Crew seek pitoval win versus Orlando City (Aug 19, 2017)
The Columbus Crew travel to Orlando City on Saturday to take on the reeling Lions in an Eastern Conference battle with playoff implications for both teams.
Orlando City has recorded just two wins in its last 17 MLS matches and will be without star midfielder Kaka, who is suspended after receiving a red card in the Lions' 3-1 loss to the New York Red Bulls on Sunday. Orlando City is below the red line in eighth place on the Eastern Conference table with 30 points.
The Crew are riding momentum from an impressive 3-1 win over the Chicago Fire, a team ahead of them on the Eastern Conference table. The Crew enter the weekend tied for fifth place in the conference standings with 35 points.
Kekuta Manneh and Justin Meram scored for the Crew against Chicago, and Oli Kamara put away the Fire with penalty kick in the 88th minute. The victory snapped a three-game winless streak by Columbus.
"Anytime you come off a good win like that especially against a rival like Chicago, someone sitting at the top of the East or in the top two positions, the locker room is going to be obviously a lot more at ease," Columbus defender Josh Williams told the team's website this week. "Guys have done a really good job, especially the older ones, of keeping everyone focused and honed in on the next task at hand, which is Orlando. It's been a very good locker room and atmosphere around here. We're looking to go to Orlando and steal some points there and carry it into next week."
While Columbus is looking to solidify and improve its playoff position, Orlando City is on the verge of elimination, despite an enhanced roster. The Lions added striker Dom Dwyer in a blockbuster deal with Sporting Kansas City in late July. But Orlando City has not won since acquiring Dwyer and is dangerously close to being eliminated from playoff contention with 10 games left.
"We've got five games at home, five away, all against opposition we can, should and hope to beat," Orlando City defender Scott Sutter told the team's website. "So, we just got to stay positive, because it's easy to get into a negative mindset at the end of a bad run. We know that we're really close and that there's things that just aren't really stringing our way that we need to just to keep working until they do string our way."
