New York Cosmos will host Fort Lauderdale Strikers in NASL semifinal

On Sunday, the New York Cosmos learned who they'd face in the NASL semifinals, after the Fort Lauderdale Strikers finished their season with a 1-0 victory over Jacksonville Armada FC. The victory clinched a place in the playoffs for the Strikers, though they needed the Cosmos to knock off the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Saturday to make their victory matter.

The Strikers will now join the Cosmos and Minnesota United as returnees from the 2014 playoffs, with only the defending champion San Antonio Scorpions failing to make it to the postseason two years in a row. The Scorpions did manage to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table due to the Jacksonville loss, managing to avoid a first to worst campaign by the narrowest of margins.

With that, the Cosmos first home playoff match of the modern era will be against the same opponent they hosted as they kicked off the modern era. Next Saturday at MCU Park should be an awful lot of fun.