Austin and Vancouver ended last week’s matches in contrasting moods and are at opposite ends of the Western Conference. The 3-2 victory at DC United was a fourth win of the campaign for Austin, while 13th-placed Vancouver have just one win and four points from seven games.
Philadelphia will look to start another winning streak when they host Montreal on Saturday. The Eastern Conference leaders won five matches in a row before a defeat in Toronto last time out.
Toronto travel to the Big Apple looking to do the double over New York City. Bob Bradley’s side claimed a 2-1 home win over the MLS Cup champions at the start of this month in Canada.
Philadelphia Union will be aiming to continue their unbeaten start to the MLS season when they travel to Toronto. Jim Curtin’s side are sitting pretty at the top of the Eastern Conference after five wins and a draw while Toronto’s form has also picked up in recent games.
CF Montreal return home after taking seven points from three successive road trips and are expected to maintain that momentum in Saturday’s all-Canadian showdown. Back-to-back wins at Cincinnati and New York Red Bulls have sparked Montreal’s season into life and they have climbed to ninth in the Eastern Conference.
The group stage draw for soccer’s 2022 World Cup has now been completed. To assess its impact, we have calculated the relative difficulty of each team’s schedule in the Qatar 2022 groups using their three opponents’ current FIFA world ranking points.
Toronto will aim to continue their recent resurgence under Bob Bradley when they travel to Real Salt Lake on Saturday. The Canadian side have won back-to-back games after starting the season with a three-match winless run, while Real Salt Lake have begun well at home this term.
Canada need one more win to book their place at the 2022 World Cup and will hope to do so at the first opportunity when they face Costa Rica. Securing a trip to Qatar looks almost certain with Canada four points clear at the top of the CONCACAF qualifying table.
The United States have never won in Mexico in World Cup qualifying but will be on the verge of qualification for Qatar 2022 if they can buck that trend. Both teams are level on 21 points and are four points clear of fourth-placed Panama with three games to go.
Vancouver had a good home record last season but face a tough first match at BC Place this term when hosting MLS Cup winners New York City. The Whitecaps were off the pace in their opening game at Columbus and a week may not be enough time to get back up to speed.
To celebrate the start of the new Major League Soccer season, we’ve compiled a quiz to get fans fired up for the first kick-offs of 2022. There are only 10 questions, making it the ideal challenge for a coffee break or half-time interval when watching your favourite team!
Columbus are hot favourites to kick off the new MLS campaign by beating Vancouver but the Whitecaps do have a good record against the Crew. The visitors are unbeaten in five head-to-head meetings, picking up two away wins and three home draws.
Bob Bradley has a big rebuilding job on his hands at Toronto and they may be worth taking on first up this term when visiting Dallas. The Reds were awful on the road last year and a shake-up over the off-season may take time to have an impact on their flagging fortunes.
The new MLS season kicks off on February 26 – the earliest start date in its history due to the 2022 World Cup later this year. New York City FC won their first MLS Cup last season after beating Portland Timbers on penalties, but three teams are fancied to take their title.