We have the first full round of midweek matches in the MLS 2025 season this Wednesday when the majority of the competition are on show looking for three points either in their rival game or ahead of it this weekend.
It is a busy night of action in MLS on Wednesday and as ever full coverage can be found on the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV with certain matches available for just Apple TV subscribers. Bookmaker live streams will show all the games too.
Wednesday’s fixtures are as follows: (00.30 unless stated)
CF Montreal vs Columbus Crew
DC United vs New York City FC
Orlando City SC vs Charlotte FC
Philadelphia Union vs Los Angeles Galaxy
Toronto FC vs FC Cincinnati
Houston Dynamo vs Minnesota United (01.30)
Nashville SC vs New York Red Bulls (01.30)
St Louis City SC vs Sporting Kansas City (01.45)
Austin FC vs Atlanta United (02.00)
Real Salt Lake vs Portland Timbers (02.30)
Los Angeles FC vs Seattle Sounders (03.30)
San Diego FC vs Colorado Rapids (03.30)
San Jose Earthquakes vs Inter Miami (03.30)
Special Offer
Open a new Sporting Index account and bet £10 on the MLS (min odds 1/2) to get £20 in free bets (2x£10 free bets) to use on any sports market! Click the image below to take advantage of this great offer! 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Responsibly.
Big Matches
With the Western Conference leaders Vancouver Whitecaps not in action this week, the attention will be over on the Eastern Conference where leaders FC Cincinnati will look to stay in front when they travel to Toronto FC. Their rivals Columbus Crew, in second spot going into the week, are also in Canada ahead of the top two clashing at the weekend. The Crew meet Wilfried Nancy’s former club CF Montreal while Philadelphia Union in third host the champions Los Angeles Galaxy who should be smarting from their 7-0 hiding in New York at the weekend. Two of the better sides in the Western Conference meet when Los Angeles FC host the Seattle Sounders.
Best of the Rest
In terms of entertainment, that might be saved for PayPal Park where the San Jose Earthquakes welcome Inter Miami to California for what should be an exciting clash. Elsewhere, Orlando City SC will look to continue their fine home record when they host Charlotte FC and Nashville SC will look to do likewise when they welcome New York Red Bulls to GEODIS Park. San Diego FC and Colorado Rapids played out a goal filled contest last month and more of the same is expected when they meet on Wednesday night while the goals could also flow when Real Salt Lake entertain the Portland Timbers. There is also the battle of Missouri too as St Louis City SC will look to snap their winless run when they host their rivals Sporting Kansas City.
Betting
Four bets standout to me over the course of the night and we’ll begin at Subaru Park where Philadelphia Union are taken to pile even more misery onto the LA Galaxy. Galaxy will be feeling down in the dumps anyway after a 7-0 battering at New York Red Bulls at the weekend and the last thing they need is to run into a confident Philadelphia side who are performing strongly at both ends of the pitch. The Union sit seventh in xG in the MLS this term and are outperforming that statistic in terms of goals although not by enough that it would be a concern because the reversal to the mean would happen at some point. Only five teams have a worse xG than the Galaxy this term and they now have the worst xGA in the competition. Only three teams have given up a lower xGA rating than Philadelphia this term so this looked like an awkward assignment for the champions before that mauling on Saturday. Throw that in, the lack of confidence in the side, being away across time zones in midweek and the first ‘El Trafico’ of the season on Sunday and I have to be against Galaxy here. I’ll take Philadelphia to win with a bit in hand.
We move to Orlando for the second part of our MLS betting list where Orlando City SC are taken to get the better of Charlotte FC. Charlotte FC came into the season high in expectations after a playoff run last term but that run was ended in a tight best of three series in this venue and while those three battles were tight last season, the latter two being settled on penalties, the work that Orlando have done to become a much better attacking unit since then makes me think that they can win this. They are very strong on home soil this season. Only the Philadelphia Union on the opening night of the season have come away from Orlando with all three points. The men in purple are 3-2-0 since then with 14 goals scored and just six conceded. If there is an issue that Dean Smith needs to sort out in order to make ‘The Crown’ a top end Eastern Conference side it is their away record. They are 1-1-4 this season after being 5-4-8 last season. Orlando are a tough side to face at home at the minute but prior to conceding three against New England at the weekend, they had kept five clean sheets. Charlotte aren’t as hard to score against on the road as they are at home so this looks like a good spot for an Orlando win.
We head to Music City for the third bet of the night where Nashville SC continue to go under the radar which means that we can back them at a perfectly acceptable price to see off the New York Red Bulls, who are anything but under the radar after their high profile thumping of LA Galaxy at the weekend. Prior to that win, Red Bulls were 4-3-4 for their season with just 12 goals scored and 13 conceded with all four of those wins coming at home as they are yet to win in five attempts on their travels. Nashville are really flourishing at home and although the wins over Montreal and to a lesser extent Chicago, although the 7-2 score was impressive, are nothing to write home about, the wins over Portland, Real Salt Lake and Charlotte are more impressive. There is always a chance that the Red Bulls spark into life after that weekend win but even in a 7-0 victory they conceded an open play xG of 1.72 to a side who are in the bottom six for that statistic this season. If Nashville get the same chances I’d expect them to capitalise and I don’t see Nashville capsizing like Galaxy did. With Red Bulls without a win away and Nashville strong at home this looks like a home win to me.
I’ll finish the night with a goals bet where predictably San Jose Earthquakes are involved. We were gubbed on them at the weekend when Colorado Rapids put in a shocking performance but the Quakes did their half of the deal, scoring twice on the road and generating 1.87 expected goals. The xG total statistic proves it but there is a genuine case now for suggesting that Bruce Arena’s men have the best attack in the competition. Chicho Arango has eight goals on the season with Josef Martinez not far behind and the goal contribution number rising for Cristian Espinoza by the game. That all means that San Jose are the highest scoring team in MLS and have only been shutout once this season and it would be a surprise if the second occurrence comes along here. Inter Miami have just been torn a new backside defensively by Minnesota United and that defence has been an issue for most of the season. It has already shipped 15 goals in 11 games which includes four twice in their last three starts. We know Miami have goals at the other end even without Luis Suarez and against a San Jose defence which is going to improve now that Arena has the full-backs he wants, there is still an element of being able to get at the Quakes back line. This has goals written all over it to me and I’m not sure the 3.25 line is high enough. Both teams matches average more than three per game and this can extend those averages.
Tips
Back Philadelphia Union (-1AH) to beat LA Galaxy for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Unibet
Back Orlando City to beat Charlotte FC for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with William Hill
Back them here:
Back Nashville SC (-0.5AH) to beat New York Red Bulls for a 3/10 stake at 1.93 with Bet365
Back San Jose Earthquakes vs Inter Miami – Over 3.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with Bet365
