The Conference finals will be set in the MLS Cup playoffs on Sunday evening when the remaining three semi-final second legs are played out on what could be a special night of football if the conclusion to the first tie was anything to go by.
The three remaining ties are nicely poised heading into their second legs so we should be in for six or seven hours of wonderful action and certainly no shortage of drama as the seven teams left in are whittled down to four.
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Sporting Kansas City vs Real Salt Lake (20.00)
The opening match of the night concludes the Western Conference bracket as the table toppers Sporting Kansas City take on the team with the memorable path into the postseason in Real Salt Lake.
This tie is nicely poised at 1-1 heading into the second leg so Real Salt Lake know that if they are to keep their amazing run alive they have to go to Kansas City and find the back of the net at the very least. You would think it would be a risky business for SKC to play for the clean sheet but it might be that they don’t need to because RSL are going to have to take risks to restore parity in the tie.
Sporting Kansas City are -1.25 on the Asian lines here. I think they’ll win this second leg but given that a clean sheet will do them and even if they don’t manage that a one goal win will be perfect I’ve no interest in taking that. This opening match is a watching brief rather than a betting one.
Atlanta United vs New York City FC (22.00)
The first offering of the second legs in the Eastern Conference seeds the teams who finished second and third in the table colliding at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium with Atlanta United looking to protect their one goal advantage from the first leg when they host New York City FC.
That 1-0 lead for Atlanta means that New York City are going to have to set up to be fairly attacking because they have to score. That is likely to leave them vulnerable on the counter attack but they do not lack for goalscoring options in their squad so this could turn into a special evening in Atlanta.
With that in mind I think we are going to see a much more open game of football than we saw in New York. Given the attacking mite that NYC have it would be dangerous for Atlanta to sit back and look to contain them while NYC have to attack. I think we’ll see three goals covered here.
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New York Red Bulls vs Columbus Crew (00.30)
The last match in this round of the playoffs comes from Red Bull Arena as the New York Red Bulls look to turn their tie against the Columbus Crew around. The Red Bulls know that they have home advantage throughout the playoffs but they have to come from 1-0 down to keep it.
Columbus Crew were dogged and gutsy in the first leg given that they had gone to penalties just three days prior to their first leg. Having had a week off they should be refreshed and ready to go about defending their advantage. The Crew must surely think that they only need to find the back of the net to make it through here.
The Red Bulls have a terrible record in the postseason and I don’t think Columbus are going to come out and make life easy for them. The longer this goes on without a goal the tighter and deeper Columbus will get. We’ve seen it before from them in the playoffs at places like Atlanta and Toronto last season. New York might not have the creativity they need to get the job done here and even if they do this doesn’t feel like a high scoring game. I’ll ride under 2.75 goals.
Tips
WON – Back Atlanta United vs New York City FC – Over 3 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Bet365
HALF LOSS – Back New York Red Bulls vs Columbus Crew – Under 2.75 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
Back it here:
