With Major League Soccer and Liga MX on hold, we continue to roll through the enthralling Leagues Cup tournament featuring the very best from both Mexico and the United States. Today, we’ll be looking at an encounter in the round of 16 stage as Charlotte FC and Houston Dynamo prepare to collide.
Charlotte Form GuideAs an expansion team, it’s hard for fans to expect all too much from Charlotte in their first few years of existence. It’s all about establishing themselves and when you consider that they probably don’t have the same kind of financial platform as other newcomers to the league, it becomes clear why they’re struggling. Still, they aren’t the worst team in the East, and they can often be enjoyable to watch.
It was a solid start to the campaign for Charlotte as they earned a win and a draw over Dallas and Necaxa to progress into the last 32 of the tournament. In the knockouts, they played out a 0-0 draw with Cruz Azul, before a 4-3 penalty shootout win got them into the next round.
Houston Form GuideDuring their first two seasons of existence, Houston Dynamo were able to win the MLS Cup. While they’ve enjoyed sporadic success since then, it hasn’t really been on the same level as they were once at. They can’t seem to get on the same level as some of the truly elite teams in the West but this season, they’ve done a passable job of turning their ship around, and they aren’t far off the playoff picture.
Houston drew both of their games but after splitting their penalty shootouts against Orlando and Santos Laguna, they just about scraped their way into the knockout rounds. They were made to work hard once again from there, playing out a 5-3 penalty shootout win over Pachuca after a 0-0 draw.
Match PredictionWhen you’re at this stage of a tournament like this, you need to be willing to throw everything against the wall in the hope of coming out on top. We believe Charlotte and Houston subscribe to that theory, and as a result, we’re going to predict that over 2.5 goals will be scored in this game.
