Matchday 3 Preview
- Mar 18, 2017
- 5 min read
Last weekends fixture consisted of 32 goals across ten matches. New England had to postpone Orlando’s visit to the Gillette Stadium due to extremely cold weather conditions. The game will be played later on this season. However, Minnesota decided to play on and welcome Atlanta to the Bank Stadium despite a -10 degrees blizzard. It could be a long season for The Loons if they keep leaking goals the way they do. Atlanta and knocked six past goalkeeper John Alvbage. Minnesota are now the first team in MLS history to concede five or more goals in the first two opening weeks.
Matchweek three sees the normal 11 matches being played with three games being broadcast live on Sky Sports. The weekend kicks off with New York City hosting Montreal Impact live on Sky Sports Mix at 18:00GMT. New York City finally got out of second gear last week after bagging four goals in a 4-0 win against DC. David Villa looked fit and fiery as he netted a brace for his side. Montreal still without a win so far this season as they lost a 2-0 lead at home against Seattle after conceding a penalty and then a 94th minute equaliser from the away team.
Later, on Saturday evening Sky Sports Mix are also showing Vancouver Whitecaps vs Toronto at 20:00GMT. Whitecaps, last weekend lost a 2-0 away lead at San Jose Earthquakes after being reduced to ten men as goalkeeper David Ousted was shown a straight red card in the 23rd minute. He will miss this weeks game against a Toronto side who are hopefully not looking for a third consecutive draw. Whitecaps also lost 2-0 in midweek against Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions League Semi Finals.
The last live broadcast game of the weekend is Seattle Sounders vs New York Red Bulls, live on Sky Sports 2 at 23:00GMT this Sunday night. The Sounders salvaged their first point of the season last week away at Saputo Stadium. They left it late with goals from Nicolas Lodeiro and Will Bruin to get their season off and running. However this week they welcome New York Red Bulls to CenturyLink Field in the closing match of the weekend. The Red Bulls are the only team in the Eastern Conference to have won their first two fixtures and sit top of the league on six points only conceding one goal. Last week an Eric Miller own goal was enough for Red Bulls to gain three points against Colorado.
My predictions
– Last weekend New York City looked threatening on the attack at Yankee stadium with Captain David Villa getting his season tally off to a start, netting two goals. Montreal failed to keep Seattle at bay with a 2-0 lead slipping inside the last 11 minutes of the game. I think New York will prove too deadly on the attack again. New York City WIN
Atlanta United vs Chicago Fire – After a thrilling seven goal match last week away to Minnesota, Atlanta will host Chicago with a lot of confidence. Josef Martinez claiming half of their six goals in the first MLS hat trick of this new season. Miguel Almiron also notched in two for the Red and Black striped team. Chicago currently sit one point above their opponents in second place having two solid performances so far. This game is one to watch as each team will want to excel on their victories last week. DRAW
Vancouver Whitecaps vs Toronto FC- Whitecaps won this fixture last season 2-1. Both sides will want the win to get more points on the table in these early stages. With both teams scoring in four out of their past five meetings, I think a score draw is fitting for this one. DRAW
DC United vs Colombus Crew- Both sides are level on one point each however Columbus sit above DC in ninth with a better goal difference of two goals after DC took a 4-0 beating away to New York City last weekend. Jonathan Mensah saw red last weekend for Columbus in their 3-1 defeat away to Houston and will therefor miss this fixture. DRAW
Orlando City vs Philadelphia Union – After having a week off, Orlando will want to start from where they left off. With three points. Philadelphia have two points on the table having failing to beat Whitecaps and Toronto. They are however yet to lose and despite Kaka being out for up to another month. I think they will suffer their first defeat of the season. Orlando WIN
FC Dallas vs New England Revolution - Dallas beat Pachuca in midweek 2-1 in their CONCACAF Champions League Semi Final and look in good shape so far this season. Maximiliano Urruti and Kellyn Acosta scoring the goals. Both players also scored in their opening 2-1 victory away at Galaxy. New England lost their opening game away to Colorado and couldn’t play last weekend due to freezing weather conditions. Dallas will want to continue their so far positive season. Dallas WIN
Sporting Kansas City vs San Jose Earthquakes- Sporting Kansas are the only team out of the 22 who are yet to concede as well as score. Two previous 0-0 results sits them mid table in the Western Conference. Earthquakes last week showed real team spirit when beating Whitecaps at home after going two goals down. Sporting have got to score a goal soon and they look rather solid at the back but I wouldn’t rule out an Earthquakes goal also. DRAW
Colorado Rapids vs Minnesota United- Colorado were unlucky to miss out on a shared point against Red Bulls last weekend as Eric Miller put the ball into his own net. Minnesota have the worst goal difference out of the 22 teams having conceded 11 already and only scoring one. I can’t see things improving for them this week either. Colorado WIN
Real Salt Lake vs LA Galaxy- Both sides lost last weekend but only one point separates these two Western teams. Galaxy were unlucky to not get a point with ten men at home to Portland Timbers. Even after a dominant second half performance, they were denied by Timbers stopper Jake Gleeson several times. LA will want to push on and get their first points of the season in a winning fashion. LA Galaxy WIN
Portland Timbers vs Houston Dynamo - Both sides top the Western Conference as well as Earthquakes with two wins in two. Only Portland’s goal difference sees them ahead of their visitors. This game should be a real thriller as 19 goals have been shared between these two in their past five meetings. Portland one this fixture last season 3-2 and I think home advantage will edge it for them this time around as well. Portland Timbers WIN
Seattle Sounders vs New York Red Bulls- Being the last game played this weekend, Play-Off holders Seattle will want to get their form up and running against a solid Red Bulls team. Their heroic last ten minute performance against Montreal last week will give them a massive boost going into this game. Red Bulls however won’t go down without a fight and will want it to make it nine points out of a possible nine if they can. DRAW
A couple of cracking games this weekend in which we should see a lot of goals. Putting my predictions to the test again this week, I have placed a £1 accumulator on all 11 fixtures. It returns a mouth-watering £29,451.27. Last week, six of my predictions came through with the other five letting me down. Hopefully this week I’m on the ball more and can bag myself all of those £29k winnings. #UpTheMLS
Comments