MLS Week 21 Predictions

Friday, August 5th
Colorado Rapids - Columbus Crew: After a fairly inconsistent start to the season, and having to bear through several injuries Colorado certainly seems to have found their stride. The loss of Connor Casey is no doubt a potentially crippling one, but putting former-Sounder Sanna Nyassi seems to have done the trick for the struggling team. On the other hand, Columbus has been quietly creeping into the upper ranks all season consistently getting results, and as a consequence they are now currently sitting at the top of the Eastern conference.  Both teams in their current form are not to be underestimated, and thus this is definitely looking to be a hard-fought match. I'll side with Columbus on this one, especially after their 4-1 thumping of Colorado earlier in the season.

Saturday, August 6th
Sporting Kansas City - Seattle Sounders FC: One team, SKC, has been on quite the hot streak. After Wednesday's 2-0 defeat of RSL they have run their unbeaten streak to 14, and their new home Livestrong Sporting Park clearly has had a major hand in that success. The Sounders, on the other hand, recently had their unbeaten streak ended at the hands of the Houston Dynamo after a strenuous and exhausting road trip that involved going all the way down to Panama. Now after having spent some precious time at home and a mid-week CONCACAF Champions League victory over San Francisco FC, the Sounders will definitely be looking to embark on another unbeaten streak. Sure SKC is unbeaten in fourteen games, but keep in mind that the majority of those matches ended in a draw (more often than not in dramatic fashion, as well) so they're far from untouchable. Perhaps it bias, but I call the Sounders for this one.

Real Salt Lake - New York Red Bulls: Leading into this match RSL is on a two game skid, falling to both the Columbus Crew and Sporting Kansas City to two goals and a shutout. Things are starting to look pretty dire for RSL, and head coach Jason Kreis has made it very clear that this match is a must win. Their opponent definitely hasn't had the greatest record lately, only managing to muster a few wins amongst a majority of draws and losses. Despite lacks of success in the league, the Red Bulls managed to win the Emirates Cup over in England with a win over PSG and a draw with Arsenal. While that success certainly will aid in the teams confidence, I think they will need a lot more than just bolstered confidence to leave Rio Tinto with a victory. I heavily favor RSL on this one.

LA Galaxy - FC Dallas: This weekend seems to be chock full of games to keep an eye on, and this is without a doubt one of them. The two tops teams in the West, and in the league overall, are facing off. The factor that really plays into this one are the Galaxy's recent loss and blanking against the Portland Timbers. With the performance they gave at Jeld-Wen they certainly didn't look like the league's best to offer. In light of that, they are certainly going to be looking to redeem themselves though that won't be any easy task against FC Dallas. This is another close one, but if the Galaxy can find their form again they shouldn't have too much trouble in dealing with FCD.