The Major League Soccer season resumes on Wednesday night when a hastily arranged tournament that has been put together in Orlando kicks off with what you could call the host side Orlando City taking on one of the new boys to the competition in Inter Miami.
This match was due to be a part of a double header to kick the campaign back into life but the match between Nashville and Chicago Fire has been cancelled due to positive Covid tests with the former, leaving just a single match on show.
This tournament is being staged in Florida which is plagued by coronavirus once again so there are huge doubts whether it will be completed in full hence why we’ve not offered up any outright thoughts. Anyone who fancies an outright bet should search the site for our MLS outright preview where the three teams we already have an investment in could be worth supporting again.
The Format
The 26 MLS teams have already become 25 with FC Dallas being withdrawn from the tournament after 10 positive Covid tests. The remaining teams have been placed into six groups of four with Group A having six teams. Each team plays the other three in their group once in the group stage. The results of these matches not only count in this tournament but also towards the regular season when it resumes. Teams in Group A play three other teams in that group not all 5. At the end of the group stage the top three from Group A and top two from the other five groups progress to a knockout phase and are joined by the three highest teams yet to progress who have the highest number of points. The entire tournament takes place in Orlando with the final scheduled for August 11. There is a Champions League place for the winners which should ensure it is competitive.
Where to watch
The match will be shown in full on Sky Sports Football in the UK. The programme starts at 1.15am with the match due to kick off soon after. The game will also be accessible via the live streaming consoles on bookmaker websites.
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Orlando City
We are still relatively fresh in the Oscar Pareja era at Orlando City and so it is still too early to judge their merits or their prospects in the competition. One thing we can say is they will do well to be as bad as they have been in the last couple of seasons, where they have been pretty abject at both ends of the pitch. Money was invested in the off-season to give Pareja a chance to lead the Lions to the postseason for the first time, but he’ll still have his work cut out to do that.
You would have to say there were no signs that Orlando are going to be a play-off team in the two matches we have had so far this season. They were held in their opening game against Real Salt Lake and were then beaten by the Colorado Rapids. Orlando have been back in training for a while now but it would have been restricted in the main so how much more advanced they will be in their preparation remains to be seen.
Inter Miami
There was a lot of hype about the inclusion into Major League Soccer of Inter Miami. Much of that is because of the ownership interest that David Beckham has in the club, but we can’t really judge them on what we have seen in the past. There is certainly the argument that this tournament could be beneficial for them as there is a more even playing field about it which may well suit both new boys as they look to settle into the league.
The new Miami outfit were beaten in both their matches at the beginning of the campaign, but they offered enough to suggest they won’t be the worst new entrants the league has ever seen. A 1-0 defeat at LAFC is no disgrace and they were more than competitive against DC United as well. The likes of Rodolfo Pizarro are going to be crucial for Inter Miami and having Julian Carranza is likely to be a real positive too.
Betting
I’m not expecting a classic here I have to admit, but to be fair it is just nice to have MLS back again and hopefully it can remain in place, although at this stage that would seem unlikely. In these first round of matches I’m largely going to edge on the side of caution and use my pre-season thoughts to guide me with bets and with that in mind I’m a little surprised that Inter Miami are not stronger favourites here than they actually are.
I look at this Orlando City squad and I actually like what I see but for whatever reason it just continually underperforms and although this tournament is in Orlando, it isn’t at their home ground and there are no fans so there is no real advantage for them. Inter Miami have been a long time in the making in terms of their MLS debut season and they seem to be as prepared for it as I expected them to be. I liked the football Diego Alonso’s side played in the first two weeks of the season and with key players back if there is a winner I suspect it could be them.
Tips
Back Inter Miami to beat Orlando City for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
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