There is one match in the MLS on Sunday to finish off what has been a weekend of surprise results and there is the potential for another when Sporting Kansas City play host to the Columbus Crew in a high profile match.
Sporting Kansas City go into the match sitting on top of the pile in the Western Conference while the Columbus Crew will move to the summit in the Eastern Conference should they pick up the three points here. The match is live on TV for those of us in the UK.
Sporting Kansas City
Heading into the campaign I had Sporting Kansas City down as the side to watch in the Western Conference with their renowned defensive solidity being complimented by a more attack minded approach and they have made a very good start to the campaign. They need to make sure they maintain this intensity now.
As it goes they have sacrificed a little of their defensive reputation this term but I don’t see that has a problem. If anything, in a league which is clearly showing a trend of being more attack minded, it is a good thing that they have been able to adapt and we have seen that in their performances so far this term.
Columbus Crew
After missing out on the MLS Cup final at the last hurdle last season the Columbus Crew could easily have felt sorry for themselves and downgraded this term, especially with the way American sport is designed for the level nature of the competition to be maintained, but if anything they have got even stronger.
The one area where there has been a marked improvement for the Crew has been defensively. Despite having played more matches than most of the teams in MLS this season they have the best defensive record of anyone which is quite amazing. It is even more amazing when you think they are in the Eastern Conference which contains many more attack minded sides.
Team News
Felipe Gutierrez remains out having had hernia surgery which will continue to hamper the attacking ability of the Sporting Kansas City side. Jimmy Medranda is said to be questionable for the match with an injury which hasn’t been disclosed.
Columbus Crew will be without Pedro Santos who is out with injury once again. Milton Valenzuela will be suspended the next time he is booked. Gyasi Zardes is expected to keep the forward role.
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Betting
I was hoping the bookmakers would see the attacking potential in these two sides rather than the defensive ones but that has not been the case. In an ideal world we would have been given a 2.75 goals line but quite rightly the line is at 2.5.
I’d have gone under on the 2.75 one but there isn’t much margin for error in the 2.5 so I’m not going to bet on the match. It has too much draw potential for me to get stuck into the match betting or the Asian handicap lines so I’ll wait for what is to come rather than push anything here.
Tips
No Bet
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