On Sunday, July 3, Columbus Crew SC plays its 16th 2016 MLS regular-season contest and its eighth on the road by visiting Sporting Kansas City at Children's Mercy Park. This is the first and only regular-season meeting between the inter-Conference sides in 2016.
LAST REGULAR-SEASON MEETING
On August 22, 2015, Crew SC scored twice in the final 10 minutes to defeat Sporting KC 3-2 at MAPFRE Stadium. Ethan Finlay, Tony Tchani and Jack McInerney notched the Crew SC goals.
LAST THREE REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS
05/04/2014 CLB 0 at SKC 2: L Children's Mercy Park
07/16/2014 CLB 1 vs. SKC 2: L MAPFRE Stadium
08/22/2015 CLB 3 vs. SKC 2: W MAPFRE Stadium
BLACK & GOLD TO TRAVEL TO KANSAS CITY IN NATIONALLY TELEVISED CLASH
Crew SC is set to appear on FS1 for the first time this season during this match. It is Columbus' second overall national television contest of the year after the season opener at Portland was on ESPN. Crew SC will also be on FS1 on Sunday, September 25 against New England at MAPFRE Stadium.
INTER-CONFERENCE CLASH FOR CREW SC
Crew SC is set to play a Western Conference opponent in Sporting Kansas City for the seventh time in 2016. Following this match, the Black & Gold face-off against an Eastern Conference side in 15 of their remaining 18 regular-season contests. From the West, Crew SC is scheduled to travel to face the LA Galaxy (September 3), while the Black & Gold host the San Jose Earthquakes (August 27) and Vancouver Whitecaps FC (September 10) in Central Ohio later in the current campaign. All three of those matches occur consecutively. Crew SC finishes the regular season with seven straight matches against Eastern Conference opponents.
CLARK TIES JON BUSCH IN ALL-TIME CREW SC STARTS
Against New York, Steve Clark tied Jon Busch for second place in all-time Crew SC regular-season goalkeeper starts. It was Clark's 83rd regular-season start in Black & Gold. Clark's next regular-season start would propel him to solo second place in the category.
KAMARA AMONG MLS' MOST EFFICIENT GOAL-SCORERS
Crew SC forward Ola Kamara has scored five goals in 519 minutes played for the club, giving him a goals/90 minutes rate of 0.87. That figure ranks fourth in MLS among all 92 players with at least two goals in 2016. In all-time Crew SC history, only Stern John (0.89 goals/90 minutes) has a higher efficiency rate among players with at least nine appearances.
SAEID CONTINUES TO BE MLS' MOST ACCURATE PASSER
Among players with at least 100 passes attempted, Crew SC midfielder Mohammed Saeid continues to lead all of MLS in passing accuracy (91.6%), with Rodrigo Saravia in sixth place (90.7%). Meanwhile, Homegrown Player Wil Trapp ranks second in the League in successful passes, with 928.
CREW SC TOP TWO IN MLS IN PASSING ACCURACY, SUCCESSFUL PASSES PER GAME
According to the League’s official statistician, Opta, Columbus Crew SC ranks second in MLS in both overall passing accuracy as well as successful passes per match. Columbus is one of just two MLS teams passing above an 80% accuracy rate as well as one of two clubs completing over 395 passes per game (joining Seattle in both regards).
JIMENEZ ON THE VERGE OF 100 APPEARANCES
Crew SC midfielder/defender Hector Jimenez came on as a second-half substitute in the Black & Gold's last League match against the Red Bulls on June 25. The appearance marked his 99th in all-time MLS regular-season play. Jimenez's next appearance would be his 100th in the League. Jimenez would become the 10th different member of the current Crew SC roster to make 100 League regular-season appearances.
WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN
Sunday's 7:00 p.m. ET start is available via national television on FS1. John Strong (play-by-play), Eric Wynalda (analyst) and Julie Stewart-Binks (sideline) are set to have the call of the match. Locally, the contest is available via the radio in English on CD102.5 FM with Neil Sika (play-by-play) and Dwight Burgess (analyst) on the call, as well as in Spanish on La Mega 103.1 FM with Juan Valladares. 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. Internationally, the match can be viewed via the following: FOX Latin America, Abu Dhabi Sports, LE Sports, BeIN Sports Australia, BeIN Sports Asia, FOX Africa, Eurosport, Sky Sports.
