Leagues Cup Predictions, Picks and Betting Preview – Round of 32 Best Bets

Leagues Cup Betting Advice

WagerTalk MLS handicapper Nick Borrman presents his Leagues Cup Round of 32 predictions and picks around two key matches including Inter Miami vs Orlando City and New England Revolution vs Atlas.

Which Leagues Cup teams are he looking to win and score goals? Read Nick’s betting preview now!

Leagues Cup Futures Betting

Now is a great time to look at some futures bets. Odds haven’t changed too much from the beginning of the tournament and now paths are set which makes navigating futures a lot clearer.

One of the biggest disappointments of this bracket is that LAFC, Monterrey, UANL Tigres and Club Leon are all in the same quarterfinal.

If in separate quarters, those are four teams all capable of reaching the semifinals, but as it stands now, only one can make it that far which makes it the most difficult quarter to predict. We haven’t seen LAFC yet, but they were not in good form before the tournament began.

Monterrey at +1400 (DraftKings) has looked like the best team in this competition thus far and would be me selection in the first quarter.

Next, you have two MLS heavyweights facing off in the first round between Nashville and Cincinnati. A tough match for both sides. The winner would most likely face Club America next, followed by Toluca.

I personally like Club America +1800 (Bet365) in this quarter. Even though they lost vs Columbus in their second match, they were already qualified and rotated some players so I’m not putting too much stock into that match.

The other side of the bracket is where the MLS has their best chances to reach the final. UNAM Pumas could be the toughest challenge in the third quarter, though Philadelphia or even New England, both at home, will be tough to beat.

If Philly and New England meet, the edge goes to the Union at +1200 (DraftKings) given they will be at home.

Finally, the fourth quarter is all about Inter Miami, the overall favorites to win the Leagues Cup, and it’s hard to argue as Messi and company have looked excellent in their two matches of this competition.

Besides them, Pachuca who like LAFC, are entering the competition in the knockout rounds seem to be the next best choice based on talent, but without a couple of game reps like everyone else, that may put them at a bit of a disadvantage. I think the best choice here is the square one as Messi alone could get Miami +650 (Bet365) to the semifinals.

From there, depending on who makes it out of their quarters, we could have a guaranteed winner if all four make the semis (yes, I realize that’s asking a lot) but I’m hoping to have at least two reach the final four.

Then it’s a matter of their matchups and whether we let them ride or decide to hedge, but at that point, we have done our job when it comes to selecting futures.

Leagues Cup Round of 32 Expert Predictions

Inter Miami vs Orlando City | Wednesday 8/2 | 8:00pm ET

Miami -150 | Draw +320 | Orlando +370
Asian Handicap: Miami -0.75 | Total: 3.0

Hard not to want to get behind Miami right now after watching their first two matches. There is no doubt Messi will be on the field as long as needed in this match to secure the win for Miami and same with Busquets. What a difference those two have made in about 90 minutes total of match time.

Surprisingly, Miami was able to keep Atlanta off the board in their 4-0 win last time out. I suggested taking Miami’s Team Total Over 1.5 as well as the match itself to go Over the total fully expecting Atlanta to get on the board as Miami has been terrible defensively all season.

With improved midfield play because of Busquets, it clearly did help them defensively. Don’t get me wrong though, Atlanta still had a few quality chances in the match, but it was much better than we have seen from Miami all season.

Orlando needed PKs to get the win over Houston in their first match and won 3-2 over Santos Laguna in their 2nd match, and now overall, have just one loss in their last eight matches and two losses in their last 15.

They are playing very well offensively having scored two goals or more in nine of those matches but have conceded several goals against the quality opposition they faced along the way:
Columbus – 2
New England – 3
Philadelphia – 2
Real Salt Lake – 4 (who were one of the hottest MLS teams prior to the break)

It appears the MLS may have a new most dangerous offense so I am not confident that Orlando will be able to contain Miami in this match and given what we have seen thus far, it only takes a slight chance for the GOAT to capitalize on his opportunities to score.

Miami’s Team Total for this match is set at 1.5 but juiced at -175 to the Over. Instead, I like Miami to Score in Both Halves as an alternative which we can get at a nice plus money price.

Prediction: Inter Miami to Score in Both Halves +135 (DraftKings or FanDuel)

New England Revolution vs Atlas | Thursday 8/3 | 7:30pm ET

New England +110 | Draw +250 | Atlas +245
Asian Handicap: New England -0.25 | Total: 2.5

There haven’t been many times where I have taken an MLS team over a Liga MX side but this looks like a good spot to do so.

The Rev have been awesome at home this season and are coming off a 5-1 beatdown of Atletico San Luis which gives them five straight wins at home scoring a total of 14 goals while conceding just four.

On the season, they are unbeaten in MLS play plus their Leagues Cup win going 9-3-0 with a combined 29:10 goal differential. Only one time have they allowed more than one goal which came in a wild 3-3 draw with Chicago. Aside from that, they have been hard to break down keeping four clean sheets along the way.

xG at home shows them averaging 1.74 per match while allowing 1.12. It is also worth noting that they have an 8-3-2 Over record while also having a 9-4 BTTS Yes record, you know, in case you are inclined to look at the total or BTTS markets.

The concern is that Atlas has a strong defense and while New England has been scoring at will, that might not be the case in this match.

Atlas has played 11 straight away matches without conceding more than one goal including winning both group stage matches 1-0 over NYCFC and Toronto.

They also limited both Monterrey to one goal and Philadelphia to one goal in the CONCACAF Champions League back in April. However, it might be a little bit of smoke and mirrors as Atlas allowed an average of 1.25 xGA during their eight Liga MX matches that were measured for xG, yet they only allowed a total of four goals. Clearly some overperformance and possible regression coming.

The other concern is that they are not scoring either. In their last seven away matches they have scored a total of just three goals, and in their last ten matches overall they have scored a total of only six.

Bruce Arena has proven that his team can play well defensively while they look very hard to slow down currently. I’m sure Atlas will make it tough on them, but by the end of the match, I expect New England to find a winner.

Prediction: New England Revolution -0.25 -125 (DraftKings)