MLS Playoffs: Conference Finals

There's now just one match left in Major League Soccer in 2010, and next Sunday's MLS Cup final in Toronto will be contested by Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas. The Rapids make the final despite finishing fifth in the Western Conference, while Dallas went unbeaten for vast swathes of the season.

The Rapids secured their place in the final by winning the Eastern Conference. Having dispatched Eastern opponents in the semi-finals, two Western sides battled it out for the Eastern title with the Rapids defeating San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Saturday evening. Kosuke Kimura was the hero for the Rapids with a fantastic tackle on Ryan Johnson on 25 minutes and the Japanese defender lifted the roof off DSG Park with a 43rd minute cross from the touchline that evaded Omar Cummings and swung in at the far post to win the game for Colorado.

In Toronto next Sunday they will face Dallas, who rolled into the Home Depot Center, gave LA Galaxy a good hiding - at least on the scoresheet - and are now en route to the final of MLS Cup. LA's playoff beards got a sniff of a sharpened razor on 26 minutes, when David Ferreira turned beautifully after Marvin Chavez's pass and found the bottom corner with a lovely finish. It was against the run of play somewhat, with Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman having been the key man up until that point and throughout the rest of the game.

George John fired the second in the roof of the net after a great pass across goal by Brek Shea, and Chavez got a goal of his own with an easy finish to kill the game and send Dallas to the final. David Beckham was booked for protesting that Chavez had been offside when Ferreira passed the ball but the former England skipper was, in the words of Alan Partridge, bang wrong.

Congratulations to FC Dallas on winning the West and to Colorado Rapids on winning the East. Their success at the end of the season shows the value of form and momentum in playoffs.

You can see the Conference finals highlights here.