OUR MLS expert Will Dyer (@w2Dyer) is back with the best Stateside bets this weekend.
New England Revolution v Vancouver Whitecaps | Sunday 00:30
A decent midweek with BTTS ‘No’ in Philadelphia and Galaxy beating the Timbers. LA’s price drifted to 5/4 which was the biggest they’ve been in over 40 games at home, Portland might have won four on the bounce but that was a strange price and LA made a mockery of it with a 5-0 win.
I got greedy with DC United on the win from behind bet but hopefully you read between the lines that Chicago were worth opposing. Anyone who follows me on Twitter would have seen I tipped DC in-play at 7/2 as they were dominating the game.
One side I did get wrong in mid-week was New England Revolution. They took the lead through Lee Nguyen in the first minute but Kei Kamara bagged a brace to make me look silly saying he was out of form. Nevertheless, Revs are unbeaten at home in nine games; the only other unbeaten home side is Sporting Kansas City. They might have lost three of their last four games but they were all away from the Gillette.
Vancouver sit top of the away table in the West Conference and have defied us before but I’m happy to take them on again. They've only scored seven goals in nine away games and although they have a terrific defensive record on the road I can’t see them keeping a clean sheet.
The Whitecaps have been on the road for a while now; five of their last six games were away from Canada’s Pacific coast and I think it’s got to be catching up on them. An early red card for the hosts got them a win at Red Bull Arena last weekend but they still give away two penalties and a goal and had fewer shots on target than Red Bulls. Without that red card I’m pretty certain they’d have lost. Revs at 13/10 is good enough for me.
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado Rapids | Sunday 01:30
Bit of a theme here with another unbeaten home side. Sporting KC could be without Benny Feilhaber and Graham Zusi as both have slight injuries but I still have more than enough reason to back Sporting.
Krisztian Nemeth and Dom Dwyer are two of the league’s form strikers and coming off the back of four straight wins at Sporting Park where their support is always excellent you have to fancy them to beat Mastraeoni’s strugglers.
Rapids have set up to frustrate their opponents this season and for the most part it’s worked as they’ve only lost five of their 16 games this term but with nine draws in there you can see that they’re often teetering on the edge of defeat.
Historically Kansas has not been a happy hunting ground for the Rapids who tend to stutter without their altitude advantage. SKC, formerly the delightful Kansas City Wizards, have a W17 D5 L2 record in the 24 regular season meetings between the sides in Kansas since 1998.
Colorado have only conceded five in eight on the road though so I wouldn’t be getting involved in any handicap markets, 1-0 and ‘Win To Nil’ bets could be worth a look as Rapids 12 goal tally is the lowest in MLS by a distance but I’m keeping it simple with Kansas City to win at a very backable 3/4.
Real Salt Lake v Columbus Crew | Sunday 03:00
Quite simply Columbus Crew have not been good enough away from home this season. If Kei Kamara fails to score they usually lose. He might be the league’s top scorer with 12 goals but nine of them were at their MAPFRE home. Crew haven’t won any of their seven away games and have a D1 L2 record when visiting Western Conference sides.
Real Salt Lake were not expected to beat Sporting Kansas City last weekend but a late winner from Colombian striker Olmes Garcia gave them a 2-1 victory. Jamison Olave missed out in mid-week but could return for this game and that would be a big boost.
RSL have W3 D4 L1 at home this season and with that record coming up against Columbus’ dismal away record I find it quite hard to get my head round the 9/5 available on a home win. Real’s home record against Eastern Conference sides this season is also favourable W2 D1 L0.
Crew aren’t in great form, just one win in seven MLS games is disappointing and they have lost five of their last six visits to Utah, failing to score on three of those visits and conceding four goals on two occasions.
A draw is a distinct possibility but the juice in Salt Lake’s match odds gives us the chance to play them on the Asian Handicap 0 at 39/40. It’s the same as Draw No Bet but a little bit of a bigger price, cheers BetVictor. I think this is a rock solid bet and certainly my NAP of the weekend.
Portland Timbers v Seattle Sounders | Monday 00:00 | Sky Sports 1
We round the weekend off with a West Coast midnight kick-off on Sunday night live on Sky Sports. It’s rare that we get the chance to watch an all-Western Conference affair at such a time so I’m looking forward to this.
The Timbers fell apart at the StubHub Center in mid-week as predicted but I’ll happily forgive them of that. LA were in the mood after another five goal haul last weekend and not many sides can handle them on their own turf.
I’ve mentioned Dairon Asrpilla on here a couple of times. The boy has more tricks in his locker than David Blaine in the changing rooms of Fit4Less so hopefully he recovers from his ankle sprain in time to feature.
Portland had won four on the bounce before Wednesday night and with Seattle losing three of their last four road games and still without key men Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins. The former of which for a, quite hilarious, three game suspension after tearing up a referee’s notebook in the US Open Cup.
Martins is sidelined through injury as is first choice replacement Chad Barrett which gives Seattle absolutely no bite up front, that was wholly evident in their midweek trip to Philadelphia.
Best Bets
New England Revolution v Vancouver Whitecaps – New England Revolution to win (13/10 BetVictor)
Sporting Kansas City v Colorado Rapids – Sporting Kansas City to win (3/4 Skybet)
Real Salt Lake v Columbus Crew – Real Salt Lake Asian Handicap 0 (39/40 BetVictor)
Portland Timbers v Seattle Sounders – Portland Timbers to win (10/11 BetVictor)
