The opening night of the second edition of the CONCACAF Leagues Cup tournament sees five matches being played across America on an evening where 10 teams and five groups get started out in what should be a fantastic month of football.
We have to wait until Saturday night for Inter Miami to begin their defence of the trophy but the 10 teams on show on Friday will all look to entertain. You can watch these games on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV or via the bookmaker live streams.
Friday’s fixtures are as follows: (UK kick off in brackets)
Atlanta United vs D.C. United (01.00)
Orlando City SC vs CF Montreal (01.00)
Pumas vs Austin FC (02.00)
Seattle Sounders vs Minnesota United (03.00)
Los Angeles FC vs Tijuana (04.00)
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Preview
We have three all-MLS matches and two MLS-Liga MX clashes to open up the competition on Friday night with the pick of the games the one coming from BMO Stadium as Los Angeles FC go up against the Mexican outfit Tijuana who are sitting in the middle of the table domestically. The other match between American and Mexican opposition also comes from the West side of the draw as Pumas, who sit second in Liga MX, take on Austin FC in Group West 1 at Q2 Stadium.
The other three matches are all-MLS affairs with two of them on the east side of the draw beginning with Atlanta United hosting DC United in Group 7 while Orlando City SC go up against CF Montreal in East 2. The pick of the three MLS matches is the one from the west as the form horses of Seattle Sounders look to put a terrible Leagues Cup campaign last year behind them when they play host to Minnesota United at Lumen Field.
Betting
I’ll get my Leagues Cup betting underway with a couple of bets over the course of the night with the first one coming in Texas where Austin FC take on the Liga MX side Pumas and I am happy to take the draw no bet Asian lines on the Mexican outfit who sit second in Liga MX with three wins and a draw and with goals to burn in those games. They are clearly one of the best teams in Mexico with the likes of Cesar Huerta and Jorge Ruvalcaba providing quality from midfield. We are going to find out exactly which is the stronger league of the two over the next few weeks but the MLS All Star game in midweek would certainly suggest that it is Liga MX right now and Pumas have a great chance to show that against an Austin side who lost to two Mexican sides in this last year and who are one of the lesser sides in MLS.
The other bet that I like is for Seattle Sounders to get the better of Minnesota United. These two have met at Lumen Field on nine occasions in MLS and Seattle Sounders have won the lot. This is effectively a cup match so that adds a different dynamic to it than a regular league game but the form of the two sides going into this tournament would suggest that the Seattle run is going to continue. Seattle saw a run of six wins on the bounce and seven wins in eight broken by Los Angeles FC last week but that is still a decent patch of form which Minnesota United just don’t have. They did beat San Jose last weekend but the Earthquakes are the worst team in MLS by some way. Prior to that, they were without a win in nine and had lost seven of their last eight. Throw in the record the Loons have in Seattle and I think it is fair enough to expect a home win here.
Tips
Back Pumas (0AH) to beat Austin FC for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back Seattle Sounders (-1AH) to beat Minnesota United for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Bet365
