This weekend in the world of soccer brings us a power slate of matches, particularly in the United States of America’s Major League Soccer (MLS) with the MLS Cup Playoffs kicking off — four games take place on Saturday, with another two happening on Sunday.
In the other leagues across the world, there aren’t that many flashy games to go over, but we do have a very fascinating matchup in the English Premier League between Manchester United and Liverpool, as well as the match of the week in Spain’s La Liga between Atletico Madrid and Valencia.
On Saturday here in America, Atlanta United and New England Revolution get us started off at 1:00 PM ET, followed by the Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas at 3:30 PM ET. On tap next we have Toronto FC and DC United at 6:00 PM ET, and last but not least, there’s Real Salt Lake and Portland Timbers at 10:00 PM ET. Needless to say, it’s a very action-packed and entertaining day in the sport of soccer to go along with our Saturday college football, and if you’re not watching ESPN’s College Gameday in the morning, you can catch the match of the week in La Liga between Atletico Madrid and Valencia at 10:00 AM ET for some additional soccer to add to your day.
Afterwards on Sunday, the English Premier League gets us started off in the morning with a match between heavyweight brands Manchester United and Liverpool at 11:30 AM ET. Normally there would be more hype about this match, but things haven’t gone so well for the Red Devils this season — we’ll get to that later. Back to the MLS Cup Playoffs, we have two Sunday contests to mix in with our NFL football. First on tap, we have the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls beginning at 3:00 PM ET, and later that night, we have the final beginning round game between Minnesota United and LA Galaxy at 8:30 PM ET. Oh, the joys of being a sports fan.
Let’s break down all of the biggest soccer matches to bet on this weekend (including the entire first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs), review the odds, and then afterwards, I’ll be giving you my betting predictions for each game. Who do you have winning the opening round matches of the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs? What about the heavyweight brand matchup between Manchester United and Liverpool in the English Premier League? What about La Liga’s match of the week between Atletico Madrid and Valencia? After you read and get your advice from me, you can then place your bets over at one of the top soccer betting sites for who you think will be victorious this weekend.
Atlanta United comes into this match as both the defending champions of the MLS, as well as the much better team than the New England Revolution. For the season, United pulled an 18-12-4 record with a +15 goal differential, which would bring them a total of 58 points to place them six behind New York City FC. With the Revolution, their win-loss tally drops down to 11-11-12 with a -7 goal differential. Those results would bring them a seventh place finish in the Eastern Conference. United becomes even more overwhelming when you look at the two clubs’ last form — Atlanta is 3-1-1, while New England is 1-3-3. Are you serious? Atlanta United FC literally has all of the leverage in this game against the Revolution, and should start out their title defense in sweeping fashion. The Revolution’s backline is just too overmatched against Atlanta.
I hate to say that FC Dallas doesn’t have a chance to win this match, but man, all of the odds are completely stacked against them in this game. Not only are they trying to achieve their first all-time victory in the MLS Cup Playoffs, but they’re also trying to win at a venue that they rarely win at. All time at CenturyLink Field, FC Dallas has a 1-9-2 record, and their only win in Seattle would come all the way back in 2011. As far as just their postseason results are concerned against the Sounders at CenturyLink Field, FC Dallas has gone winless at 0-2-1. And oh yeah, the Seattle Sounders are the better quality club here in 2019. Again, I hate to say FC Dallas doesn’t have a chance to win, but, um, FC Dallas doesn’t have a chance to win. I’ll give them a goal though in enemy territory.
Coming into this match, Toronto FC are certainly the ones in more form, riding on a undefeated record for 10 straight games. However with that being said, they’ve only been able to pull four wins in those 10 matches, so they’re vulnerable. For DC United, their offense hasn’t been the best to close out the season, only scoring 11 goals in their past 12 games. They have been able to counter though with a superb defense as of late, securing five consecutive clean-sheet victories. If DC United can fully utilize their defense, they may be able to make things interesting against Toronto FC, but I wouldn’t count on it. Throughout the entire season, they’ve only been able to defeat one team on the road who would go on to make the postseason. Overall, they’ve been able to get five wins against playoff teams. As you see, the odds are stacked completely against DC United in this one. I expect their lowly results on the road and Toronto FC’s potency to counter their in-form defense, and ultimately United loses to exit from the postseason.
