in the 40th minute, a remarkable turn of events at an imposing venue where the Coyotes have yet to lose a league game this year. Nashville, however, had more up their sleeve.

With the rain intensifying in Music City, NSC mounted a ferocious fightback, the relentless probing of Cristian Espinoza, Andy Nájar & Co. forcing two own goals to level matters.

Then, as injury time arrived, Sam Surridge nodded home a corner kick to snatch a 3-2 win that broke Red Bull hearts, rescued NSC’s home unbeaten mark and reminded the entire league that these regular-season champs will be no pushover in the playoffs.

“You can't write the script better than this tonight,” said star attacker Hany Mukhtar afterwards, and we agree.

WATCH: Nashville tie MLS points record in dramatic fashion!

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Get-right goalfests

What a difference a week can make at this time of year, eh? Just seven days ago, we were writing about “the wobbling Whitecaps” and Vancouver’s loss of “that daunting aura” built across their 2025 excellence after an unsightly 1-0 loss at Colorado that was much more one-sided than the score indicates.

Perhaps it was nothing that some home cooking and a few days of Jesper Sørensen's managerial expertise couldn’t sort out. Because the ‘Caps looked like their rampant old selves as they thrashed San Diego FC, 4-1, at midweek, then hammered their near neighbors Seattle Sounders FC, 5-1, at BC Place on Sunday afternoon, completing a perfect sweep (4W-0L-0D) vs. their regional rivals to defend their Cascadia Cup title in style.

Thomas Müller and his healing hamstring didn’t even need to leave the bench thanks to Brian White's brace and captain Ryan Gauld’s 1g/2a, as VWFC gave notice that reports of their demise have been greatly exaggerated.

WATCH: Vancouver ROUT Seattle in Cascadia clash

Charlotte FC

Charlotte pour it on

The story was similar for Charlotte FC, who destroyed CF Montréal on Wednesday and Orlando City on Saturday, both at Bank of America Stadium and both by 4-0 scorelines illuminated by the creativity of star winger Allan Saint-Maximin. Alas, the Frenchman earned a straight red card via VAR in the late stages for a crude gesture in the direction of an opponent, ruling him out of The Crown’s Decision Day clash with the Crew.

That may prove significant. Because depending on their Decision Day results, CLTFC could still pass Chicago to snatch fourth place in the East should the Fire stumble vs. Columbus. Yet to do so, Charlotte have to win at Miami, and now that task is much harder without ASM’s game-breaking quality.

WATCH: Charlotte FC turn on the style in Orlando City rout

Ohio gets it done

Our Eastern Conference playoff field is set — though much remains to be seen when it comes to seeding — and it includes both FC Cincinnati and the Columbus Crew, despite some pretty brutal stretches for both teams earlier in the year that left us wondering if they’d qualify.

FC Dallas

Dallas stumble

Vancouver’s dramatic return to form has clinched them first place in the West with a week to spare, and it’s due in no small part to the jarring struggles of their nearest pursuers FC Dallas and St. Louis CITY SC.

Second-place Dallas were held to a 1-1 draw at last-place Sporting Kansas City, with Stefan Cleveland’s incredible save of Petar Musa’s penalty kick deep into injury time both saving a point for the spoilers and effectively ending the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi race, with Messi (26) now four goals ahead of Musa with one game to go.

St. Louis CITY SC

Slippage in STL

The Texans weren’t properly punished, however. Because even as they deliriously hoisted the US Open Cup trophy last month, third-placed STL went ice-cold in league action. Saturday afternoon’s 1-0 home loss to already-eliminated San Diego FC is their fourth L in a row, certainly suboptimal timing for a slump.

Once you’ve adequately savored Anders Dreyer’s gorgeous chip from long range, consider how — as unstoppable as they were during that record-setting 21-game unbeaten run across all competitions — CITY SC look dangerously ineffective in high-leverage areas of the field with Roman Bürki and Alex Mățan sidelined. STL could slip even further down the table if they don’t secure a better result than the Houston Dynamo FC on Decision Day.

It’s already been a great season for the Midwesterners, whatever happens from here on out. But momentum is vital in the playoffs and they’re mighty short of it lately.

FC Cincinnati

We’ll start with Cincy. On Saturday afternoon, the Orange & Blue edged past a rugged Philadelphia Union side who’d trounced them 5-0 a few weeks ago, Ayoub Jabbari’s tap-in after Andre Blake could only parry an Evander shot secured a 1-0 win at TQL Stadium, where you could cut the playoff tension with a knife.

The man of the match, however, was goalkeeper Roman Celentano, who made six saves to keep Philly scoreless as the Union pushed, hard. It’s been desperate at times, but despite a stretch of one win in nine matches that raised the specter of their expensively-assembled squad missing the postseason dance, FCC are suddenly on a 3W-0L-1D revival, helped greatly by back-to-back meetings with D.C. United last week.

“It’s special. I would love it to be special with us being the top team in the league, but that’s not the reality,” said head coach Pat Noonan. “The reality is we’ve clinched for five straight years, and that was the goal from the beginning.”

Columbus Crew

Meanwhile, up the road in Columbus, the Crew might just be the hottest team in the league. With Saturday’s 3-0 thumping of D.C., the Crew have ripped off five straight victories, clinching a playoff place after spending months in the East basement. Anass Zaroury’s curler into the postage-stamp corner was the pick of this litter:

The Crew have leapfrogged Orlando City into eighth place and could climb even higher should next weekend’s results break in their favor. Their stretch-run revival is a reminder: Under MLS’s forgiving format, an active summer window like the one that brought in Zaroury and a grip of other reinforcements can rescue even the most woeful of starts.

Around the Grounds

→ While the East playoff field is set, it’s a three-from-six scenario out West as the scene shifts to Decision Day. LA Galaxy, Portland and Colorado are a nose ahead of Seattle, Real Salt Lake and Minnesota in the race for seventh, eighth and ninth and are thus in control of their own destiny.

It’s a moral victory of sorts that the Timbers and Loons are even in the mix, given how low their lows have been in ‘26. Out of nowhere, Portland started scoring goals for fun, with nine tallies across their last three matches, and it’s no surprise they’ve won all three — including Sunday's 3-1 victory over Houston.

HIGHLIGHTS: Portland Timbers vs. Houston Dynamo FC | November 1, 2026

→ Minnesota, meanwhile, need the most help – a home win over San Jose and a less-than-likely confluence of final-day results elsewhere – to sneak into the postseason. But credit nevertheless for the way they strode into BMO Stadium and put LAFC to the sword, 3-1, their second win in a row.

HIGHLIGHTS: Los Angeles Football Club vs. Minnesota United FC | November 1, 2026

→ It can’t be overstated how important it is, for serious MLS Cup contenders at least, to avoid the Wild Card match between the eighth- and ninth-seeded sides in the playoffs. Not only does that saddle those teams with an extra game to play, it also forces the winners of that game to begin their Round One series on short rest just a few days later.

That’s perilous for the veteran-heavy Galaxy, for instance, and it should inform the urgency with which they aim to keep hold of seventh place when they visit RSL; much the same goes for Cincy in the East with their DD visit from Nashville.

→ One more detail to keep front of mind this week: Neither conference’s top-four order is fully set yet, because Charlotte could still pass Chicago for fourth, just as slumping St. Louis are still within Houston’s reach in the West.

Anyone who lets fourth place slip away thusly gets swiftly punished with the loss of home-field advantage in the Best-of-3 format of Round One in the playoffs… and a series faceoff against the team that just stole that fourth seed.