A couple third-place teams meet up in New York this weekend. Are we adding the Red Bulls or Sounders to our soccer picks?
For what it's worth, the soccer odds are favoring New York in a big
way right now.
The Red Bulls are priced at +101 at 5Dimes to win this
Sunday, with the Sounders at an appealing +244. A draw is at +219, while the
total of 2.5 goals is seeing more action come in on the UNDER.
Weather in Harrison, New Jersey, the site of Red Bull Arena,
is currently calling for scattered thunderstorms and a chance of rain at 40
percent, with temperatures in the mid 80s.
Seattle Sounders
The Sounders are in third place in the Western Conference
right now, six points behind Real Salt Lake (with a game in hand) and seven
behind league-leaders San Jose.
They have gone unbeaten over their previous three league
matches, settling for ties with New Egnland and RSL and then overcoming
Colorado 2-1 at home last weekend.
Goals in that win over the Rapids came from Alvaro Fernandez
and Eddie Johnson. The Sounders may not have dominated possession, but they
were extremely dangerous in attack, doubling Colorado's chances and forcing
Matt Pickens into five saves.
It was Johnson's eighth goal of the season and he's now scored
three or more goals than everyone else on the team. Fredy Montero (four goals)
is a gifted scorer as well but hasn't been able to replicate his form (15 goals
and 11 assists) from 2011/12.
New York Red Bulls
Another team battling it out to stay in the postseason spots
is New York. The Red Bulls are in third in the Eastern Conference behind Kansas
City and DC United.
The Red Bulls will be grateful to return back home
considering only one of their last five matches have been in New York. What
happened in their sole match at Red Bull Arena? Yeah you guessed it. They won
3-2 over DCU.
However, the other four games in that span weren't nearly as
satisfying. New York fell to Chicago and New England and were held to draws
against Vancouver and Toronto. All four matches were on the road.
Now the Red Bulls will get a crack at three consecutive home
matches, starting with the Sounders. They'll be hoping they have a fit Thierry
Henry, who when at full strength has been practically unplayable. He has nine
goals and five assists in only 11 appearances this term.
MLS Pick
You may be a little perturbed as to why the Sounders haven't
been given much of a chance this weekend.
What it mainly comes down to is home and away form. The Red
Bulls have yet to lose on their own field this season, racking up five wins and
two draws in seven matches there. As for the Sounders, they have two wins, five
draws and two losses in nine matches away from Seattle.
New York had to deal with a few big injuries against the
Revolution, so we can't read too much into that defeat. Henry, Rafa Marquez and
Jan Gunnar Solli all were unavailable.
The Red Bulls should be much more healthy now that they've
had a full week in between matches. Does that make them our best selection with
our soccer picks?
Not really. The Sounders are chalk full of talented players.
They've logged the most draws away from home (five) of any team in the MLS and
we are of the opinion another could be in store for us this Sunday.
New
York Red Bulls 1 Seattle Sounders 1