New York City FC vs. Columbus Crew SC | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

New York City FC vs. Columbus Crew SC
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 20
Yankee Stadium — Bronx
July 14 - 7 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

Surging New York City FC have their sights set on the Supporters' Shield lead and can at least tie Atlanta United with a win Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, where they have nine wins in 10 games without defeat and have outscored opponents, 25-4.

Columbus Crew SC come to the Bronx having lost three of their last four games, including a 4-0 defeat against the LA Galaxy last Saturday at StubHub Center.

This is the first time the teams have met since last year’s Eastern Conference semifinal series, won by Crew SC, 4-3, on aggregate.

New York City FC

NYCFC (11-4-4) are midway through a stretch of three games in seven days, all against conference opponents and have six points to show from it after besting the Montreal Impact, 3-0, at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night.

After a drab scoreless first half, Jesus Medina, Ronald Matarrita and Jonathan Lewis scored in a 16-minute stretch for NYCFC, which outshot the Impact, 23-3, as Sean Johnson didn’t need to make a save for his seventh clean sheet of the season, matching a career high.

“It wasn’t easy for us because we played in three days two games,” Dome Torrent said. “But I’m impressed with the performance of our players because it seems our players are better physically than the Montreal players.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Alex Ring
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Yangel Herrera (ankle surgery), D - Cedric Hountondji (hamstring injury); QUESTIONABLE: F - David Villa (right knee injury), M - Ismael Tajouri-Shradi (hamstring injury), F - Jo Inge Berget (quad discomfort)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Sean Johnson — Anton Tinnerholm, Sebastian Ibeagha, Alex Callens, Ben Sweat — Alex Ring, Ebenezer Ofori, Maxi Moralez — Jesus Medina, Tommy McNamara, Ronald Matarrita

Columbus Crew SC

For the third time in the last four games, Columbus (8-6-6) were held scoreless as the LA Galaxy cruised to a 4-0 win last Saturday night in Carson. It was Crew SC’s most lopsided loss of the season and worst since a 5-0 defeat to Toronto FC on May 26, 2017.

Ola Kamara burned his former club with the game’s opening goal three minutes before halftime, Zlatan Ibrahimovic made it 2-0 from the penalty spot and Romain Alessandrini came off the bench to strike twice late to close out the scoring.

The match against NYCFC is the first of three straight against conference foes for Crew SC, who on Wednesday traded for former NYCFC forward Patrick Mullins in a deal with D.C. United.

“I think these are big games,” Gregg Berhalter said. “Anytime you play an Eastern Conference opponent, you know you’re in for tough games, you know you’re in for games that can impact the standings. Starting with NYC, our first one, we’ll be prepared.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Federico Higuain
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - Mohammed Abu (left thigh injury), F - Adam Jahn (right knee injury); QUESTIONABLE: D - Jonathan Mensah (concussion)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Zack Steffen — Harrison Afful, Josh Williams, Lalas Abubakar, Milton Valenzuela — Wil Trapp, Artur — Pedro Santos, Federico Higuain, Mike Grella — Gyasi Zardes

All-Time Series

Overall: New York City FC 2 wins, 17 goals … Columbus Crew SC 2 wins, 15 goals … 3 draws
At New York City: NYCFC 1 win, 7 goals … Crew SC 1 win, 5 goals … 1 draw
Last meting at New York City: New York City FC 2, Columbus Crew SC 2 (Oct. 22, 2017)