New York Red Bulls will be out to defend the only remaining unbeaten home record in MLS when they host road strugglers CF Montreal.
Sandro Schwarz's side were held to a 1-1 draw with Colorado Rapids last time out, keeping them fourth in the Eastern Conference.
New York are still 11 points adrift of conference leaders FC Cincinnati but will hope to make up ground when Montreal visit, with the away side 10th in the East standings.
Excitement remains around the Red Bulls and another post-season push, with defender Noah Eile relishing the chance to play in New York and under Schwarz.
"I'm very grateful for the opportunity that he and the coaching staff have in me," Eile said.
"They gave me the chance to come here first and it's a big thing for me to be able to come here and play for this great club and great league.
"I just want to be better to show that gratitude towards them."
Montreal defeated Atlanta United 1-0 in their last outing, stretching their league unbeaten run at home to seven games.
The Canadian side did not allow a single shot on target in that win, yet head coach Laurent Courtois still wants more.
"I was disappointed with the collective management of certain individuals tonight and the game scenario," Courtois said after the Atlanta result. "We did some good things, but during the last 25 minutes, it was frustrating to get caught in transition situations.
"I was disappointed at that level. It was especially the transition in possession that was difficult. We had the opportunity to put ourselves out of harm's way with a second goal and we didn't do it.
"Our management of the power play was naive. We hope that we will be able to find more efficiency in the last pass and the presence in the box."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York Red Bulls – Lewis Morgan
Lewis Morgan netted his 10th goal of the season in the Red Bulls' draw at Colorado on Sunday, his second 10-goal season with New York (14 in 2022).
Morgan is the only Red Bulls player with a 10-goal season since Daniel Royer (11 goals) in 2019, leading New York in attack once again.
CF Montreal – Ruan
Ruan has scored two goals in his last four MLS appearances after not scoring for over two years.
This is the third time Ruan has scored two goals in a single regular season (also in 2021 and 2022 with Orlando City), but can he continue that run here?
MATCH PREDICTION – NEW YORK RED BULLS WIN
The Red Bulls are the heavy favourites for this clash, considering their remarkable head-to-head record against Montreal.
New York have won 12 of their 14 regular-season home matches against Montreal (L2), with their 85.7% win rate the highest for any team at home against another in MLS history (minimum 10 meetings).
The Red Bulls are also unbeaten in their first 10 regular-season home games in 2024 (W6 D4), the club's second-longest home unbeaten run to start a season (13 straight in 2012).
New York are unbeaten in 13 straight at home in all competitions, last losing at Red Bull Arena against Chicago Fire last October, while Montreal are winless in nine straight regular-season away matches (D2 L7).
Montreal have just four wins in their 29 away league matches since the start of last season, and their struggles will expectedly continue here.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York Red Bulls win – 59%
Draw – 21.4%
CF Montreal win – 19.6%
Nashville SC v Orlando City: Lions confidence rising ahead of road trip
Oscar Pareja says the confidence of his Orlando City side is on the rise ahead of their MLS trip to Nashville SC at Geodis Park.
The Lions have triumphed in their last three league matches, overcoming New England Revolution 3-1 in their most recent outing.
Orlando are seventh in the Eastern Conference standings, and head coach Pareja believes improvements are clear to see as encouragement grows within the camp.
"Very excited with the three points, very proud of the character of the team and the players that brought us back after an irregular first half," Pareja said, referring to the Revs victory.
"It seems like our confidence keeps rising, and finding the net is helping us to believe that this is the team who can keep that rhythm and get into the playoffs.
"A team with more chemistry, but at the same time, with more passion and more energy that allowed us to dominate the game and score our goals.
"This is the first time that the team won in New England and that means a lot of respect for the players to that achieve that."
Nashville are ninth in the same East table, though only sit ahead of CF Montreal on goal difference.
They have lost their last four matches against Inter Miami, Columbus Crew, Portland Timbers and D.C. United, however, and must improve at home if they are to end that run here.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nashville SC – Hany Mukhtar
Hany Mukhtar has nine goal contributions (four goals, five assists) in eight regular-season matches against Orlando.
The Nashville forward has only recorded more goal contributions against one opponent in his MLS career – 12 versus Atlanta United.
Orlando City – Facundo Torres
Facundo Torres has recorded two goal contributions in each of his last two matches, including scoring a brace against New England on Saturday.
This is the fourth time Torres has registered multiple goal contributions in consecutive league matches, something no other Orlando player has managed more than once.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Opta supercomputer predicted a Nashville victory as the most likely result, however a draw appears more probable in this clash.
Nashville had suffered just five defeats in their first 19 regular-season matches in 2024 but have now lost four straight matches in all competitions for the first time in club history.
Orlando have also won their last three meetings with Nashville, including a two-match sweep in last season's playoffs.
The Lions have won four of their last five matches (L1), too, after winning four of just 18 league games prior in 2024, including wins in their previous three in a row – only twice enjoying longer victorious streaks.
However, Nashville cannot be completely ignored considering they had gone unbeaten in their previous eight against Orlando in all competitions (W3 D5) before their three-game losing streak recently.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Nashville SC win – 43.7%
Draw – 26.8%
Orlando City win – 29.5%
'Legend' Southgate chose right time to call time on England, says former Three Lions team-mate
Gareth Southgate chose the right time to end his England tenure, though he will go down as a Three Lions "legend".
