MLS 2nd-3rd August 2015

[vasilli07]

Sporting KC -0.5 @ 1.84 Houston Dynamo was great in their 3-0 win over LA Galaxy. They are a decent team but lack consistency. Giles Barnes and DaMarcus Beasley will return. Sporting KC is coming back home after another defeat to Real Salt Lake. At home, they are 1 of the best in terms of points gained and defensive ability. Graham Zusi should return to the starting lineup after his international duty with USA. Houston Dynamo normally alternate win and loss. With Sporting Park been a fortress for SKC and Houston only keeping a clean sheet in 10 away games, it's hard see SKC not getting back to winning ways.

[vasilli07]

Orlando City DNB @ 1.62 After a good 2 months in May and June, Orlando was extremely poor in July. They only collected a point in 4 games. That stretch of poor results has made them drop out of the playoffs spot. Poor officiating at times and international callups has contribute to their poor form. Columbus on the other hand picked up some really good results(including a 1st away win at Chicago) in July. They have since propelled themselves to 2nd spot in the Eastern Conference. While Columbus has been good recently but it can be said alot of it came from their results at home. With Orlando is in desperation mode and manager Adrian Heath calling this game the most important game of the season, I think they will buck up on the defensive side of their game and can get something against a Columbus side who doesn't play really well away from home.

[clubgowi]

New York City FC - Montreal Impact Ahead of a recent home game with Toronto FC I wrote the following about NYCFC........ "This was meant to be the debut for Frank Lampard, but a minor knock has delayed that for another 7 days +, however, the official signing of Andrea Pirlo was announced this week and the prospect of both being available soon is a major boost both for the club and MLS football in general and neither are the type to ever give less that 100%. The starting eleven today will be fighting hard to keep their places and tickets will already have been sold with the crowd expecting to see the former EPL star and this will still be a bit of an occasion. These two teams met three weeks ago in Ontario with NYC winning 2-0 , they were tactically very solid there, pressed incredibly well and David Villa who remains a top class striker took his two chances and to be honest, at 3-4 years younger than the other two "superstars" , he should still be playing at a higher level, he could score in MLS almost in his sleep ! Anyway, I liked that performance, defensively they allowed TFC little and dominated the match early and through the key middle part of the second half and on the road. The defence has also been tightened up with the signings of a pair of Spanish full backs in the incredibly experienced Andoni Iraloa and Angelino this week ." They drew that 4-4 (!) and the defence is still very much a work in progress judged by that and their next home game a 5-3 defeat of Orlando City last weekend, but goals at the other end of the pitch are clearly not an issue and we saw a huge impact from Andrea Pirlo who, in just over 30 minutes of action set up any number of chances and oozed class. With another week under his belt in training and now Frank Lampard alongside him, there is going to be huge interest in this game and I do not think that any team in the MLS can handle Villa, Lamps and Pirlo at the same time, especially not an Impact side conceding at the rate of two goals per away start, even if it is only for 45-60 minutes ! New York City FC -0.5 ball 2.07 asian line/Sportmarket.

[vasilli07]

LA Galaxy DNB @ 2.04 LA was awful last week. They looked defeated from kickoff. Even though they had alot of possession but they failed to create any good chances. They will get some key players back like Zardes and Gonzalez(LA best defender). Keane and Gerrard should also be fit to play. Colorado is on the rise after 3 wins in a row. They could have something working for them but I'm not really that convinced that they can keep the streak going. It's hard to imagine LA playing that badly again. And guess what, their last away win came against Colorado in August, it could be a case of deja vu.