The Major League Soccer weekend concludes with a battle in the Western Conference when the Sporting Kansas City host Minnesota United in an appealing looking match in the early hours of Monday morning UK time.
Kansas City saw their top spot in the Conference disappear on Saturday night but they will regain it if they avoid defeat here while Adrian Heath’s men can move to within a point of the play-off places with a win of their own which would represent a good first half of the campaign.
Sporting Kansas City
After a disappointing end to last season, full credit must go to Sporting Kansas City for not letting those emotions dwell and for building again and coming out and looking even stronger this term. They have deserved their lead at the top of the Conference but just in recent times they have been guilty of squandering a few points which might come back to bite them.
There is no doubt that Sporting are a more offensive side this season. In campaigns gone by they had a tightness to them at the back but when push came to shove in the play-offs they lacked the nous to open sides up. They have that now which is important and just as crucially they’ve not lost too much of their defensive solidity.
Minnesota United
Since they came into Major League Soccer at the beginning of last season, Minnesota United have struggled. They have not made much of an impression on the Western Conference table and in truth they have been exposed far too often in their matches but despite seven defeats in their 13 games thus far they can get themselves onto the coattails of the top six with a win here.
Minnesota have already hosted Kansas City and held them to a draw this season and if they win this match it will be their sixth victory of the campaign. Only three sides in the Conference have more than that so that is impressive enough. If they could just make themselves a little harder to beat, especially on the road, they might yet gate crash the end of season party.
Team News
Sporting Kansas City will be without arguably their two most important attacking players with Johnny Russell away on international duty and Felipe Gutierrez still out injured. Gerso Fernandes is expected to replace Russell.
Minnesota United will be missing Francisco Calvo for this match as he is away on international duty while Kevin Molino and Ethan Finlay remain long-term injury victims and will miss this one.
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Betting
Minnesota United held Sporting Kansas City a couple of weeks ago but they are particularly poor on the road which has to be a concern for them when making the trip for this game. I would have been pretty confident in the home side here but with no Russell and no Gutierrez I fancy them a lot less I must admit.
Ultimately we have plenty of football coming up over the course of this summer so there is no need to bet on matches where team news probably isn’t optimistic so I’ll sit out the finale to the weekend rather than push the boat out backing something I’m less than 100% about.
Tips
No Bet
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