Credit: AJ Reynolds - Atlanta United
The 2025 regular season ended in MLS on Saturday with Decision Day, starting with the Eastern Conference. The regular season finales began with Atlanta drawing 1-1 at home with DC United. Atlanta’s Miguel Almiron opened the scoring in the 3rd and Gabriel Pirani equalized for DC in the 66th minute.
“The last couple of days, to see the videos the club put out, the emotions, to see the messages of love and support, I can never repay that to our supporters, to our fans, to football fans in general, near and far,” Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan said after announcing this was his last season. “The amount of love that I have received in the last handful of days has been tremendous.”
Charlotte shutout Philadelphia 2-0 at home, going ahead from a Wilfried Zaha goal in the 24th. Kerwin Vargas doubled the Charlotte lead in the 30th. Zaha saw red in the 90th minute.
Columbus beat the Red Bulls 3-1 at home after falling behind to an Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting goal in the 11th. Andres Herrera equalized for the Crew in the 16th, Daniel Gazdag put them ahead in the 66th, and Ibrahim Aliyu scored in the 84th minute.
FC Cincinnati shutout Montreal 3-0 at home. Nick Hagglund opened the scoring in the 33rd, Evander doubled the Cincinnati lead in the 56th, and Brenner finished off the goals in the 88th minute.
“We’re clearly thin with some of the absences, but it shows the depth that we have with this group for having that many absences and to have so many guys step in and still perform and still have the confidence to know we’re a strong team is certainly something to appreciate,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said. “That speaks to the work that was done in the winter and then in the summer to strengthen this group.”
Inter Miami won 5-2 at Nashville, going up from a Lionel Messi goal in the 34th. Sam Surridge equalized for Nashville in the 34rd and Jacob Shaffelburg gave them the lead six minutes into stoppage time. Messi equalized from the penalty spot in the 63rd and Baltasar Rodriguez returned the Miami lead in the 67th. Messi scored again in the 81st and Telasco Segovia added an Inter Miami goal a minute into stoppage time.
New England drew 2-2 at home with Chicago. An Alhassan Yusuf goal put the Revolution up in the 1st. Philip Zinckernagel equalized for the Fire in the 82nd. Dor Turgeman returned the Revs’ lead six minutes into stoppage time and an own-goal leveled the score three minutes later.
“The thing is, we got behind in the game, and if you want to be in a very preventative shape and you’re behind, it doesn’t help you that much,” Chicago coach Gregg Berhalter said. “So we needed to be more aggressive in the second half. Therefore, we had to change formation. “What I think is that we have options now, and that’s the good thing. The whole idea of the end of the season was to give ourselves options in our formation, and we have that.”
Seattle won 2-1 at NYCFC, going ahead from a Jordan Morris goal in the 61st. Nicolas Fernandez equalized for New York in the 82nd. The Sounders retook the lead when Jackson Ragen scored in the 87th minute.
Toronto beat Orlando City 4-2 at home, with Jonathan Osorio opening the scoring in the 7th. Djordje Mihailovic doubled the Toronto lead in the 34th and scored again in the 48th. David Brekalo pulled a goal back for Orlando in the 54th, but DeAndre Kerr made it 4-1 Toronto in the 61st. Duncan McGuire scored for Orlando two minutes into stoppage time.
Colorado drew 2-2 at home with LAFC after falling behind to a Son Heung-Min goal in the 42nd. Paxten Aaronson equalized for the Rapids in the 62nd and Darren Yapi scored in the 87th. LAFC’s Andy Moran leveled the score in the 90th minute.
The LA Galaxy beat Minnesota United 2-1 at home, taking the lead from a Matheus Nascimento goal in the 12th. Joseph Paintsil doubled the Galaxy lead in the 52nd. Minnesota’s Joaquin Pereyra scored five minutes into stoppage time. The Galaxy played a man down from the seventh minute of stoppage time when Edwin Cerrillo saw red.
“Look, I’m proud of these guys,” LA Glaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “The start of the season was like nothing any of us wanted. But literally at the turn, the halfway point, we started to put some things together, started to find a little bit more cohesion, started to get some results along the way. Better finish. Everybody stuck together all the way until the last game. And we beat two playoff teams down the stretch, which is a nice statement for where we are.”
San Diego shutout Portland 4-0 on the road, going ahead from an Amahl Pellegrino goal in the 26th. Anders Dyer doubled the San Diego lead in the 47th and scored again in the 49th. Pellegrino finished off the San Diego goals in the 63rd minute.
