MLS Cup 2014 was the 19th edition of the

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

, the match that determined the champion of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

's 2014 season. The

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

of the Western Conference hosted the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the Greater Boston area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. It is on ...

of the Eastern Conference. The

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match was held at

StubHub Center Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dign ...

Carson, California Carson is a city in the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor regions of Los Angeles County, California, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International ...

, as the Galaxy were awarded home advantage by finishing the regular season with more points than the Revolution. The Galaxy won 2–1 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, winning their fifth MLS Cup title and also sending all-time U.S. national team goal scoring leader

Landon Donovan Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American former professional association football, soccer player and coach who was most recently the interim head coach of San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Often co ...

into retirement with his sixth MLS Cup crown. It was a record sixth time that the MLS Cup was held at the StubHub Center, and the first time in two years that the venue has hosted the MLS Cup. The Galaxy returned to the MLS Cup for the first time since 2012, when they became the third club to win the championship in back-to-back seasons. It was the first time since 2007 that the Revolution reached the MLS Cup final. The two clubs had met twice before in the MLS Cup final: in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

; the Galaxy defeated New England 1–0 after extra time in both finals. New England Revolution became the first club to lose five MLS Cups. Going into the match, the Galaxy had earned a berth into the

2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League The 2015–16 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2015–16 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons) was the 8th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 51st edition of the premi ...

as the Supporters Shield runner-up since the Seattle Sounders won both the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

and the Supporters Shield while New England could only do so by winning the Cup. Had New England won the match, they would have entered as the MLS Cup champion representative. Instead,

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

went to the Champions League.

Road to the final

The

is the post-season championship of

(MLS), a professional club

league in the United States and Canada. The 2014 season was the 19th in MLS history and was contested by 19 teams organized into the

Eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

conferences. Each club played 34 matches during the regular season from early March to late October, facing each team in their conference two or three times and those in the other conference once. The playoffs, which ran from October to early December, were contested over four rounds by the top five clubs in each conference. The first round and final were both

single-elimination A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

matches; the other two rounds were decided through

aggregate score There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

over a

two-legged tie In sports (especially association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum ...

with the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

in effect. Both the Revolution and the Galaxy are original MLS clubs, beginning play in 1996. The teams had faced off in

MLS Cup 2002 MLS Cup 2002 was the seventh edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), which took place on October 20, 2002. It was hosted at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, and contested by the New England Re ...

and

MLS Cup 2005 MLS Cup 2005 was the 10th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS). The association football, soccer match took place on November 13, 2005, at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, near Dallas, and was contested b ...

, with the Galaxy winning both finals in overtime. The Galaxy had also defeated the Revolution 2–1 in overtime in the final of the 2001 U.S. Open Cup. The two teams had faced each other once before in the 2014 season, with the Galaxy hosting and defeating the Revolution in a 5–1 game that saw both teams reduced to 10 men.

LA Galaxy

The Galaxy convincingly defeated

in the Western Conference semifinals by an aggregate score of 5–0. They then advanced past

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

and to MLS Cup 2–2 on aggregate due to the

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

tiebreaker, as the Galaxy had 1 away goal to Seattle's 0.

New England Revolution

The Revolution's last MLS cup final was in 2007, where they lost to the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

in their third MLS Cup loss in a row. Since then, the club had hired defender

Jay Heaps John Franklin "Jay" Heaps (born August 2, 1976) is an American former soccer player who currently serves as president and general manager of Birmingham Legion FC. He is a former head coach for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer ...

to manage the club. The team had missed playoffs in the 2012 season, and suffered a 4–3 defeat on aggregate to

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

in the conference semifinals of the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs. In advance of the 2014 season, the club acquired José Gonçalves on a permanent deal, after a loan deal which saw him win MLS Defender of the Year. Goalkeeper

Matt Reis Matt Reis ( ; born March 28, 1975) is an American former soccer player and coach who played as a goalkeeper. A long-time Major League Soccer mainstay, he has served as goalkeeper coach for LA Galaxy and the United States. Youth and college Reid ...

retired from the team after tearing his quad tendons in the 2013 playoffs. New England knocked out the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

7–3 on aggregate after dominating both legs of the Eastern Conference semifinals before narrowly besting the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

4–3 over the two legs to reach MLS Cup.

Summary of results

:''Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).''

Tournament Bracket

Broadcasting

Commentary

Match

Statistics

Post-match

The Galaxy set the record for most MLS Cup wins, with five, and qualified for the

as USA #1 spot. They won their group, which included

Central Football Club Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and Comunicaciones F.C., but lost 3-1 over a

two-legged match In sports (especially association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

against

Querétaro F.C. Querétaro Fútbol Club, also known as Gallos Blancos de Querétaro, is a Mexican professional association football, football club based in Querétaro (city), Querétaro. It plays in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, M ...

The Galaxy next appeared in the 2024 MLS Cup final, ten years to the day from the 2014 final. They won 2-1 against the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional association football, soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conferenc ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mls Cup 2014

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* LA Galaxy matches New England Revolution matches Sports competitions in Carson, California Soccer competitions in Los Angeles County, California 2014 in sports in Los Angeles County, California December 2014 sports events in the United States 2010s in Carson, California