The penultimate set of matches in the MLS 2024 season prior to the break for the Leagues Cup take place in America and Canada on Wednesday night with a full set of games where valuable points are up for grabs.
As always this season, if you have a bet and want to watch its progress you will need either the MLS Season Pass which is on Apple TV or you will be able to view it with the bookmaker live streaming options.
Wednesday’s fixtures are as follows: (00.30 unless stated)
Atlanta United FC v New York City FC
Columbus Crew v Charlotte FC
FC Cincinnati v Chicago Fire
Inter Miami CF v Toronto FC
New York Red Bulls v CF Montréal
Philadelphia Union v New England Revolution
FC Dallas v Austin FC (01.30)
Minnesota United FC v D.C. United (01.30)
Nashville SC v Orlando City SC (01.30)
Los Angeles Galaxy v Colorado Rapids (03.30)
San Jose Earthquakes v Houston Dynamo (03.30)
Seattle Sounders FC v St. Louis City SC (03.30)
Vancouver Whitecaps v Sporting Kansas City (03.30)
Los Angeles Football Club v Real Salt Lake (03.45)
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Big Matches
The race for the Supporters’ Shield is really intensifying now and all of the contenders are in action on Wednesday night. Two of them face off in the last of the matches to kick off when the top two in the Western Conference meet as Los Angeles FC will look to bounce back from their mauling by Columbus Crew when they host Real Salt Lake who will be without their star man Chicho Arango. Earlier in the night the current leaders FC Cincinnati will host Chicago Fire while Inter Miami in second welcome Toronto FC to Florida. The champions Columbus Crew entertain Charlotte FC and LA Galaxy host Colorado Rapids.
Best of the Rest
New York Red Bulls have faded a touch in recent weeks but they have the chance to turn their campaign around when they host CF Montreal at Red Bull Arena. One side who have caught fire in recent matches is the Seattle Sounders and they will look for another three points when they welcome St Louis City SC to Lumen Field. There is a battle between two Texan sides when FC Dallas host Austin FC while Philadelphia Union will look to come off the bottom of the Eastern Conference when they host the New England Revolution. Atlanta United host New York City FC in another appealing match and Vancouver Whitecaps take on Sporting Kansas City.
Betting
Two bets just out at me in the course of Wednesday evening. The first of those is for the champions Columbus Crew to see off Charlotte FC. To be fair to Charlotte, they had an excellent win at Cincinnati at the weekend but there was an element of fortune to it with Cincinnati missing a penalty at 1-2 and having a goal disallowed a couple of minutes later. Cincinnati seemed scared to press Charlotte in that game because of the high line it would leave but that has never been an issue for Columbus Crew so while I respect that weekend win for Charlotte, I feel this is a horrible matchup for them. Even then, the win that Columbus Crew had at Los Angeles FC at the weekend was a better one. They absolutely annihilated the former champions 5-1 and that not means that the Crew have scored 20 goals in their last five matches. They have also won nine of their last 10 matches and are in incredible form right now and with Charlotte having a short turnaround with all the travelling I think this is a great chance for another comfortable Columbus win.
I also expect another comfortable win for the Seattle Sounders who have caught fire in recent times. They have won their last four and five of their last six and have only lost once at Lumen Field all season and now a St Louis City SC side who have won just one of their last 12 matches and are yet to win on their travels come to town. I repeatedly mention that in these midweek games teams are known to sack them off if they are away from home and that usually happens even more when it involves crossing time zones. It might be that City aren’t in a position where they can do that but even if they don’t they are missing pretty much all of their first choice attacking options either due to injury or negotiating a transfer and that really doesn’t bode well for them here. St Louis have conceded four times in each of their last two away games and now face one of the hottest forwards in the division in Jordan Morris. I don’t see this ending well for the visitors. Seattle are known to get stronger the longer seasons go on and they appear to be on that trend again this time around. They have won all three previous meetings between these two sides including a 3-0 win here last year and I expect them to cover a -1 Asian line here.
Tips
Back Columbus Crew (-1AH) to beat Charlotte FC for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Bet365
Back Seattle Sounders (-1AH) to beat St Louis City SC for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
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