Columbus Crew Ghanaian quartet; Harrison Afful, Jonathan Mensah, Abu Mohammed and Abubakar Lalas and David Accam of Chicago Fire are through to MLS Cup Playoffs However, same cannot be said of DC United Ghanaian quartet – Lloyd Sam, Patrick Nyarko, Kofi Opare and Chris Odoi-Atsem – who are effectively eliminated from playoff contention.
There is only one more slot available in the Eastern Conference and Gideon Baah’s New York Red Bulls remain the favorites for that ticket but there are remote mathematical chances for Dominic Oduro (Montreal Impact), Gershon Koffie (New England Revolution), Joshua Yaro and his two other American colleagues with some Ghanaian linkage (Philadelphia Union) and Richie Laryea (Orlando City).
In the Western Conference, the race for Playoffs tickets is still open, yet, only few Ghanaians stand the chance of joining their clubs to the Postseason.
One of such players is US Open Cup winner Latif Blessing whose club, Sporting Kansas City, can book a ticket if they tackle their last four regular season matches with caution. They missed out on a chance to formally clinch a playoff berth at home with their Week 30 loss to leaders Vancouver Whitecaps.
The cagey issue for Latif and his teammates is that three of their remaining four matches are on the road and they will be missing their USMNT contingent for the next two matches.
Kofi Sarkodie, an American with some Ghanaian background, has a slim chance of clinching a Playoffs spot with his club San Jose Earthquakes.
However, both Emmanuel Boateng and Bismark Adjei-Boateng’s 2017 MLS season will end after the regular season after LA Galaxy and Colorado Rapids were eliminated from Playoff contention.