After two rounds of play, Major League Soccer is back with another action-packed Saturday (and Sunday). Across fourteen matches, the league will see home debuts for Toronto FC and New York City FC this weekend, as well as a marquee matchup between Western Conference leaders Seattle Sounders and FC Cincinnati – read on to preview three of the weekend’s biggest games:
FC Cincinnati vs. Seattle Sounders
This Saturday evening matchup sees two unbeaten sides put their records on the line. Seattle have rebounded impressively from their Club World Cup elimination with successive wins over Colorado Rapids and Real Salt Lake. Jordan Morris is the league’s top scorer with three goals, and new signing Héber has also found the net in each of the Western Conference leaders’ matches. FC Cincinnati had one of the league’s best attacks last season, and will look to continue to build on that, with the trio of Luciano Acosta, Brenner and Brandon Vázquez, who scored twice last week, all returning.
New York City FC vs. Inter Miami CF
After a run to the MLS Eastern Conference finals last season, the current campaign has been a bit tougher for hosts NYCFC. Ahead of this, their home opener, they’ve scored just once over their two matches, as they look to find solutions to the departures of Héber and Tati Castellanos, as well as longtime goalkeeper Sean Johnson. Inter Miami also have a reworked side, with Josef Martínez and defender Sergii Kryvtsov having joined over the winter. Their contributions have Phil Neville’s side off to a perfect start with a pair of 2-0 wins, over the Philadelphia Union and CF Montréal.
LAFC vs. New England Revolution
The final match of the weekend sees the defending champions host the Revs off the back of an impressive win in the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. A hat trick from Denis Bouanga secured the result on Thursday, marking the second match running the hosts had scored three goals. New England will hardly be an obliging opponent, though – they have won each of their first two matches in MLS and are yet to concede, a run they’ll look to continue at BMO Stadium.