Los Angeles FC will find out who their opponents will be in the opening round of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Wednesday night when the Western Conference wildcard match takes place when the Vancouver Whitecaps take on the Portland Timbers.
These Cascadia Cup rivals never have any love lost for each other but the stakes are higher than ever here. The winner will take on Los Angeles FC in the best of three opening round of the playoffs while the loser is done for the season. The MLS Season Pass on Apple TV has all the action as do bookmaker live streams.
Vancouver Whitecaps
The Vancouver Whitecaps have always looked likely to be making the playoffs this season but they won’t have wanted to need the wildcard match to qualify for them officially. One of the reasons for that is they have to play a do or die clash to extend their season but the other is because even though they finished higher in the table than their opponents here, this match is being played at the away ground because of a clash at their home ground.
That immediately has the Whitecaps at a disadvantage but when you consider they arrive in this match without a win in their last seven, they have limped home this season and urgently need a turnaround on their travels if they are going to set up a best of three clash with Los Angeles FC. Vancouver have lost their last four matches and only scored two goals in that time so the end of the season has come at a bad time for them.
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Portland Timbers
The Portland Timbers were always looking good for the playoffs too but they were never consistent enough to ensure they wouldn’t have to go through this wildcard match. They have lucked out though because by coming up against their Cascadia Cup rivals they get to host the match rather than had it been Minnesota United and the Timbers would have had to go on the road. Portland were 9-5-3 on their own patch in the regular season which will give them a lot of confidence.
There is no doubt that Portland have nosedived in terms of their form. They have only won one of their last seven matches but it was a home game against LA Galaxy which shows that when they are on it they are still a good side. Portland would have been much higher in the table had they not conceded 56 goals this season but on the flip side of that their 65 goals scored was bettered by just one team in the Western Conference and three overall in MLS.
Betting
This should be a belter of a wildcard contest and one which I’m a little surprised to see that the goal line is only 3, especially when you saw the ease with which the Eastern Conference game exploded into life on Tuesday evening. These two attacks have the potential to be very explosive and while it is fair to say that goals have dried up in their matches in recent times, some of that is down to players being away on international duty or managed on their return from it. There might also have been an element of knowing they were likely to be in this match and saving themselves a touch for it.
Nevertheless, we have a Portland side who scored 65 goals in the regular season, bettered by just three teams in the entire MLS, with 39 of them coming here at Providence Park in their 17 home games. They have three players with 20 goal contributions to their name this season and Phil Neville has made it clear in his press conference that his side are going to go on the attack. Vancouver aren’t as free scoring with just 52 goals to their name this term but they have potent players too with both Ryan Gauld and Brian White having 25 and 17 goal contributions to their name respectively. These two teams are set up to attack the opponent and in a do or die clash I don’t expect them to deviate from what makes them so effective so we should be in for a high scoring clash which MLS Cup Playoff matches seem to deliver on a regular basis.
Tips
Back Over 3 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with Bet365
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