Major League Soccer is down to 4 teams, how do they stack up and who is the favorite in Vegas?

The season started with 18 teams, 10 made it the playoffs and now we are down to the final 4 teams with a shot to claim the 2011 MLS Cup. Each of the 4 teams have lifted the MLS Cup before, 2 have done so twice, both of the Eastern Conference teams won their MLS Cup representing the Western Conference, and RSL won in 2009 representing the Eastern Conference.

If you look at the two conferences we have 2 #1 teams (Los Angeles Galaxy & Sporting Kansas City, a #2 (Houston Dynamo), and a #3 (Real Salt Lake), if you look overall at MLS you have teams #1, #3, #5, and #6 I have to think this might be the strongest final 4 in some time. Last year was #1, #3, #7, and #8,with the #7 team winning it all.

The Los Angeles Galaxy are the strongest team at home with a 12-0-5 record, and they also have the best road record with a 7-5-5 mark, RSL had the second best road form with a 5-8-4 record, Sporting KC had a huge 9-2-5 home record, while Houston was just 2-6-9 on the road this year.

Sporting KC got a 1-1 draw at Houston and won at home by a 3-1 margin, while the LA Galaxy got a 2-1 home win over RSL but lost 4-1 at Rio Tinto.

While I can't find the TI odds online, I did find some MLS odds at Cappers (I think the Vegas odds would be a bit more conservative)

The Eastern Conference odds are:
Sporting Kansas City -110
Houston Dynamo +275

The Western Conference odds are:
Los Angeles Galaxy -150
Real Salt Lake +400

Oh my I am hoping someone will take my winning ticket from the first leg of the RSL/SEA series to Vegas and cash it in and put all of it on Real Salt Lake to win. Those are some huge odds and considering that RSL has matched up very well against LA over the years, 7-7-5 in regular season MLS action and 1-0-0 in MLS post season, I love those odds.

Anyhow it will be interesting to see how the conference finals go, both should be great matches.

OFF MY SOAPBOX