If you like your Major League Soccer then Sunday night is the one for you as the MLS Conference semi-final first legs are played out on one outstanding night of football with all four matches coming back-to-back.
The postseason kicked off with a bang in midweek which has set these four matches up nicely. Those who played in the week host their seeded counterparts on Sunday night ahead of the reverse fixtures to come.
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Columbus Crew vs New York Red Bulls (20.00)
The action gets underway in Ohio where the Columbus Crew look to build on seeing off DC United in midweek when they host the Supporters’ Shield winners New York Red Bulls in what could be the toughest of the ties in the round.
All eyes will be on the Crew here to see how they have recovered from going to penalties as recently as Thursday night. I thought this would be a tough match to bet on but it would become much easier if the Crew have little left in the legs which is perfectly possible. In saying that, the Red Bulls don’t have the best play-off record either so the opening match might be best watched rather than gambled on.
Portland Timbers vs Seattle Sounders (22.30)
The first match in this round from the Western Conference is the latest instalment of the rivalry between two Cascadia Cup teams when the Portland Timbers play host to the Seattle Sounders in what is going to be an epic tie.
Portland went to Dallas and produced an away day masterclass in the knockout round and now they return home to Providence Park looking to take a lead over Seattle Sounders who finished the season like an absolute bullet train to finish second in the league. Matches between these two are always great to watch but there’s enough draw threat in normal matches let alone a first leg where neither will want to lose. This is no bet from me too.
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New York City FC vs Atlanta United (00.30)
We head to the Bronx for the third match of the four on the night as the third placed side in the Eastern Conference, New York City FC welcome the second placed team Atlanta United in what looks like the pick of the ties in this round.
This match sees two of the better attacking sides left in the competition in action and I would imagine this will be quite an open match. While teams always believe in their own ability I think deep down New York City will know they need to take a lead to Atlanta with them so I’m expecting them to have a bit of a go here. That is dangerous though because the pace Atlanta have on the counter can be devastating but I think New York will need to take risks to progress.
The goal line for this match is only three which I’m a little surprised at. Perhaps the compilers believe this will be the archetypal tight first leg but I really don’t see it that way. I’ll take the over on that line as a result.
Real Salt Lake vs Sporting Kansas City (03.00)
The last game of a bumper night of action sees the Western Conference leaders Sporting Kansas City heading to the side who have lived a charmed life thus far in Real Salt Lake. The home side have already been to Los Angeles FC and won and will look to emulate that here.
I’m looking forward to this tie. Sporting KC are my idea of the MLS Cup winners from here on in but I labelled Real Salt Lake as dark horses before it looked like LA Galaxy would knock them out so I’m looking forward to seeing the pair in action. I’m expecting another open enough game. Real Salt Lake showed they can go on the road and win but I don’t think they would want to rely on doing it twice so I think they might open up and take a risk or two to get the tie won at Rio Tinto. KC might not mind that though.
With that in mind I’ll take over 2.5 goals here. We saw the strength and the weakness of Real Salt Lake on Thursday night while Sporting KC are much more offensive minded than they used to be. Over 2.5 looks fair enough to me.
Tips
Back New York City FC vs Atlanta United – Over 3 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with BetVictor
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Back Real Salt Lake vs Sporting Kansas City – Over 2.5 goals for a 4/10 stake at 1.75 with LeoVegas
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