That is according to Southgate's former international team-mate Darren Anderton.
The Football Association (FA) confirmed on Tuesday that Southgate had decided to walk away from his role following the 2-1 Euro 2024 final defeat against Spain.
Southgate, who took charge in 2016, guided his national side to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018, as well as back-to-back Euros finals – becoming the first manager to lose two European Championship showpiece matches.
Anderton, a team-mate of Southgate with England at Euro 1996, believes the time was right.
"I think he's been getting a lot of stick. He's been involved since 2011 with the FA and now eight years as the manager," Anderton told Stats Perform.
"I feel like he's more negative within the job, the pressure of it, I think is what causes that. From where he took over, we're in an incredible place with fantastic players."
Southgate appeared to grow tired of the repeated negativity surrounding his side at Euro 2024.
Anderton understands some of the frustration, but thinks Southgate will go down as one of England's great managers.
"There's been a lot of negativity and I think rightly so, the standard and the style of football hasn't been what we would hope or what it was when Gareth first took over," Anderton added.
"I feel that he's done a great job and as he said, time for a change. People always say it's the hardest job in the world and he's had a right go at it and been very close to creating history, but he has great history.
"I mean, two finals and that's what he'll be remembered for. I mean at the moment I think everyone's very negative about it but I think you know as time goes on he'll be remembered as a legend."
England are also the first side to ever lose back-to-back Euros, though Anderton does not believe that unwanted feat will tarnish Southgate's legacy.
"I think it'll be a success," Anderton said when asked how Southgate will be remembered.
"At the moment we see it as a failure because I believe that we had the players and the capabilities to win the tournaments.
"The fact that we haven't done because you know possibly the manner of football that we've played is obviously really disappointing.
"When you watch that Spanish team play and win seven games on the bounce and play with that freedom, I think if we had played in the same way, I think that we would have seen better performances and probably had more chance of winning the tournament.
"That criticism is fair but also the expectation has obviously gone up because of what Gareth's teams have achieved. When that happens, you know, you go into the tournaments, you're favourites, that wasn't the case before he came.
"We were in a really awful position. Eight years ago, if we go into a tournament, and we think we're going to get to a final or a semi-final World Cup, no one cares how we play.
"I think now the expectation has changed based on what he has achieved, and people want more. And that's just the nature of the beast."
Southgate won 61 of his 102 matches in charge of the national team, with 14 of those victories coming at major tournaments.
Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino are said to be the early targets for the FA, though England Under-21s boss Lee Carsley could also be in the frame.
LA Galaxy v Colorado Rapids: Vanney demands more aggression after Dallas defeat
Greg Vanney hit out at a "purposeless" first-half display from his LA Galaxy side after their 2-0 loss to FC Dallas.
The Galaxy, who are third in the Western Conference, have now lost two of their last three games following that defeat to Dallas last time out.
They host the Colorado Rapids, who are one place and five points behind them in the West, next.
And Vanney wants a more aggressive performance.
"We were purposeless in the first half," Vanney said after the Dallas defeat, as reported by The Galactic Tribune.
"It's like we were going to win the game putting together ten thousand passes and going nowhere and that is what we said at half time.
"We were down 2-0 because we deserved to be down 2-0. We had three shots in the first half, all of them from 25 yards away.
"It just comes down to the overall aggressiveness of our group."
Wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil could not wield their usual influence on proceedings in the first half against Dallas, though Vanney believes the Galaxy stumbled on a solution after the break.
He added: "In the second half, we were able to get [Pec and Paintsil] better looks.
"One-on-one situations or getting them on the run so they're attacking aggressively, and then they have an impact on the game. We've got to do more of that. I'm not interested in being a possession team for the sake of passing the ball around.
"We need to use possession to put the opposition on their heels to score goals to bury them and make them feel like we're relentlessly coming at them, not so they can set up and be comfortable and turn us over and go the other way."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LA Galaxy - Gabriel Pec
Pec has been involved in a goal in nine straight home matches (8 goals, 6 assists), equalling the longest single-season streak in Galaxy history (Landon Donovan in 2005, Robbie Keane in 2012).
Keane had a streak of 10 straight home matches with a goal contribution spanning the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Colorado Rapids - Jonathan Lewis
Lewis has scored four goals in nine career matches against the Galaxy while not scoring more than twice against any other opponent.
All four of those goals were scored at Dignity Health Sports Park, including one in Colorado's 3-1 win at the Galaxy last May.
MATCH PREDICTION: LA GALAXY WIN
Colorado have lost only one of their last seven matches (W5 D1) conceding three goals in that lone defeat (at Los Angeles FC) and conceding a total of four goals in the other six games, not allowing more than one in any of them.
The Galaxy have won seven of their last nine home matches (D1 L1) with the only loss in that time coming at the Rose Bowl against LAFC. LA have not lost at Dignity Health Sports Park since a 4-1 defeat to Dallas last October, avoiding defeat in 10 straight matches in Carson (W7 D3) since.
Colorado, however, have won seven of their last 11 matches against the Galaxy (D3 L1) dating back to 2018. The Rapids had won six of their previous 24 meetings with the Galaxy in all competitions dating back to April 2009.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
LA Galaxy - 53.7%
Colorado Rapids - 22.6%
Draw - 23.8%
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