The Seattle Sounders will be looking to repeat as league champions when they visit the Columbus Crew on Saturday night as slim +165 favourites on the MLS Cup odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Seattle continued its recent high-scoring ways with a 3-2 win over Minnesota United in the Western Conference Final, and will make its third MLS Cup final appearance in five years in Saturday night’s matchup at MAPFRE Stadium.
The Sounders put the brakes on a middling 1-2-3 win-loss-draw run with a decisive 4-1 win over San Jose on Decision Day. Overall, the club has outscored opponents by a wide 11-4 margin during a four-match win streak that began with their victory over the Earthquakes. However, the Sounders have struggled to produce consistent results on the road, going 3-3-3 in their past nine dates away from Lumen Field.
Raul Ruidiaz has emerged as a clutch performer during the Sounders’ march back to the MLS Cup final. The 30-year-old Peruvian has scored four times over the club’s past five outings, including the match winner in a 3-1 first-round win over Los Angeles FC, and the tying marker in the 89th minute in Monday’s win over the Loons.
While the Sounders have enjoyed steady offensive production, it has been a stout defence that has lifted the Crew into Saturday’s contest as +170 home underdogs at online betting sites. Winners in five of six outings, Columbus has kept clean sheets in each of its past two contests, capped by a 1-0 win over the upstart New England Revolution in last weekend’s Eastern Conference Final.
Overall, the Crew have allowed just six total goals over their past six outings, and have given up more than one goal on just two occasions over their past nine contests.
Like the Sounders, the Crew have been dominant on home turf, going 11-1-0 since the regular season resumed in August, and have kept clean sheets in 10 home dates across all competitions since the beginning of 2020. Now making their first MLS Cup Final appearance since 2015, the Crew have made two all-time appearances in the championship match, knocking off the New York Red Bulls by a 3-1 score back in 2008, and falling to Portland 2-1 on home turf five years ago.
These two clubs played to a 1-1 draw in Seattle back in March, but it is the Sounders that hold the historical edge when facing the Crew on the road. The Sounders are 4-2-1 in seven all-time visits to Columbus, with at least three total goals scored in each of the past three matchups.
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