Monterrey vs Portland Timbers Prediction & Betting Tips - Leagues Cup

Prediction published on 03/08/2023, 02:09  by Joseph King | Modified on 03/08/2023 at 02:09 in Football Predictions

The Leagues Cup round of 32 pits Liga MX club Monterrey against MLS side Portland Timbers. Monterrey finished top of Group B with a perfect two wins from their two matches against Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders. Portland were able to secure second-place with three points in Group A despite losing their second game against Tigres. The winner of this matchup will face off against the winner of the Tigres vs Vancouver fixture in the round of 16.

Monterrey are one of the favorites to win the Leagues Cup and will be encouraged by their strong group stage performance. Despite playing what were effectively away games in two notoriously tough stadiums, they still managed to net seven goals against two of the MLS Western Conference’s top sides. They’ll now face off against another Western Conference side in Portland and the oddsmakers have the Mexican club as the favorites. Monterrey have experienced an excellent start to their new season, winning two and drawing once in the 2023/24 Apertura. With their back-to-back wins in the group stage, Los Rayados have now won their last four in a row which includes 10 goals scored in their last three outings.

As for the Timbers, they’ve been experiencing a tough 2023 MLS season. They’re currently sitting 12th in the West with only six wins from 23 games. Portland’s most recent appearance was a 2-1 loss to Tigres. They were unable to hold on to the draw after suffering a red card at the end of the first half when the score was 1-1. The defeat snapped an encouraging streak of back-to-back wins for the Timbers who are now looking at a run of only two wins in their last eight games. The upshot for Portland is that they will be playing this fixture at Providence Park where they have largely been much improved. They’re averaging 1.64 points won per home fixture in the MLS this season compared to just 0.67 per away match.