Columbus Crew SC will be on the road for a second-consecutive week as it heads to Gillette Stadium to play the New England Revolution in its 17th overall and ninth away match of regular-season. Here’s everything you need to know leading up to the first of three regular-season meetings between the Black & Gold and the Revs.
LAST THREE REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS
10/04/2014 CLB 1 at NE 2 L: Gillette Stadium
04/11/2015 CLB 0 at NE 0 D: Gillette Stadium
06/24/2015 CLB 2 vs. NE 1 W: MAPFRE Stadium
BLACK & GOLD TO OPEN SEASON SERIES WITH NEW ENGLAND
Columbus begins its 2016 Major League Soccer regular-season series with the New England Revolution in this match. The two MLS original clubs are slated to face-off three times this season. Following Saturday's match in Foxborough, Crew SC returns to Gillette Stadium on Saturday, August 20. New England then comes to MAPFRE Stadium on Sunday, September 25 in a nationally televised match on FS1.
KAMARA LEAGUE'S LEADING GOAL-SCORER SINCE HIS FIRST TALLY
Black & Gold forward Ola Kamara's first Major League Soccer regular-season goal came as part of a hat trick on May 28, 2016 against Real Salt Lake. Since that date, Kamara has registered seven goals, a total that leads Major League Soccer. The Norwegian is currently two ahead of Philadelphia's Roland Alberg in that regard.
KAMARA IS MLS' MOST EFFICIENT GOAL-SCORER; MOST EFFICIENT GOAL-SCORER IN BLACK & GOLD HISTORY
Crew SC forward Ola Kamara has scored seven goals in 609 minutes played for the club, giving him a goals/90 minutes rate of 1.03. That figure leads MLS among all 367 players with at least 200 minutes played. Among the 192 players in Crew SC history with at least 200 minutes played, Kamara also leads Stern John (0.89 goals/90 minutes) for the highest efficiency in club history.
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%). Meanwhile, Homegrown Player Wil Trapp ranks second in the League in successful passes, with 964.
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 385 passes per game (joining Seattle in both regards).
CLARK NOTCHES SIX SAVES, IS NEARING 300
Against Sporting Kansas City, Crew SC goalkeeper Steve Clark registered six saves, the most he has notched in a single contest since May 14, when he totaled six against Colorado. It was the 14th time in Clark's regular-season career that he recorded at least six stops. Clark is now at 287 career saves, placing him just 13 shy of becoming the third goalkeeper in Columbus history to reach the 300 plateau (Hesmer, 412 and Busch, 367).
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) and Dwight Burgess (analyst) 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 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 and to find places to watch the match, check out our list of Crew SC bars. Internationally, the match can be viewed via the following: TVN, Abu Dhabi Sports, LE Sports, BeIN Sports Australia, Eurosport.
