The remainder of the MLS 2024 weekend takes place on Saturday evening and will hopefully follow on from the entertaining beginning to it on Friday night as another 13 fixtures are played out across America and Canada.
As ever this season all of the matches will be able to be viewed via the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV but those who don’t subscribe to that option will be able to watch all the games with the bookmaker live streams.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (00.30 unless stated)
Atlanta United FC v Toronto FC
CF Montréal v Philadelphia Union
New England Revolution v Columbus Crew
New York Red Bulls v D.C. United
FC Dallas v FC Cincinnati (01.30)
Houston Dynamo v Charlotte FC (01.30)
Nashville SC v Inter Miami CF (01.30)
Sporting Kansas City v Austin FC (01.30)
Los Angeles Football Club v Colorado Rapids (03.30)
Portland Timbers v Minnesota United FC (03.30)
San Jose Earthquakes v Los Angeles Galaxy (03.30)
Seattle Sounders FC v Chicago Fire (03.30)
Vancouver Whitecaps v St. Louis City SC (03.30)
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Big Matches
We have a repeat of the Leagues Cup final from last season as the headline match on Saturday evening when Nashville SC takes on the current Supporters’ Shield leaders Inter Miami. The holders of that competition, FC Cincinnati, head to FC Dallas looking to keep up their pursuit of keeping hold of the trophy. Over in the Western Conference two of the form teams will meet when Los Angeles FC host the Colorado Rapids while LA Galaxy could go top of the west should LAFC slip up. They head to San Jose Earthquakes for the latest Cali-Clasico.
Best of the Rest
There are plenty of other appealing matches elsewhere, not least at Gillette Stadium where New England Revolution welcome the champions Columbus Crew for what should be a cracking clash with both sides in good form. Portland Timbers are another team in decent touch and they host a Minnesota United team who have lost their way since the international call ups started getting in the way while Atlanta United will be looking to continue their revival since the sacking of Gonzalo Pineda when they host an entertaining Toronto FC outfit. New York Red Bulls will be looking for another three points when they take on DC United at Red Bull Arena.
Betting
There are a few bets that I like over the course of the night with the first of them coming from Red Bull Arena where I expect the New York Red Bulls to be too good for a DC United side whose form has fallen off a cliff in recent times. They are winless in eight matches, a run which started with a 4-1 loss to the Red Bulls in the reverse fixture. That was one of three occasions they have conceded four goals in this run of games without a win so when they get it wrong they get it badly wrong. New York Red Bulls go into this one off the back of a good win over Toronto FC last week and could have Emil Forsberg back for this one which would be a boost. DC are really struggling and New York Red Bulls are unbeaten at home. This looks an obvious chance for a home win and a comfortable one at that.
It is goals all the way for the rest of my bets beginning with FC Dallas against FC Cincinnati where I am expecting them to flow nicely and am surprised that we only have a 2.75 goal line here. Cincinnati have seen their defence take a bit of a battering in recent weeks with Miles Robinson away at the Copa America with the USA and then last week Nick Hagglund picked up a nasty injury last week to go with the one Matt Miazga sustained recently so three big centre-backs are missing for the visitors here. They do have plenty of attacking options though which is handy. FC Dallas are starting to click since the sacking of Nico Estevez. The last two Dallas games have seen 13 goals in them. The last five Cincinnati matches have had 25 in them. Expect the goals to keep coming here.
I also expect them to flow when Los Angeles FC host Colorado Rapids at BMO Stadium. The reverse meeting between these two saw the Rapids win 3-2 but the tables could be turned here because Los Angeles FC are in great form and are yet to be beaten at home. Colorado do head to California off the back of three successive wins in which they have scored nine goals in total so they will be confident they can get at LAFC in this one but with Moise Bombito away with Canada at the Gold Cup, the Rapids will be without their leading defender which certainly isn’t ideal. Los Angeles average 2.6 goals per game at home on their own while Colorado score at just under two away. That makes me think the 3.25 goal line is well within reach here.
We go up a quarter of a goal in the Cali-Clasico where San Jose Earthquakes host LA Galaxy but with good reason. I regularly mention how wacky San Jose games get and 80 of them in 19 matches are testament to that. That is in 19 games overall, nine of which have been at PayPal Park where 30 goals have been scored. Galaxy matches have had 65 goals in them in 20 outings and there have been 30 in their 11 away games so these two are involved in high scoring games. San Jose can’t stop shipping goals at the minute. They have conceded 19 in their last four matches, but to be fair in that time they have notched six themselves. Galaxy have 13 goals in their last six so their attack is going well. These two have already met twice this season with 3-1 and 4-3 wins over the Galaxy and with San Jose’s defence seemingly AWOL I can’t ignore over 3.5 goals in this one.
Tips
Back New York Red Bulls (-1AH) to beat DC United for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back FC Dallas vs FC Cincinnati – Over 2.75 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back Los Angeles FC vs Colorado Rapids – Over 3.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.93 with Bet365
Back San Jose Earthquakes vs LA Galaxy – Over 3.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
