Celtic begin their pre-season tour of the United States with a friendly against MLS side DC United at Audi Field in Washington on Saturday evening, local time.
While the Hoops are preparing for their third friendly fixture of the summer, their American counterparts are over halfway through their 2024 MLS campaign.
Match preview
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After playing out a 1-1 draw with Scott Brown's Ayr United in their opening pre-season game of the summer, Celtic were involved in a 10-goal thriller against Queen's Park a week last Wednesday, coming from behind to win 6-4 at the City Stadium in Glasgow.
Last season's joint-top goalscorers Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O'Riley were both on the scoresheet, the former netted a hat-trick within the first hour, while Oh Hyeon-gyu and youngster Francis Turley both made the net ripple in the second half as Celtic registered their first pre-season victory.
Brendan Rodgers acknowledged that he "wasn't happy" with "lots of elements" of Celtic's first-half display, particularly their pressing which was "no way near the level" expected, but he was pleased with his side's response after the interval.
Celtic have since landed in the States and have had time for a special spot of sightseeing, most notably visiting the White House on Wednesday after accepting their invitation. The Hoops are based in Fairfax, Virginia where they will continue to train over the next week-and-a-half.
Rodgers's side, who won their third successive Scottish Premiership title last season as well as the Scottish Cup, will follow up Saturday's clash with DC United with challenging friendlies against Premier League duo Manchester City and Chelsea in collaboration with FC Series during their time across the pond.
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DC United, meanwhile, are in the thick of their 2024 MLS campaign and enter Saturday's encounter in buoyant mood having recently turned their fortunes around.
After a miserable 11-game wines run, mounting pressure on head coach Troy Lesesne, the Black-and-Red came from behind to beat Nashville 2-1 just four days before securing another comeback victory over Minnesota United, winning 3-2 away from home on Thursday.
Drama unfolded in the final stages of the entertaining contest, with Aaron Herrera netting a 90th-minute equaliser before Christian Benteke scored in the first minute of stoppage time - his second of the match - to snatch all three points.
Victory for Lesesne's side has seen them climb to 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings and with nine league games remaining they sit just one point behind the Final Series playoff positions.
Before gearing up for their next competitive match against Atlanta United in the Leagues Cup on July 27, DC United will turn their attention to this weekend's friendly with Celtic - their first friendly against a European team since losing 6-2 to German giants Bayern Munich in July 2022, and their first against a British club since losing 3-1 to English outfit Everton back in the summer of 2011.
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Team News
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DC United captain and stalwart centre-back Steven Birnbaum has announced his retirement after 11 seasons with the club and the 33-year-old will be honoured in his final match against Celtic on Saturday.
Jackson Hopkins recovered from a back injury to feature as a substitute in the win over Minnesota and could play against Celtic, but Kristian Fletcher (ankle), Conner Antley (knee) and Russell Canouse (Ulcerative colitis) all remain unavailable for selection.
Lesesne is expected to rotate his side throughout the match, but the likes of Benteke, Theodore Ku-DiPietro, Jared Stroud and ex-Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Klich are still set to be involved in some capacity.
As for Celtic, right-back Alistair Johnston is not expected to feature as he has only recently concluded his spell away on international duty with Canada at the 2024 Copa America.
Rodgers has used a mixture of first-team and academy players in the Hoops' opening two friendlies and will do the same on Saturday, while senior stars who were not involved against Queen's Park, including captain Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and Greg Taylor, have all travelled to the States and could feature against DC United.
Finnish goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo became Celtic's first signing of the summer earlier this week and he has also linked up with his new teammates in Virginia, making himself available for this contest.
DC United possible starting lineup:
Bono; Herrera, Birnbaum, Peltola; Dajome, Stroud, Klich, Rodriguez, Santos; Ku-DiPietro, Benteke
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Sinisalo; Tomoki, Welsh, Murray, Taylor; Holm, McGregor, O'Riley; Yang, Furuhashi, Maeda
We say: DC United 2-2 Celtic
Coping with the intense heat and humidity in the States will be a challenge for Celtic as they face a DC United side who appear to have turned a corner at an important stage in their MLS campaign.
Goals are to be expected, but there may be little to separate these two teams in a match that could see the spoils shared, should both sides make mass changes throughout this friendly fixture.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Celtic win with a probability of 64.55%. A win for DC United had a probability of 18.42% and a draw had a probability of 17%.
The most likely scoreline for a Celtic win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.33%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-3 (7.54%) and 0-2 (5.8%). The likeliest DC United win was 2-1 (4.41%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (6.14%). The actual scoreline of 0-4 was predicted with a 3.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Celtic would win this match.
Oliver Thomas
