The Philadelphia Union enter the weekend seventh in the Eastern Conference and the LA Galaxy, formerly a league powerhouse, just sixth in the West. Time is running out for either to make a move. Philadelphia Union vs LA Galaxy is scheduled for Saturday, in Philly, with the Union as solid soccer betting favorites.
Philadelphia Union vs LA Galaxy MLS Betting Lines & Prediction
- When: Saturday, 7 PM ET
- Where: Talen Energy Stadium, Philly
- TV: ESPN
- MLS Betting Lines: Philadelphia Union -120 / LA Galaxy +284 / Draw +275 (total 3)
Why Bet on Philadelphia Union?
The Union had to play Orlando on Wednesday night in the US Open Cup. Philly has been off in MLS action since last Wednesday’s wild 4-3 win over Chicago. David Accam scored the game-winning goal in the 95th minute. The winner came one minute after Bastian Schweinsteiger tied the game for Chicago in second-half stoppage time.
Mired in a season-long slump after being traded from the Fire to Philly in January, Accam scored his first goal of the season in thrilling fashion: “I think every last-minute winner is amazing. It was also my first goal this season. For me, I’ve worked really hard and I think this goal will rank high in my career.”
Along with the acquisition of attacking midfielder Borek Dockal, Accam was the centerpiece of the Union’s offseason plans, with the team hoping he could follow up his 14-goal campaign in Chicago last year. But before the Chicago game, Accam didn’t have a single goal or an assist in 16 appearances, and he had lost his starting spot on the right wing in May.
Cory Burke scored two goals and Haris Medunjanin added one goal for the Union, who earned just their second road win of the season. The Union had dropped four of five. Despite Accam’s late heroics, it was Burke who stole the show with a brace, including an impressive header in first-half stoppage time. The Jamaican striker now has four goals in three starts, and Union fans will almost certainly be clamoring for him to start over CJ Sapong at center forward.
Why Bet on LA Galaxy?
The Galaxy got a very unlikely 3-2 win Saturday over New England thanks to two stoppage-time goals. That’s rare. L.A. is now unbeaten in its past six matches.
Down 2-1 headed into the added time, the Galaxy found their equalizer in the 92nd minute when defender Dave Romney headed in a corner. Just a minute later, the Galaxy took its first lead of the entire game when Chris Pontius collected a pass that went through the legs of a New England defender and buried his shot for the winning score. The Galaxy became the fifth team in MLS history to score the game-tying and game-winning goals after the completion of the 90th minute.
The finish was an appropriately wild ending to an aggressive game that saw both sides combine for 21 fouls and eight bookings. Two of those yellow cards went to Galaxy defender Ashley Cole, who was ejected in the 85th minute. That means Cole is suspended for this game.
Will the Galaxy have star Zlatan Ibrahimovic for this one? He missed the New England match but apparently it was just to keep him off the turf field so presumably, he will go here. Since joining the Galaxy via Targeted Allocation Money on March 23, Ibrahimovic has appeared in 14 of 17 games (11 starts), tallying 11 goals and 3 assists in 973 minutes to date.
“We’re starting to learn how to play with each other, that’s the important thing,” Coach Sigi Schmid said after Saturday’s win. “I mean obviously, we missed Zlatan [Ibrahimović], because our game has been cut to him a little bit and he’s obviously had a big impact when you look at his goals. The guys are understanding how to play with him, so we had to adjust a little bit today.
Overall, the understanding within the team has been good and today we ended up making a couple of changes in the second half formation-wise – where guys were playing – and the guys adjusted really well to that.”
It’s the first meeting of the season between the Galaxy and Union. The Galaxy is 6-1-3 all-time against Philadelphia. The Galaxy has never lost in Philadelphia, going 2-0-2 in their four contests there. The last time both teams met, they played to a 0-0 draw at StubHub Center.
Expert MLS Betting Prediction
Go with a 1-1 draw.
