Crew SC will host the Colorado Rapids in its 10th regular season and fifth home match of 2016 on Saturday night. Here’s everything you need to know leading up to this year's lone regular season meeting between Columbus and Colorado.
LAST THREE REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS
05/11/2013 CLB 0 vs. COL: 2 L MAPFRE Stadium
07/04/2014 CLB 1 at COL: 1 D Dick's Sporting Goods Park
08/08/2015 CLB 2 at COL: 1 W Dick's Sporting Goods Park
BLACK & GOLD DEFEAT VERACRUZ IN INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY
On Wednesday evening at MAPFRE Stadium, Crew SC defeated Liga MX side Veracruz in an international friendly. Goalkeeper Brad Stuver registered a clean sheet with five saves for the Black & Gold, while Ola Kamara notched the match's only goal. The victory moved Crew SC's all-time record in international friendlies to 11-6-3.
INDIVIDUAL MAPFRE STADIUM DEBUTS DURING FRIENDLY
Emil Larsen, Marshall Hollingsworth and Conor Casey all made their MAPFRE Stadium on-field debuts in the match against Veracruz. Larsen and Casey previously made their MLS regular-season debuts for Crew SC earlier this year, both coming on the road.
HIGUAIN APPROACHING CORNER KICKS RECORD
Crew SC midfielder Federico Higuain is closing in on the most regular-season corner kicks in club history. The Argentine has sent in 44 corner kicks this season, putting him at 481 for his Black & Gold career. Higuain only trails Robert Warzycha for most regular-season corners taken in the history of the club, who has 503.
CREW SC LEADS MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER IN PASSING ACCURACY
According to the League’s official statistician, Opta, Columbus Crew SC currently leads MLS in overall passing accuracy (82.5%). Columbus also leads the League in completed passes per match (405) and ranks second in passes attempted per match (490.7).
BLACK & GOLD PLAYERS LEAD MLS IN PASSING STATISTICS
Through his first nine matches in the 2016 Major League Soccer regular season, Crew SC midfielder Wil Trapp leads the League in successful passes per match, with 63. Meanwhile, Federico Higuain and Trapp rank in the top six in MLS in successful passes in the opposing half (300 and 266, respectively). Finally, among players with at least 100 passes attempted, Mohammed Saeid leads all of MLS in passing accuracy (93.0%).
CASEY, WAHL TO MEET FORMER TEAM IN RAPIDS
Two current members of Crew SC have ties to the Colorado Rapids, with both forward Conor Casey and defender Tyson Wahl having been previous members of the club. Casey, a native of Denver, played for Colorado from 2007-2012, making 119 appearances for the club while scoring 50 goals. In 2010, he fueled the Rapids to their first-ever MLS Cup title, scoring his first career postseason goal in the Second Leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Columbus, converting a penalty in the deciding shootout. He was named the MLS Cup MVP after scoring the tying goal in the 57th minute of the 2010 MLS Cup final against FC Dallas. Meanwhile, Wahl played for Colorado in 2012, making four appearances with one assist.
TOP DRAWER SOCCER: TRAPP "THE NEXT EVOLUTION OF THE AMERICAN HOLDING MIDFIELDER"
At TopDrawerSoccer.com, Will Parchman called Crew SC Homegrown Player Wil Trapp "the next evolution of the American holding midfielder” From the piece: "The point though, or the thing that Trapp has taught us, is that the U.S. has its next evolutionary chain on its Darwinian chart of slowly morphing deep central midfielders. What we didn’t know until now was that Bradley was the link mid-evolution. He was not quite as heavy-footed as Kyle Beckerman and not quite as creatively and distributively inclined as Wil Trapp. So we miscast him until he was playing all the parts. That cannot hap- pen with Trapp. He must be allowed to develop as he has been. Because if his progression is allowed to continue unabated and he is not shoehorned into some rumor of an antiquated role unfit for his skill set, we will be talking about Trapp as the American answer to the game’s unabated modern march forward."
WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN
Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. ET start is available via regional television on The CW Columbus, Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and BCSN2. Neil Sika (play-by-play), Dwight Burgess (analyst) and Alex Stec (sideline) are set to have the call of the match on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and BCSN2, “Crew SC Matchday,” the exclusive pre-match show, starts at 7:00 p.m. ET with Marisa Contipelli and Chris Doran, and “Crew SC Post- Match” immediately follows the action only on TWCSC and BCSN2. The CW Columbus' broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. ET. Locally, the contest is available via the radio in English on CD102.5 FM and in Spanish on La Mega 103.1 FM. The English radio broadcast also is set to stream live on ColumbusCrewSC.com. A complete list of places to catch the Black & Gold on TV is available here. The game can be watched internationally via the following: Abu Dhabi Sports, BeIN Sports Australia, Eurosport.