The Portland Timbers are the visiting team coming into this playoffs match, and that is a horrible setup for them considering the Timbers have been dismal on the road this season. Not only would Portland lose their first six road matches on the schedule, but their final form was also terrible as well, only claiming three victories in their final eight road matches. With that being said though, the Timbers have dominated Real Salt Lake in recent history, scoring five consecutive wins in all tournaments. And if that doesn’t show you the domination, maybe this will: Portland outscored Salt Lake by a combined 13-2 score in that stretch. After last season’s success that would take them to the MLS Cup Final, the Portland Timbers are built to come into Salt Lake City and steal the victory on the road. And also peep this: They’ve advanced past the first round in the postseason for five straight years. With the Timbers actually having a bit of the leverage in this one, I’ll take them for a draw on the road in a very entertaining match.
The New York Red Bulls have the better recent form compared to the Philadelphia Union, but not much better with their 2-2-1 mark compared to Philly’s 1-3-1 in their last five matches — so no harm done to the Union there, it’s pretty even. So, where does the leverage go? Well, not only does Philadelphia have the home crowd on their side, but they also have the best player on the field in Kacper Przybylo, someone who has had an amazing season for the Union. Don’t get me wrong, the Red Bulls will be competitive in this one to make this game go down to the wire in a matchup of potency, but you have to side with the Philadelphia Union being at home and having the power of Przybylo — slim (and exciting) victory for the Union to send them on to the next round of the playoffs.
My head is telling me to ride with the Minnesota United in this match. When you compare the rosters of each club, you see that United is better at 9 of the 11 positions on the field. That alone, logically, I should ride with United. But man, this is the playoffs, and the Los Angeles Galaxy know that they’ll have a date with Los Angeles FC if they win this match, giving us another El Trafico rivalry square off in the Western Conference Semifinals — oh, the entertainment value. On top of that, my gut is telling me it would be a bad investment to bet against Zlatan Ibrahimovic in this atmosphere and his massively potent offensive attack at 30 goals, which ranked second in the entire MLS. As a logical betting man using my head, I so want to place a wager on Minnesota United to win this game, but I have to side with my gut on this one. Give me the LA Galaxy for the win to contribute to the exploding chaos about to happen this weekend.
Not only is this the match of the week for English Premier League Matchday 9, but it’s also one of the biggest soccer games in the limelight across the globe. For Liverpool, they’ve been red hot to kick off the season getting off to an undefeated 8-0-0 record, and they’ll be looking to keep that unbeaten stretch intact this weekend when they step into Old Trafford to take on Manchester United. Coming into the game, the Reds are getting their health back with Mohamed Salah returning to play against the Red Devils. All is sounding great for them. For Man United: “When it rains, it pours.” Their durability is completely shook right now, with both Paul Pogba and David de Gea out for the game against the Reds. With that being said, things may get pretty bad for Manchester United this weekend against the power of Liverpool, and also remember that they’re coming off of an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United. Red Devils make it look close on paper, but the Reds dominate the majority of the match for the win.
Here we have our match of the week in Spain’s La Liga, taking place at Atletico Madrid’s Estadio Wanda Metropolitano. In their last game, Atletico would suffer two lost points after they would be forced to settle for a 0-0 draw against Real Valladolid, but in their defense, it would be a tough road contest at Estadio Jose Zorilla. Now this weekend, Atletico Madrid is back at home, and are in the driver’s seat to take out Valencia to get back on a winning track. In order to keep themselves in the race for the La Liga championship, expect Madrid to bring the aggression this weekend and be on the attack. The duo of Diego Costa and Joao Felix has been on point since the beginning of the campaign, and you can be sure that their effectiveness will be a maximum against Valencia. Another reason why Atletico should easily pull in this win is because of Valencia’s woes on the road, so with all that being the case, go ahead and give me Atletico Madrid to put themselves back on the victory path.
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