Columbus Crew forward Federico Higuain (10) dribbles away from Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley. (Photo : Reuters)
In a battle of third placers from both Major League Soccer conferences, Eastern squad Columbus Crew SC (9-8-7, 34 points) meets Western club Sporting Kansas City (11-4-7, 40 points) for a regular season game at the MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus Ohio on Saturday, August 22.
The Crew, who is tied at the no. 3 spot with the New England Revolution, will try to move on and close the gap between them and East second placers New York Red Bulls with three points and a win over Sporting KC. The Bulls currently has 39 points to pace the Eastern Conference with DC United, who is leading the entire league with 44 points.
Gregg Berhalter's boys turned back the Colorado Rapids, 2-1, during their last game, via NBC Sports' Pro Soccer Talk. They will face New York City FC on Wednesday also at the MAPFRE Stadium, which has not finished yet as of this writing, before hosting SKC.
Meanwhile, the Wizards most recent match was an improbable 4-3 come from behind victory against West leaders Vancouver Whitecaps last Saturday at their home field of Sporting Park in Kansas City, as reported by ESPN.
Like Columbus, Sporting will have to face the San Jose Earthquakes first at home on Wednesday before their match with CCSC.
The predicted result is a 2-1 upset by the Black and Gold over the Wizards. The Crew is set to put a halt on Sporting's six-game winning streak over their side, and they want to complete it at home.
Columbus Crew starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Clark; Barson, Parkhurst, Wahl, Klute; Tchani, Trapp; Finlay, Higuain, Meram; Kamara
Sporting KC starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Melia; Abdul-Salaam, Myers, Ellis, Medranda; Mustivar, Feilhaber, Nagamura; Hallisey, Peterson, Dwyer
