The opening matches in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs concludes on Wednesday night when the last tie to begin does so in California as the former champions Los Angeles FC play host to Austin FC in game one of their three-match series.
Los Angeles balanced a number of competitions in the early stages of the season to finish third in the Western Conference whereas Austin kept their heads in the top half of the table to close out the regular season as the six seeds.
Where to watch
Once again the match will have full coverage including a 30 minute build-up via the MLS Season Pass on Apple TV with that getting underway at 2am ahead of the 2.30am kick off. You can also watch just the match on the bookmaker live stream.
Los Angeles FC
It was a fairly up and down opening half of the season for Los Angeles FC. That was understandable with them juggling the MLS with the Champions Cup and then after that an appearance at the Club World Cup but the longer the season went on and their focus could be purely on the league they improved immeasurably and will be confident that they can lay down a real challenge to win another MLS Cup even though they are in a Western Conference which is loaded with quality this season.
The catalyst to that turnaround in form was the arrival of Heung-min Son and since he came to the MLS he and Denis Bouanga have forged a relationship which has delivered a number of goals and if those two are at their best in this playoff series then the Black and Gold are going to be very tough to crack. LAFC only picked up one point in their last two matches but they had won six prior to that and racked up 18 goals in that time. They are going to be tough to beat.
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Austin FC
After missing out on the postseason completely last term, Austin FC have achieved their number one aim this time around in getting back into the playoffs. They had to do that because they spent big on their marquee signing Brandon Vasquez prior to the season starting and even though he has missed much of the season with injury they need a tangible return on that investment. You couldn’t say that this is a free hit for Austin but it is a clash where they can approach it with nothing to lose knowing there is a home match to back them up should things go wrong here.
The big problem that Austin FC have had this season is scoring goals. No team in the playoffs have scored fewer goals than them in the regular season. This is not a team setup for winning shootouts and three defeats in their last four suggests that they aren’t carrying a great deal of momentum into the postseason. The match they did win in that run was against LAFC but that was during the international break where LAFC were without their two gun forwards. This looks a tough ask for the Texans.
Betting
I fully expect Los Angeles FC to draw first blood in this tie. This entire tie feels like a bit of a mountain to climb for Austin FC but particularly here against a rampant LAFC side who haven’t played for 10 days and have had the maximum amount of time to get their star attackers a break before they go into the postseason. It might be that on home soil in the second leg in a game they are likely to have to win we will see more of Austin but I don’t see them getting anything here. The only issue with backing LAFC is the price and the handicap being 1.5 goals which I’m not massively comfortable with in a playoff game.
The bet I like in this one is for Heung-min Son to score anytime. All the attention is often on Denis Bouanga in a LAFC shirt but the Korean superstar is sharing the workload and he has really hit the ground running in California. He has scored in five of his last six matches in an LAFC shirt. Not only has he scored in five of the last six but he has scored eight goals in that time and at a nudge under even money looks a good thing to add to that record with another goal here.
Tips
Back Heung-min Son to score anytime for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Coral
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