The Best In The Land
After showing glimmers during their debut 2018 campaign, LAFC roared to life in the 2019 regular season. Bob Bradley's side dazzled the league with their fast-paced, attacking approach to the game and ended their campaign with a whopping 21 wins, 9 ties and just 4 losses from their 34 games. They finished the Western Conference table sixteen points clear of the Sounders, won the Supporter's Shield by eight points over NYCFC and broke North American records with their 72 points tally.
They became a side known throughout the country as being able to turn it on big in the crunch games too, scoring four against Seattle, four against Atlanta and five against El Trafico rivals Galaxy during 2019.
A rare off night against the Sounders stunned our MLS predictions and cost them a place in the 2019 MLS Cup Final, but rest assured this is a team well worth their status as heavy pre-tournament favourites.
Who Should You Look Out For?
We don't mean to go with the obvious answers here, but
Diego Rossi
andCarlos Vela
remain probably the best forwards in all of North America right now.Whilst there are some question marks over whether
Vela
will play much of a part at the tournament, there's no denying the impact the 38-goal scorer will bring if LAFC are able to get him on the pitch.Diego Rossi
is a more than viable alternative to have waiting in the ranks however. The 22 year old was signed in 2018, and has hit just under a goal every other game from his 87 appearances so far. He hit 18 goals in all competitions last year, but was already on 2 from his first 4 games before the season's pause.What's The Stand Out Game?
One of the few teams to be seeded into a group, LAFC will host arguably the most mouth-watering game of any side when they lock horns with El Trafico rivals LA Galaxy (
+1200
) on gameweek 2 in Group F.With just the Portland Timbers (
+2500
) and Houston Dynamo (+5000
) making up the remainder of the group, this El Trafico clash is almost certainly going to decide who gets top spot out of the group. On top of the usual bragging rights of course.The game is scheduled currently for July 18 at 10:30PM EDT.
Our prediction If LAFC play anywhere near the level they were at last year, they should top this group no problem with 3 wins and 9 points
What Are The Odds?
As we mentioned, LAFC are pretty overwhelming favourites in our MLS betting odds. They had pre-group stage draw odds of
+400
, but that rose slightly to+450
once the Galaxy were pulled out of the hat.Those odds are still someways ahead of Atlanta United (
+750
), Seattle Sounders (+750
), NYCFC (+900
) and Toronto (+1000
) however.What do you make of Bob Bradley's Black and Gold? Will they be able to handle the pressure of being favourites? The MLS Is Back Cup promises to be an exciting and unpredictable tournament which we cannot wait to begin covering as it all unfolds! Check out all of our latest MLS predictions as well as our brand new MLS Parlay calculator so you never miss out on the action!Sign Up and never miss out on any of the Action!Keep up to date with all the latest goings on in the MLS and the world of sport at William Hill!
