Los Angeles FC to face Seattle Sounders in MLS Cup play-offs

Los Angeles FC will face off against Seattle Sounders during the first round of the MLS Cup play-offs in the Western Conference.

Bob Bradley’s side picked up a 1-1 draw against Portland Timbers in their final game of the truncated regular season on Sunday and that saw them finish seventh on the table via the points per game system.

They are now scheduled to face second-placed Sounders away from home in a couple of weeks’ time and the game should be exciting to watch, given the recent rivalry between the pair.

Los Angeles thoroughly dominated Sounders in the regular season last term as they finished 16 points ahead, but they were beaten by Brian Schmetzer’s side in the Western Conference finals, which was a surprise result.

The California giants avenged the defeat with a comfortable 4-1 win in the round of 16 of the MLS is Back Tournament, but Sounders have since had the upper hand.

Both sides met on three occasions after the one-off tournament. Sounders beat Los Angeles twice at home, but succumbed to a defeat last month when they made the visit to the Banc of California Stadium.

Hence, it is difficult to call a potential winner between the two, but Sounders should start as favourites as they have the home advantage against Los Angeles for the play-off.

Similar to last season, Los Angeles were the top scorers through the regular campaign as they found the back of the net on 47 occasions, three more than Sounders.

However, their defence has been a huge let-down this term and they have the worst record among the top-seven with 39 goals conceded from the 22 games played.

That is where Sounders have excelled during the course of the season and they head into the MLS Cup play-offs, having conceded only 23 times from 22 matches.

The teams have faced each other on eight occasions since Los Angeles’ inception to MLS in 2018. Los Angeles have had the advantage with four wins to three.

Sounders have, however, won three of the previous five meetings. Each of those matches have seen the winning side score at least three goals. Hence, we can anticipate another one-sided high-scoring contest.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com and Worldfootball.net