The opening set of matches in the MLS Cup Playoffs 2024 conclude on Tuesday evening when the four sides yet to get their postseason underway do so with a couple of games which should be full of entertaining football.
Once again we begin in the east and end the evening in the west and by the end of the night the first of the best of three games will all be over. Apple TV has full coverage of both matches while the bookmaker live streams will show them too.
Columbus Crew vs New York Red Bulls (22.45)
The champions Columbus Crew get their MLS Cup title defence from a postseason perspective underway when they welcome the New York Red Bulls to Lower.com Field for the opening match of the potential three in the series.
Columbus Crew head into the playoffs as one of the favourites to win the title again. They will be at home until the Eastern Conference final and will host that if Inter Miami don’t get there. They have shown their big game credentials for the last 12 months and rise to the occasion and it would be a surprise if they don’t do that here. You sense if the Red Bulls are going to escape this series then they are going to have to fight fire with fire and attempt to win a couple of shootouts. It just so happens that they have the potential to do that and that in itself should make this an entertaining watch. These two sides met as recently as Decision Day in New York where the Crew won 3-2 and I suspect something similar will happen here. Columbus are a confident side who only play on the front foot regardless of the situation. The Red Bulls get up the pitch and offer a bigger threat with Emil Forsberg in their side so even though this is a playoff game, there is enough about this one for it to be a free hit in terms of nobody exits the season with defeat here, to believe goals will flow. I like over 3 in this one.
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Real Salt Lake vs Minnesota United (00.50)
The last opening game of a series takes us to Utah where Real Salt Lake will look to make the most of home advantage when they host a Minnesota United side who go into the postseason in great form and looking to be a real dark horse in the Western Conference.
Real Salt Lake were one of the better teams in the Western Conference in the first half of the season when Chicho Arango was on fire but since he has cooled so has the form of RSL so they will be hoping that the Colombian can fine his best form for this match. Minnesota go into this match off the back of six wins from their last eight matches with a draw in that run as well so they will make the road trip high in confidence not least because no team in the Western Conference picked up more points on the road this term than Minnesota. You get the feeling they are going to go at Real Salt Lake here but that might not be a bad thing for the home side because they have some vibrant attackers who can play on the counter or they can control the possession. This is a tactical battle which should be really interesting and I think we are going to see goals as a result of that. The caveat to that would be that these two played out a 0-0 draw at the beginning of the month but that was a midweek game with both sides having hard games at the weekend so I wouldn’t put too much on that. There are goals in these two sides and with no do or die pressure on this one I think an over 2.75 goal line can be covered here.
Tips
Back Columbus Crew vs New York Red Bulls – Over 3 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back Real Salt Lake vs Minnesota United – Over 2.75 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
