
<p>A dramatic final day in the EFL Championship saw a shakeup in the table, as Blackburn defeated Millwall to open the door for Sunderland to get into the promotion playoffs. Millwall held a two-goal halftime lead against Blackburn, which was barely clinging to hope for a playoff spot. However, a capitulation and a late goal doomed Millwall to another season in the Championship.</p>



<p>On the other hand, Sunderland’s first win over Preston North End since 2004 punched the club up one spot. Now, Sunderland will take on Luton Town in the playoff semifinal. The other semifinal is between Coventry, which managed a draw to maintain its fifth spot in the table, and Middlesbrough.</p>



<h5>Rovers take down Lions in dramatic fashion</h5>



<p>At The Den, the first 45 minutes had the hosts poised for success. Three first-half goals made it seem like Millwall was going to the Championship Promotion Playoffs. After all, it entered the game in sixth. In some cases, a draw would have been good enough to maintain that spot and get into the playoffs.</p>



<p>Duncan Watmore’s first-half brace provided a 2-1 lead. The second to restore Millwall’s lead came after a calamity among the Blackburn defense, and Watmore simply cleaned up the pieces. Oliver Burke added a sensational third to get Millwall that much closer.</p>



<p>However, coming out in the second half, Blackburn were the better team. Joe Rankin-Costello cut the Millwall lead in half. Then, it was a familiar face to deliver the next two goals for Blackburn. Ben Brereton Díaz, who had scored the most goals this season for Blackburn, added two more. The first of those came just after the hour mark, leveling the game. Then, in heartbreaking fashion for the home supporters, the Chilean scored again, giving Blackburn the lead. The goal came in the 86th minute.</p>



<p>The result kept Millwall on 68 points. Meanwhile, Blackburn jumped to 69, which is tied for enough to get into the playoffs.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">😱 FT: Millwall 3-4 Blackburn<br><br>⚽️🦁 08&apos; Watmore<br>⚽️🔵 22&apos; Wharton<br>⚽️🦁 37&apos; Watmore<br>⚽️🦁 39&apos; Burke<br>⚽️🔵 51&apos; Rankin-Costello<br>⚽️🔵 63&apos; Brereton Diaz<br>⚽️🔵 86&apos; Brereton Diaz<br><br>Blackburn&apos;s remarkable comeback has sent Sunderland into the Championship play-offs 🔥📈 <a href="https://t.co/lPg4etYwyh">pic.twitter.com/lPg4etYwyh</a></p>— SPORTbible (@sportbible) <a href="https://twitter.com/sportbible/status/1655602787923775489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h2>Blackburn win at Millwall creates opportunity for Sunderland</h2>



<p>However, the first tiebreaker is goal differential. Sunderland, which was playing at Preston North End, picked up a comfortable 3-0 win to maintain its superb goal differential and match Blackburn’s 69 points. Sunderland picked up goals from Manchester United loanee Amad Diallo, Alex Pritchard and Jack Clarke. Each of the three came in a 12-minute span to provide Sunderland with a massive three points.</p>



<p>Sunderland won promotion back into the Championship last season. If it can best Luton Town and the winner of the other semifinal in the promotion playoffs, it can jump from League One to the Premier League in just two seasons. Norwich and Southampton accomplished the feat in the early 2010s. It would, by extension, join <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/burnley-secure-premier-league-promotion-with-win-over-boro-20230407-WST-427417.html">Burnley</a> and <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/sheffield-united-owner-intends-to-sell-club-despite-promotion-20230428-WST-430746.html">Sheffield United</a> in the Premier League next season.</p>



<h5>Championship Playoffs Schedule</h5>



<p>The playoffs are available on ESPN+ in the United States. These are two-legged ties, giving each team a home game. Then, the eventual Final is a single game at Wembley Stadium. The home team is listed first for the semifinal legs.</p>



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<p><strong>May 13 —&nbsp;12:30 p.m. ET —&nbsp;</strong>Sunderland vs. Luton Town.</p>



<p><strong><strong>May </strong>14 —&nbsp;7 a.m. ET —&nbsp;</strong>Coventry vs. Middlesbrough.</p>



<p><strong><strong>May </strong>16 —&nbsp;3 p.m. ET —&nbsp;</strong>Luton Town vs. Sunderland.</p>



<p><strong>May 17 —&nbsp;3 p.m. ET —&nbsp;</strong>Middlesbrough vs. Coventry.</p>



<p><strong>May 27 —&nbsp;11:45 a.m. ET —&nbsp;</strong>Final</p>



<p><em>PHOTO: IMAGO / PA Images</em></p>


A Blackburn comeback win at Millwall doomed the hosts to another season in the Championship, while Sunderland leaped into sixth.

Blackburn breaks Millwall hearts to help Sunderland into playoffs

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<p>Major League Soccer is considering some interesting changes to its playoffs and the number of teams involved. </p>



<p>The 2023 season set to start in just a few weeks. Despite this, the league does not have a playoff structure currently set in stone. One of the alterations that could be coming to <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/mls-tv-schedule/">MLS</a> is 18 teams in the playoffs.</p>



<p>With St. Louis City SC about the enter the fray, the league will be expanding to 29 teams for the upcoming campaign. This would mean that 62% of MLS clubs would qualify for the playoffs if the move is approved. </p>



<h5>Play-in games would be added to playoff format</h5>



<p><em><a href="https://theathletic.com/4160858/2023/02/06/mls-playoffs-ussf-training-center/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Athletic</a></em> is reporting that the move would mean that the eighth and ninth seeds in the standings would face off in play-in games. The winner of the match would then advance to play the top seed of their conference. An addition of play-in games have also been recently implemented in the National Basketball Association, as well.</p>



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<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">MLS is considering having 18 teams make the playoffs. That&apos;s 62% of the league. Absolute madness. <a href="https://t.co/zOAGNlJdAX">https://t.co/zOAGNlJdAX</a></p>— World Soccer Talk (@worldsoccertalk) <a href="https://twitter.com/worldsoccertalk/status/1622703511333920777?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>Expanding the amount of teams for the playoffs would obviously generate more revenue. More games means more money. It would also make the regular season a bit more meaningless. With 18 teams possibly making the playoffs, regular season matches could be less significant and the actual playoffs would also be diluted as well.</p>



<h2>First round playoff series also on the table with more MLS teams in playoffs</h2>



<p>Along with expanding the total number of playoff teams, the aforementioned report also suggests that the league is considering adding a playoff series. This maneuver would be about money as well. </p>



<p>In the proposed move, the first round of the playoffs would be a best-of-three series. This means that each team would be able to host at least one playoff game. The first club to win two of the three matches would then advance on to the next round. Beginning in the second round, and continuing for the remainder of the playoffs, matchups would then consist of single-elimination.</p>



<p>Again, more matches mean more money. Expanding the first round of the playoffs would give MLS Season Pass and Apple TV more matchdays. If both alterations get approved, MLS playoffs would consist of at least 25 games each postseason. The upcoming 2023 regular season is set to start on February 25th.  </p>



<p><em>PHOTO: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire</em></p>


MLS is weighing up the potential of changing its number of teams allowed in the playoffs, looking at 18 as the target.

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Blackburn breaks Millwall hearts to help Sunderland into playoffs

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MLS considers allowing 62% of teams into playoffs