🇺🇸 MLS Weekender: Bulls eye revenge, DC desperate, Seattle seek surge | OneFootball

We have reached Week 25 of the Major League Soccer season, and with the All-Star game now done and dusted it’s back to regular business.

Most teams have just 10 games to determine how their regular season concludes, so three points at this stage could change the outlook significantly for a host of sides.

Here are some of the key match-ups to look out for…

A dish best served cold?

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Orlando City battered New York Red Bulls 5-1 in the semi-final of the US Open Cup.

With that disappointment fresh in the memory, NYRB will no doubt be extra motivated to achieve an Eastern Conference double over the Floridians.

Gerhard Struber’s men overcame The Lions 3-0 away from home in April, one of the 10 wins that has the Red Bulls sitting fourth in the standings at the moment.

City have lost both their games since their cup heroics, and denying their opponents revenge would provide a massive boost to to the play-off hopes of Óscar Pareja and his troops.

Expanding their horizons 👀

Los Angeles FC were well represented at that All-Star game, with Diego Palacios providing the inch-perfect cross for Carlos Vela to nod home the opener in a 2-1 win for the best of the MLS against their Liga MX counterparts.

The Black and Gold will be looking for the pair to maintain that form when Charlotte come to town on Saturday.

The hosts have an admirable record against expansion franchises, winning all five of their games against sides competing in their debut season in the league.

Odds are that record will remain intact, as it’s hard to see anything other than a comfortable victory for the Western Conference leaders.

DC United need to kick-start mission impossible

While nobody seriously expects DC United to make a late play-off push, head coach Wayne Rooney won’t want to see his struggling side fade away without a fight.

The men from the capital occupy the basement in the East, four points off Toronto.

Rooney almost pulled off the impossible by keeping Derby County in the English Championship last season. If he harbours any hopes of turning this campaign around for the Black-and-Red, then three points against New England Revolution on Saturday are an absolute must.

A first clean sheet in 14 league games against NYRB last time out suggests the former England international is on his way to tightening up the second-leakiest defence in the league.

But the Revs, who sit 10th in the East after enjoying a morale-boosting 3-0 win at Orlando last weekend, will be no mood to help Rooney’s cause.

Trading places?

The general manager of Seattle Sounders, Garth Lagerwey, said this week that the men from the Emerald City see themselves as genuine contenders for MLS Cup.

While winning the Concacaf Champions League in May was a historic achievement for the club, it has definitely led to an unusually inconsistent campaign on the domestic front.

Two wins and two losses in their last four outings bears testament to that fact, but Sunday’s encounter with Real Salt Lake has the potential of being a weather vane for both sides.

RSL have been one of the surprises in the West this year, with the Utah outfit hanging out around the upper echelons of the table for much of the season so far.

However just six points from their last eight outings suggests the wheels are coming off somewhat for Pablo Mastroeni’s charges.

Success at Lumen Field on Sunday would see Seattle leap-frog RSL in the standings. Momentum is everything at this time of the year, and three points here could have a massive effect on either of these sides’ future fortunes.

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