The Chicago Fire host Real Salt Lake on Saturday in MLS odds for the Eastern Conference final. The Fire are playing in the Final for the second straight season while Real Salt Lake is also playing in a conference final again. The Fire are half goal favorites at online sportsbooks with a total of 2.5 UNDER -125. The three-way soccer betting money line has Chicago -130; Real Salt Lake +325 and the Draw listed at +230 in MLS soccer odds.
Chicago has the big name player in this game in Cuauhtemoc Blanco, but Real Salt Lake has proven to be a tough team to eliminate as Columbus found out last week. The Fire have won five of the 10 all-time meetings against Real Salt Lake with four ties. This season the Fire won 1-0 while the other match was a 1-1 draw. This will be the first time all season that RSL has faced the Fire with Blanco in the lineup. He sat out during both regular season meetings. Salt Lake will look to contain Blanco with midfielders Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Will Johnson and Andy Williams heading into this match-up in Eastern conference odds.
Chicago has played in four conference title matches in the past and won only once but that was at home in 2003. "People are looking for all these ins and outs," coach Denis Hamlett said. "But I think it's going to come down to two very good teams that are going to play against each other with the right to get to the final." Real Salt Lake has never played in the MLS Cup Final. Real Salt Lake did not play well on the road in MLS odds for the regular season. They won just twice and tied twice in 15 games. In their history they have just 10 regular season wins in 77 road games.
"Obviously it's a different situation, we're playing away, we're playing against a team that is in fantastic form and we're playing in front of a hostile crowd," head coach Jason Kreis said. "We're going to have to take care of the details, but at the end of the day the simple truth is we need to score goals to win, don't we?" Real Salt Lake has not beaten Chicago since 2006. They have just one win in MLS odds for 10 all-time meetings. Last season Real Salt Lake lost 1-0 in MLS soccer odds for the Western final to New York. "The situation was new. It was undiscovered country because our club had never been there before," center back Nat Borchers said. "This year, it's much different because we know we could have done better last year. We're ambitious to get the MLS Cup and we know we have the team to do it."
Fernandez's MLS Soccer Picks: Soccer betting handicappers are expecting Chicago to dominate at home and I really can't say I blame them. In his last season with the Fire, Blanco is going out like a champion and has made the team better because of it. My soccer pick for Sunday's match-up on Fox Sports is to take Chicago -130 against Real Salt Lake. |
