We have more midweek action in the MLS 2024 season this week with a bunch of matches taking place in the competition on Wednesday evening as we continue to head towards the halfway point of the regular part of the campaign.
Once again, all of the matches taking place will be available to watch via the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV with a couple of the games free just to Apple TV subscribers. If that option isn’t available to you then you can watch via the bookmaker live streams.
Wednesday’s fixtures are as follows: (00.30 unless stated)
CF Montréal v D.C. United
FC Cincinnati v Nashville SC
Inter Miami CF v Atlanta United FC
New York Red Bulls v Charlotte FC
Philadelphia Union v Toronto FC
Austin FC v Portland Timbers (01.30)
Chicago Fire v Orlando City SC (01.30)
Houston Dynamo v Colorado Rapids (01.30)
Sporting Kansas City v Vancouver Whitecaps (01.30)
Los Angeles Galaxy v FC Dallas (03.30)
Seattle Sounders FC v Real Salt Lake (03.30)
Los Angeles Football Club v Minnesota United FC (03.45)
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Big Matches
It looks like it could be a big night in the race for the Supporters’ Shield as the two leading contenders are both on show with home matches to take care of. Inter Miami currently lead the way and they welcome Atlanta United to their part of Florida while the current holders, FC Cincinnati, play host to Nashville SC in another good game. Over in the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake will look to continue their pursuit of the Eastern Conference duo when they make the trip to Seattle Sounders.
Best of the Rest
The New York Red Bulls had their bye over the weekend so they should be refreshed to entertain a Charlotte FC side who haven’t conceded a goal in their last five matches. Toronto FC were involved in a cracker with Cincinnati at the weekend and they’ll be out to continue to entertain away to the Philadelphia Union while two of the leading lights in the Western Conference face off when Los Angeles FC host the surprise package of that division in Minnesota United. LA Galaxy will look to continue their decent campaign so far when they host FC Dallas while Austin FC will look to make it six straight home wins when Portland Timbers are the latest visitors to Q2 Stadium.
Betting
I’m not a massive one for betting midweek in MLS because teams so often change and some save themselves for the weekend matches but there are three I can’t get away from on this card. The first of those is Inter Miami to cover a 1.25 Asian line against Atlanta United. The Five Stripes head to Florida in terrible form without a win in nine and are missing the focal point Giorgos Giakoumakis, although the Greek could play ‘limited minutes’ in this match. Thiago Almada is still returning to full fitness too. Miami have won seven of their last eight matches and the really appealing thing about that is their last win in Vancouver on Saturday night was despite Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets being left at home. There is insane depth at Tata Martino’s disposal right now should he want to rotate and with those three almost certain to return here and Atlanta without their suspended captain Brad Guzan and defensive shield Bartosz Slisz due to a personal issue, this could be a long night for the visitors.
I’ve been a huge advocate of the New York Red Bulls all season so far and given that they had their bye at the weekend and they will be rested for their clash against Charlotte FC I have to take them to cover a low looking -1 Asian line. I really do like the Red Bulls and in offensive areas they have been very good this season. They have scored 25 goals in their 14 matches and while they have conceded 21, we shouldn’t forget that six of those came in a crazy half in Miami a few weeks ago so their defensive record outside of that isn’t actually that bad. Charlotte have a good defensive record too, helped by five straight shutouts, but offensively they can’t even be described as a work in progress, they are more a work that needs to start having lost all of their DP players since the end of last season. Dean Smith and Charlotte deserve credit for their recent run of five unbeaten but in that run they only played one team who are in the top half of their respective Conference so it has been something of a soft schedule. I think that catches up with them against a decent and fresh Red Bulls side here.
The other bet that is impossible to ignore is the over 3 goals in the match between Philadelphia Union and Toronto FC, a fixture which has an insane record for goals. 14 of the last 15 matches between these two sides have had at least three goals and eight of those have had more than three so the likelihood is goals are going to flow here, particularly when you consider that Toronto are much more offense minded under John Herdman. We saw that at the weekend when they went toe-to-toe with FC Cincinnati before losing 4-3. That took the Toronto game goal record to 48 in 15 outings, a 3.2 average but that rises to an average of five in their last five and with Federico Bernardeschi back from suspension the TFC attack looks in decent order. Philadelphia haven’t got going at all this season but their matches have still be high scoring even allowing for a 0-0 draw in Charlotte at the weekend. Despite that, there have been 46 goals in their 14 MLS matches with an average of 3.29 per game. At home they have played six with 22 goals in those games at nearly four per game. A fixture that historically is laced with goals between two sides whose matches this season have been full of them makes a 3 goal line hard to ignore here.
Tips
Back Inter Miami (-1.25AH) to beat Atlanta United for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Bet365
Back New York Red Bulls (-1AH) to beat Charlotte FC for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Bet365
Back Philadelphia Union vs Toronto FC – Over 3 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.88 with Bet365
