New York Red Bulls vs Montreal: the Field Factor Will Be Decisive Again

In the next round of the MLS regular season, the New York Bulls will meet with Montreal. The rivals have had different starts to the season, with the home team battling for the lead with Philadelphia, while the Canadiens are grazing the underdogs in the Eastern Conference standings. Not surprisingly, the Bulls are quoted as the notable favorites.

After a 0:1 home loss to Minnesota, the Bulls played two games in the MLS regular season, a 1:1 draw with Columbus Crew in a home game and a close 1:0 away win over New England Revolution. Before the reporting round, the Bulls are in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, 10 points being three points behind the leading Philadelphia. Overall, the Bulls have three victories in five games with one defeat and one tie. The home stats are only 12th in the conference, with one point after two encounters played.

The Canadians reached the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF, but at this stage, they lost on the sum of two matches to the Mexican team Cruz Azul. After dropping out of the international tournament, Montreal played two MLS matches: a 3:3 draw with Atlanta on the road and an away win over Cincinnati, also an away game. With four points the Canadiens occupy 13th place in the Eastern Conference standings on a goal differential of 9:14. However, Montreal has started to pick up points since dropping out of the Champions League, so the Bulls shouldn't expect easy walk on Saturday.

We've been noticing that the home-field factor plays a big part in the New York Red Bulls-Montreal matchups. The Bulls haven't had a big start to the season, but they've been scoring consistently and battling for the lead over Union. Whereas the Canadians failed to open the season, betting on the CONCACAF Champions League and leaving the tournament after the quarterfinals. Now they are back on track, but we think the field factor will be decisive in determining the result.

The last match between our teams ended up scoreless. However, before that the Bulls and the Canadians for seven consecutive games reached the total over (2.5). We think that the match will be productive, but we won't see more than three goals in the upcoming meeting.

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