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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Major League Soccer has announced the dates for the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs.&amp;nbsp;The playoffs start Oct. 29, and the MLS Cup final will be played on Dec. 7.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The top five teams from each conference make the playoffs.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Entering Tuesday, the five teams in the Eastern Conference are D.C. United, Sporting Kansas City, New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls and Columbus Crew.&amp;nbsp;In the Western Conference, the top five teams are Seattle Sounders, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas and Portland Timbers.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The fourth and fifth place teams in each conference will play in a knockout game. The winner of the match will advance to the conference semifinals, and play the conference's first place team.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both the semifinals and championships will be decided by a two-game, aggregate-goal format. The MLS Cup will be hosted by the team that finished the regular season with the most points in the standings\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;BIRD: Hat-trick hero Wright-Phillips inches toward record&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The dates for the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs:\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conference Knockout Round&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wed-Thurs, Oct. 29-30\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conference Semifinals&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg 1, Sat-Sun, Nov. 1-2\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg 2, Sat-Sun, Nov. 8-9\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conference Championships&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg 1, Sat-Sun, Nov. 22-23\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Leg 2, Sat-Sun., Nov. 29-30\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;MLS Cup Final&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sunday, Dec. 7, 3 p.m., ET\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;SANCHEZ: Liga MX Tres Puntos: Ronaldinho's still got it&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Sarah Barshop&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2014/09/23/major-league-soccer-dates-cup-playoffs>