MLS continues Wednesday, Oct. 7, with 25 games through Sunday, Oct. 11, including the game of the week between Los Angeles FC and the Seattle Sounders.

Major League Soccer entered its crammed end of the year schedule in late September in its efforts to crown a team champions in the MLS Cup final scheduled for Dec. 12, 2020. 

Twenty-five games will take place from Wednesday through Sunday across the United States. Three of the 25 games will be nationally televised, including the game of the week between LAFC and the Seattle Sounders, which will be available on ESPN and ESPN Deportes USA. 

The two other fixtures that will be nationally televised are Inter Miami taking on the Houston Dynamo and Colorado Rapids hosting LA Galaxy through, both scheduled for Saturday through Spanish-language channel TUDN USA.

The remaining 22 games will be televised regionally and available exclusively on streaming platforms, including MLSsoccer.com, ESPN+ and fuboTV.

MLS news and transfers

The month started with Minnesota United striker Mason Toye being traded to the Montreal Impact in exchange for $600,000 General Allocation Money and a 2021 MLS SuperDraft second-round selection. The 21-year-old was not happy with head coach Adrian Heath's decision to choose veteran forward Kei Kamara, who arrived at the club in September, over him in the last two games. As a result, Toye decided to join his childhood hero Thierry Henry at the Montreal Impact.

On other transfer news, The Columbus Crew reinforced their forward options as they look to clinch the MLS Supporters Shield by signing Hungarian forward Krisztian Nemeth from Slovakian side FC DAC 1904 Dunajska Streda. Nemeth is a familiar name to those who have been following the MLS for some time now, having played for Sporting Kansas City twice before and with the New England Revolution. The veteran striker scored 20 goals and dished out 12 assists across 4,625 minutes in 82 games.

And to end the transfer news, New York City FC head coach Ronny Deila opened-up about rumors surrounding the departure DP Alexandru Mitrita after a Saudi Arabian media member suggested that he could be on his way to Al-Ahli. Sam Stejskal from the Athletic confirmed that there are advanced for a loan deal for Mitrita.

Moving on from transfers, Orlando City's 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls was the second-most watched game on U.S. TV last week, recieving a 0.32 viewership rating and drawing a total of 531,000 viewers.

Game of the week: LAFC vs Seattle Sounders

The Western Conference frontrunner Seattle Sounders and the league's top-scoring side Los Angeles FC are set to play at Banc of California Stadium on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. The game will be available on ESPN and ESPN Deportes USA.

The all-time record between these two Western Conference rivals sits at 4W-1D-3L in favor of LAFC.

LAFC

LAFC has failed to defeat the Sounders on two occasions since the 4-1 round of 16 win at the MLS is Back tournament in Orlando. Since the restart, Seattle outscored Lost Angeles six goals to one claiming all six possible points. However, this is the perfect time for LAFC to take sweet revenge given that Seattle is on the race with four Eastern Conference teams – Columbus Crew, Toronto FC, Orlando City, Philadelphia Union – to secure the MLS Supporters Shield. 

Bob Bradley's side is coming off a 3-1 away win over Real Salt Lake last Sunday. The three starting forwards, Diego Rossi, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Brian Rodriguez, scored a goal apiece, further proving the volatile tools that LA has upfront. They have scored more goals – 35 – than any other team in the competition. Yet, they have the third-worst defense, having conceded 30 goals in just 16 games.

The key for LAFC in this game is to try and outscore the Sounders, which will be a difficult task given that they are one of the most composed defensive teams in the MLS. Moreover, Carlos Vela will not be available due to injury and Rossi will not be available either because of international duty with Uruguay.

Seattle Sounders

Brian Schmetzer and the Seattle Sounders are looking for a near-perfect MLS regular season finish first in the Western Conference and secure the Supporters Shield. A first-place finish would mean that Seattle would play the winner of the play-in round against either the eighth or ninth seed. Being the current MLS champions, the Sounders could become the third team in the competition's history to win the MLS Cup in consecutive years. 

Seattle won its last two matches 3-1 against Vancouver and LA Galaxy. In those two games, the attacking four made up of Raul Ruidiaz, Jordan Morris, Nicolas Lodeiro and Christian Roldan were all involved in the scoring. However, Ruidiaz will not be available for Seattle as he will be representing Peru in the World Cup qualifiers. Forward Will Bruin will most likely be his replacement for the game.

Talk of the Week: Mini-pitches honoring Black Players for Change in New Jersey high schools

West Side High School became New Jersey's newest soccer shrine for youth in minority communities. Two mini-pitches were unveiled honoring Black Players for Change in conjunction with those from the New York Red Bulls and the U.S. Soccer Foundation.

These two mini-pitches are the first of 20 that are scheduled to be built in order to increase safe-space access to play and soccer-based programming at Newark Public Schools. The goal is to attract more than 2,500 Newmark students in the U.S. Soccer Foundation's Soccer for Success program.

The fields are surrounded by posters of prominent black athletes, including some from New York Red Bulls' history. Each mini-pitch includes lighting, fencing, lockable storage units and ADA-compliant access. 

Adidas will partner with Black Players for Change, Musco Lighting and the U.S. Soccer Foundation to create at least 12 mini-pitches in the area over the next year.

Kickoff times, dates and broadcast channels/streams for MLS matches from Oct. 7-11

Wednesday, 7 October
Live
+
7:00pm
Atlanta United 0 - 0 Orlando City SC
Live
+
7:00pm
New York RB 1 - 2 Inter Miami
Live
+
7:30pm
Columbus Crew 1 - 2 CF Montréal
Live
+
7:30pm
New England 0 - 1 Toronto FC
Live
+
7:30pm
Philadelphia Union 3 - 0 Cincinnati
Live
+
8:00pm
Houston Dynamo 2 - 0 Dallas
Live
+
8:15pm
New York City 4 - 1 DC United
Live
+
8:30pm
Sporting KC 1 - 0 Chicago Fire
Live
+
10:00pm
Seattle Sounders FC 2 - 1 Real Salt Lake
Live
+
10:30pm
LA Galaxy 3 - 6 Portland Timbers
Live
+
10:30pm
SJ Earthquakes 3 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
Thursday, 8 October
Postp.
Colorado Rapids vs Los Angeles FC
Saturday, 10 October
Postp.
Colorado Rapids vs LA Galaxy
Live
+
5:00pm
Inter Miami 1 - 0 Houston Dynamo
Live
+
10:00pm
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 1 Real Salt Lake
Sunday, 11 October
Live
+
TBA
Atlanta United 0 - 1 New York RB
Postp.
Orlando City SC vs Columbus Crew
Live
+
4:30pm
New York City 1 - 2 New England
Live
+
7:00pm
Los Angeles FC 3 - 1 Seattle Sounders FC
Live
+
7:30pm
Chicago Fire 2 - 1 DC United
Live
+
7:30pm
Cincinnati 0 - 1 Toronto FC
Live
+
7:30pm
Philadelphia Union 2 - 1 CF Montréal
Live
+
7:30pm
Sporting KC 2 - 1 Nashville SC