Union to face Houston in MLS Cup playoffs after Dynamo win over L.A. Galaxy

The Union opened their second Major League Soccer season by playing Houston in March, and they will begin their first MLS Cup playoff run on Sunday against the Dynamo.

With Houston's 3-1 win on Sunday against the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy in the final game of the MLS regular season, the Union settled into the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and will meet No. 2 seed Houston in the two-game conference semifinals of the MLS Cup playoffs. Both teams received a bye from the four-team wild-card round.

 The Union will host the first leg of the conference semifinals at PPL Park in Chester. The MLS later announced that the first game will begin at 4 p.m. on Sunday and will be broadcast by ESPN2.  The second leg will be Thursday, Nov. 3, at Houston's Robertson Stadium, likely at 8:30 p.m.

 "We've worked very hard all season to get to the playoffs, and we are very excited for this new challenge, but our job is not over yet," Union team manager Peter Nowak said in a statement released by the team. "This is the first conference semifinal for many of our players, but we do know that Houston will come out strong and we need to be ready for it." 

Ten teams qualified for the playoffs. The top three teams in both the Eastern and Western conferences received a bye from the wild-card round, which begins Wednesday.

Had Houston lost or tied, the Union would have earned the No. 2 seed and played the Columbus Crew. As it is, Columbus now has to play in the wild-card round.

Sporting Kansas City won the Eastern Conference title with 51 points. Houston was second with 49, and the Union (11-8-15) had 48. Teams earn three points for a win and one for a tie.

If the aggregate score of the two conference semifinal games is tied after 180 minutes of play, two 15-minute extra-time periods will be played in their entirety, followed by penalty kicks, if necessary.

After the conference semifinals, there will be one-game conference finals on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6, hosted by the higher-seeded teams.

The MLS Cup championship game will be Sunday, Nov. 20, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

The Union began the season with a 1-0 win at Houston on March 19. The teams also played to a 1-1 draw on Aug. 6 at PPL Park.

MLS Cup Playoffs

WILD-CARD ROUND

Single elimination

 New York at Dallas

Columbus at Colorado

EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Two-game aggregate-goal series

 UNION vs. Houston

Kansas City vs. higher-seeded wild-card winner

WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

Two-game aggregate-goal series

Los Angeles vs. lower-seeded wild-card winner

Salt Lake vs. Seattle