US weekend preview, March 9 & 10 (plus CONCACAF Champions Cup round-up, March 5-7)

 

The six MLS teams that made it through the first round of qualifying were joined by MLS champions Columbus Crew and Leagues Cup winners Inter Miami this week as the competition entered its last 16 stage. Action kicked off on Tuesday with a pair of 0-0 draws against Liga MX opposition as Philadelphia Union and Orlando City both drew blanks at home to Pachuca and UANL Tigres, respectively. In the night's only non-MLS tie, Costa Rica's Herediano beat Robinhood of Suriname 2-0. On Wednesday, America won 3-0 away at Guadalajara in an all-Liga MX tie, with New England Revolution kept their third consecutive clean sheet in sweeping Costa Rican side Alajuense aside 4-0, thanks to two goals from Tomas Chancalay and one apice from Nicholas Lima and Esmir Bajraktarevic. Also on Wednesday, an all-MLS tie saw Columbus Crew grab a 1-0 win away at Houston Dynamo, courtesy of Alexandru Matan's 96th minute goal. There were two more games last night, with FC Cincinnati falling 1-0 at home to Liga MX side Monterey, and Inter Miami holding Nashville SC to a 2-2 draw in Tennessee. Two Jacob Shaffelburg put the Coyotes 2-0 up just after half-time but the Herons came back into it through Lionel Messi before snatching a late draw with bitey racist Luis Suarez's 94th minute equaliser. The second legs are next week.

Week three of MLS starts early on Saturday again, with two 7pm (UK times throughout) games. New York City have lost both their games this season and welcome a Portland Timbers side that have started brightly under Phil Neville. That's behind the MLS Season Pass paywall but Toronto FC - who grabbed a win away at New England last week after holding Cincinnati in their opening game - welcome Charlotte FC to Ontario in one of the weekend's free game on AppleTV. Champions Columbus Crew are also on free TV this week, hosting a revitalised Chicago Fire side that will be smarting from last week's home defeat to Cincinnati. That's a 0.30am kick-off, as are four paywalled games, with Philadelphia Union's home clash with Seattle Sounders probably the pick of the bunch. Sounders have started slowly thanks to a slew of injuries (with new signing Pedro de la Vega added to that after last week's 0-0 draw with Austin) but if ever a game was bound to have goals, it's this one (now watch it be scoreless...). New England Revolution travel to Atlanta United with both sides in search of their first point of the season, although Atlanta have only played the one game so far, and the unbeaten New York Red Bulls host FC Dallas, who have won one and lost one so far. The final 0.30am game is Orlando City versus Minnesota United and the Lions will be looking to bounce back from their disastrous 5-0 mauling at the hands of Inter Miami last week; the Loons, though, are no easy opponents.

Austin FC, who lack pretty much everything this year, are at home to St Louis City at 1.30am, and there's another free game at 2.30am as Real Salt Lake host Colorado Rapids, hopefully in better weather than last week's lightning-trailed snowstorm. Saturday's action is closed out with 2 games in California, as Los Angeles FC play Sporting Kansas City, and San Jose Earthquakes welcome Vancouver Whitecaps in the last of the weekend's free games. There are 3 games on Sunday, all with UK-friendly kick-off times as FC Cininnati hosts DC United and LA Galaxy travel to Nashville SC at 8pm, and Inter Miami play CF Montreal at 10pm. Miami top the table with 7 points, having played a game more than most of their opponents, and no team has a 100% record after just 2 rounds of games.

There's a (too) full preview of the USL Championship season here as their season gets underway this weekend. All the games are shown free on YouTube and ties to look out for this weekend include North Carolina's first game back at this level for four years as they take on Charleston Battery on Saturday and the rebuilt Hartford Athletic's debut outing away at El Paso Locomotive on Sunday. Sunday also brings a clash of last year's top 2 in the Western Conference when Sacramento Republic host Orange County, and reigning champions Phoenix Rising are in action, at home to Birmingham Legion.

The first of the three third tier leagues to get underway this year is USL League One, with three games on Saturday night. Expansion side Spokane Velocity begin their existence away at Greenville Triumph, Lexington SC host Northern Colorado Hailstorm, and last year's basement side Central Valley Fuego travel to Statesboro to face South Georgia Tormenta.