The Seattle Sounders were fabulous down the stretch of the season to take a campaign that seemed lost and turn it into a tremendous playoff appearance with a home match in front of the greatest fans in the MLS. The Sounders have been impeccable at home in the postseason historically, and this match in the opening round of the MLS Cup playoffs is going to be a massive challenge for Sporting Kansas City.
Don't miss the MLS action from CenturyLink Field at 10 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 27, 2016. Catch every moment of the match live on FOX Sports 1.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Seattle Sounders
Sporting Kansas City
Odds Analysis
These two teams might have been separated by just a single point for the season, but there's no doubt that the Sounders are the better side, the hotter side and the side playing at home. Those three factors will make them the favorites by a relatively large margin in this one, especially since no team over the course of the last three postseasons has advanced by winning a road game in the knockout stage of the MLS Cup playoffs.
Key Injuries
The Sounders have been devastated all season long by injuries, and not having Andreas Ivanschitz and Clint Dempsey for the postseason run is going to probably end up being devastating for their chances of winning a championship. Brad Evans and Chad Marshall are question marks, and their statuses will be worth watching for sure over the course of the next couple days.
Sporting Kansas City figures to have just about as full of a side as it could get for this one. Diego Rubio is out for the season with a torn ACL, but aside from that, the prognosis looks good for most of the question marks, including Jacob Peterson and Brad Davis in the midfield.
Recent Form
The Sounders clinched their playoff spot and ultimately their home game on the final day of the regular season by beating Real Salt Lake 2-1 at home. That snapped a two-game winless streak, but it's hard to say that this team has done anything but dominate down the stretch. Seattle went 8-3-2 in its final 13 matches to snare that last playoff spot, and it needed literally every single one of those good results to get to this point.
Sporting was no lock for the MLS Cup playoffs either heading into the last day of the regular season, as KC was still trying to fend off a host of teams for those last few spots available on Decision Day. Graham Zusi put one in the back of the net to beat San Jose to end this season on a high.
However, SKC isn't exactly lighting it up with just two wins since August 20.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
Sporting isn't going to be the easiest out on the face of the earth here. This is a team that has won matches on the road in the second season, including coming up just short in an epic shootout last year in Portland, home of the soon-to-be MLS Cup champs a few weeks down the line from that point. Dom Dwyer is a stud and is surely going to have his say in what KC pulls off in this match, and having Zusi with some goals under his belt and some confidence could go a long way towards making this game competitive.
If the Sounders had Dempsey in the fold, we'd feel a little different. Sure, Nicolas Lodeiro and Jordan Morris both had good seasons up front, but there's just something about having the captain out there that would make us feel a little warmer and fuzzier in this spot. You have to go back a long ways to find a team that won on the road in the knockout stage of the playoffs, but we aren't betting against SKC, even with as hot as Seattle has been playing.
Expect this to be a gritty, low-scoring affair where perhaps just one moment of brilliance could make the difference.
MLS Odds: Sporting Kansas City 1, Seattle 0
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