As the Major League Soccer (MLS) season continues, the New York City FC (NYCFC) and Columbus Crew SC will collide Wednesday at MAPFRE Stadium with both clubs looking to continue their winning ways.
New York City is currently sitting on the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 7–11–6 record and just ended a two-match losing slide when they defeated conference leaders D.C. United (13–8–5) last Thursday at the Yankee Stadium.
D.C. United scored the first goal in the match, but NYCFC rallied in the second half and scored three goals to seal the victory.
The win placed New York City just a point away from the sixth place, which they can achieve when they take on Columbus.
"Thursday's match was really big. We got the three points and we need to continue to move up the table," defender RJ Allen said according to the club's website.
Allen added that the victory was a "morale booster" and "confidence builder;" but they are not where they want to be yet, also citing the importance of their next games.
The man that will be leading the charge for NYCFC against Columbus will be club captain David Villa, who scored his 14th goal against D.C. United and have scored 12 goals in their past 12 matches.
Fellow European stars Frank Lampard and Andre Pirlo are also players to watch out for NYCFC.
Meanwhile, Columbus defeated the Colorado Rapids 2–1 last Aug. 8, improving their record to 9–8–7, which is good enough for the third place in the Eastern Conference.
The man of the moment for the Crew is forward Kei Kamara who has been a scoring machine for the club.
In their past five games, Kamara scored five goals and leads the league with a total of 17; and if he continues with his impressive offensive performance, he will likely be awarded this season's Golden Boot.
NYCFC's defense will surely be focusing on the 30-year-old striker from Sierra Leone, with Allen saying that they need to limit the time and space he will be getting with the ball, adding that someone should apply tight defense on him.
The match will be played on Aug. 19 at 7:30 pm EST and will be shown on Time Warner Cable-Ohio and the Yes Network. The game can be watched online through live stream by clicking here.
