The MLS 2023 weekend concludes in the early hours of Monday morning when the last two winners of the Supporters’ Shield battle it out in one of the standout fixtures of the third round of matches when Los Angeles FC host the New England Revolution.
These two sides have made perfect starts to their campaign. LAFC won their first match last weekend and followed it up in the Champions League in midweek while the Revolution have won their opening two MLS games. We’re promised to get a good encounter here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Apple TV MLS Season pass. For those who subscribe the build-up begins at 2.10am with kick off 20 minutes later. Those who don’t subscribe can watch the match with the bookmakers.
Los Angeles FC
We had to wait an extra week to see Los Angeles FC start their MLS Cup title defence because the weather put to their opening match but when we did get to see them we weren’t left disappointed. They were thoroughly dominant against the Portland Timbers, much more than the end 3-2 score would suggest, and then they went even better than that in the Champions League on Thursday night when they were very good once again.
There were one or two concerns as to whether LAFC could be as good going forward as they were last season given the retirements and attacking players that have left since they won that MLS Cup final. There is also the climbing the mountain and then needing to go again effect as well but all the signs are they are no weaker. The addition of Aaron Long guarantees they will be stronger as a unit defensively too so the champions are in decent order.
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New England Revolution
Having suffered from that climbing the mountain and failing to get up to go again syndrome I referred to regarding Los Angeles FC, New England Revolution are looking to get back to being closer to the team they were when they won the Supporters’ Shield in 2021. The early signs in that regard are positive but there is a question over what they have faced in their opening two matches. A win here would certainly shut all those questions down immediately.
The Revolution struggles last term were largely down to exiting players. Goalkeeper Matt Turner left as did the likes of Tajon Buchanan and Adam Buksa in attacking areas and New England weren’t really able to recover. Having looked to have solved those problems in the close season they have started this campaign very strongly and should be heading to California with their confidence high. With some very classy attacking players at their disposal there is no reason why they can’t take LAFC on at their own game.
Betting
I get the feeling this could turn into a bit of a strange match. I say that because it is hard to believe that LAFC can be at their best less than 72 hours after playing a pretty demanding match in Costa Rica where they selected the majority of their starters. We are used to seeing teams in the Champions League struggle in their MLS outings and although the likes of Philadelphia, Orlando and Vancouver, who all played starters in midweek, got positive results on Saturday, they all looked a little laboured in doing so.
That makes me think that New England could be more than competitive in this match but as a team who haven’t really beaten anything yet I don’t want to get too heavily involved in them either but one bet which does catch my eye in this match is for Dylan Borrero to have a shot on target. He came to Gillette Stadium last season and played a dozen matches with mixed impact but having had time to settle the Colombian has hit the ground running this season, hitting the target in both matches and scoring in the win over Houston last weekend. He gets into good positions in the box and at 6/5 looks good value to put a shot in target over the course of the evening.
Tips
Back D.Borrero – Over 0.5 Shots on Target for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
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