“I’m just thankful to be a part of the project and, you know, just contributing in any way that I can,” San Diego coach Mikey Varas said. “But I feel the same way about the players as I do every staff member, everybody, part of the business team, the fans that show up every single game, and just the broader San Diego community, like it’s just a wonderful project and community to be a part of. And I just feel very fortunate to be to be here.”
San Jose beat Austin 2-1 at home after trailing from an Owen Wolff goal in the 22nd. Josef Martinez equalized for the Earthquakes in the 74th and Niko Tsakiris put them ahead in the 77th minute.
“We blew too many games this year, wasted too many points and we put ourselves in a position that made it difficult,” San Jose coach Bruce Arena said. “However, from 2024 we basically doubled our wins – six last year, 11 this year, 21 points last year, 41 this year. We scored 60 goals, 41 last year. We could see progress was made. That’s all I can say. That part’s good, but I can easily count the half a dozen games where we should have walked off with a win, so we put ourselves in this position.”
Sporting Kansas City drew 0-0 at home with Houston, finishing with two shots on goal to the Dynamo’s five. “I think the team and all of us have to take a look and understand that we need to get a lot better,” Sporting Kansas City interim coach Kerry Zavagnin said. “There are ebbs and flows in the history of a club, and this is one of those moments that we’re a little bit in a down moment but that doesn’t stay like that forever and certainly there are brighter days ahead.”
St Louis drew 2-2 at home with Real Salt Lake. Victor Olatunji scored for RSL in the 17th and 32nd. Eduard Lowen converted a St Louis penalty in the 42nd and Joao Klauss equalized in the 88th minute.
FC Dallas won 2-1 at Vancouver. The Whitecaps played a man down from the 11th when Mathias Laborda saw red. Osaze Urhoghide scored for Dallas in the 17th and Vancouver’s Thomas Muller equalized from the penalty spot in the 28th. Kaick returned the Dallas lead in the 47th minute.
“It’s a big moment for us,” Dallas defender Shaq Moore said. “We had a lot of ups and downs this season with a new group of players and coaches. Hats off to the team and coaches for coming together at the right time after having a year like the way we did. To culminate like this is great for the team. We are looking forward to the playoffs, and we will be ready to take on Vancouver again in the playoffs.”
Eastern Conference final table
| Place | Club | Points | Games Played | Win | Loss | Tie | Goal Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Philadelphia | 66 | 34 | 20 | 8 | 6 | 22 |
| 2. | Cincinnati | 65 | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 12 |
| 3. | Inter Miami | 65 | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 26 |
| 4. | Charlotte | 59 | 34 | 19 | 13 | 2 | 9 |
| 5. | NYCFC | 56 | 34 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 6 |
| 6. | Nashville | 54 | 34 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 13 |
| 7. | Columbus | 54 | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 4 |
| 8. | Chicago | 53 | 34 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 8 |
| 9. | Orlando City | 53 | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 12 |
| 10 | Red Bulls | 43 | 34 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 1 |
| 11. | New England | 36 | 34 | 9 | 16 | 9 | -7 |
| 12. | Toronto | 32 | 34 | 6 | 14 | 14 | -7 |
| 13. | Montreal | 28 | 34 | 6 | 18 | 10 | -26 |
| 14. | Atlanta | 28 | 34 | 5 | 16 | 13 | -25 |
| 15. | DC United | 26 | 34 | 5 | 18 | 11 | -36 |
Western Conference final table
| Place | Club | Points | Games Played | Win | Loss | Tie | Goal Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | San Diego | 63 | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 23 |
| 2. | Vancouver | 63 | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 28 |
| 3. | LAFC | 60 | 34 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 25 |
| 4. | Minnesota | 58 | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 17 |
| 5. | Seattle | 55 | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
| 6. | Austin | 47 | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | -8 |
| 7. | FC Dallas | 44 | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | -3 |
| 8. | Portland | 44 | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | -7 |
| 9. | Real Salt Lake | 41 | 34 | 12 | 17 | 5 | -11 |
| 10 | San Jose | 41 | 34 | 11 | 15 | 8 | -3 |
| 11. | Colorado | 41 | 34 | 11 | 15 | 8 | -12 |
| 12. | Houston | 37 | 34 | 9 | 15 | 10 | -13 |
| 13. | St Louis | 32 | 34 | 8 | 18 | 8 | -14 |
| 14. | LA Galaxy | 30 | 34 | 7 | 18 | 9 | -20 |
| 15. | Sporting KC | 28 | 34 | 7 | 20 | 7 | -24 |
Quotes courtesy of MLS team press releases.
Photo by AJ Reynolds – Atlanta United
