Decision Day delivers as Minnesota, RSL, NYRB secure spots while Galaxy and Montreal miss out

Major League Soccer loves to tout how chaotic Decision Day is. The reality is that sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. But on Sunday, this was one instance in which the chaos meter redlined, and that was especially true in the Western Conference.

For most of the day, it seemed like the LA Galaxy would do enough to secure its spot in the postseason. Its game against Minnesota United was a wild affair, with the Loons surging to a 2-0 lead, the Galaxy battling back to tie, Minnesota moving in front again, only for Chicharito to equalize for the second time. Franco Fragapane missed a penalty, but with Real Salt Lake deadlocked with Sporting Kansas City, it didn’t seem to matter either way.

Until it did.

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Five minutes into stoppage time, RSL’s Damir Kreilach popped up to slam home a goal courtesy of a bicycle kick pass from Justin Meram. All of a sudden, the Galaxy were facing a Couva-esque moment, thinking it was through until the tables turned late. An earlier handball on RSL’s Justen Glad somehow avoided the attention of the video assistant referee (VAR). The Galaxy couldn’t find a way back, and it was Minnesota and RSL, as well as Vancouver — reaching the postseason for the first time since 2017 — that were through instead.

“I wouldn’t like [to] go through that every week, fellas,” Minnesota manager Adrian Heath told Fox Sports. “Obviously, we got word on the bench, you know that Salt Lake had scored and we knew that if [the Galaxy] got another that we were going to be out, which would have been a travesty the way we played today.

“[I’m] pleased for the players, pleased for everybody back home. And now we go to Portland.”

That RSL reached the postseason was stunning given the way it had limped through the last weeks of the season. With its fate in its hands, it contrived to lose home games against San Jose and Portland while conceding seven goals in the process. So why would anyone expect RSL to go to…