After Crew SC's midweek 3-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC, Columbus will travel to face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, June 3, with a 9 p.m. ET kickoff. A June 17 match in Atlanta against MLS-expansion side Atlanta United comes next with a 7 p.m. ET kickoff. Crew SC next plays the Montreal Impact at MAPFRE Stadium on Saturday, June 24 with a 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff. Enjoy half-off select beers (for supporters ages 21-and-over), Pepsi products, brats and pretzels through the 15th minute.
concession items subject to change
The Black & Gold welcome German Bundesliga-side and DFB Pokal-finalist Eintracht Frankfurt to MAPFRE Stadium for an international friendly on Monday, July 17. The match is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m.
LAST MATCH RECAP
CREW SC BEATS SEATTLE 3-0
On Wednesday, the Black & Gold hosted Seattle Sounders FC at MAPFRE Stadium. Federico Higuain opened the scoring in the 10th minute by putting away a pass from Hector Jimenez. Justin Meram then doubled the lead for Crew SC in the 21st minute when he received a ball from Wil Trapp and put it past goalkeeper Stefan Frei. Ola Kamara put the result beyond doubt in the 59th minute, combining with Meram and Higuain to make it 3-0 for the hosts. Higuain’s assist on Kamara’s goal was his 40th regular-season assist for the Black & Gold and made him one of only three Crew SC players to have registered at least 40 goals and 40 assists for the club in regular-season action.
CREW SC & COLORADO AT A GLANCE
Columbus Crew SC regular-season record: 12-18-10 (48 GF, 55 GA)
Home games: 8-7-5 (32 GF, 31 GA)
Road games: 4-11-5 (16 GF, 24 GA)
LAST 3 REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS
<p>07/04/2014</p> |
<p>CLB 1 at COL 1</p> |
<p> D</p> |
<p>Dick's Sporting Goods Park</p> |
<p>08/08/2015</p> |
<p>CLB 2 vs. COL 1</p> |
<p> W</p> |
<p>Dick's Sporting Goods Park</p> |
<p>05/14/2016</p> |
<p>CLB 1 vs. COL 1</p> |
<p> D</p> |
<p>MAPFRE Stadium</p> |
CREW SC FACES THE RAPIDS
Saturday’s match marks the 41st all-time regular-season meeting between Crew SC and the Colorado Rapids, with the Black & Gold holding an all-time regular-season record of 12-18-10 against the Rapids. Crew SC has scored against the Rapids in the last three meetings between the two clubs, compiling a record of 1-0-2 over that span.
LAST REGULAR-SEASON MEETING
On Saturday, May 14, 2016, Columbus Crew SC hosted the Colorado Rapids at MAPFRE Stadium, playing the Western Conference team to a 1-1 draw. Cedrick Mabwati scored for Crew SC in the 23rd minute, assisted by Harrison Afful. Kevin Doyle then leveled for the Rapids in the 55th minute, salvaging a point for the visitors.
COACHES
Gregg Berhalter (44-42-31, Columbus Crew SC: ‘14 - Present)
vs.
Pablo Mastroeni (35-47-32, Colorado Rapids: ‘14 - Present)
WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN
Saturday’s contest kicks-off at 9 p.m. ET and is set to be televised regionally on The CW Columbus, Spectrum Sports and BCSN2. Neil Sika (play- by-play) and Dwight Burgess (analyst) are set to have the call in English. Coverage on The CW Columbus begins at 9 p.m. ET. Exclusively on Spectrum Sports and BCSN2, “Crew SC Matchday,” the pre-match show, begins at 8:30 p.m. ET, with “Crew SC Post-Match” immediately following the action. 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. The Spanish radio calls are also set to be streamed in Spanish on the LaMega1 App and via Tunein Radio as WVKOFM. The game can be watched internationally via the following: Abu Dhabi Sports (Middle East and North Africa), BeIN Sports (Australia, Asia).
HIGUAIN TIES FOR 3RD PLACE ALL-TIME REGULAR-SEASON GOALS
With his goal against Seattle Sounders FC, Higuain tied Stern John for third place in the list of all-time regular-season goals scored for the Black & Gold with 44 goals. Higuain’s goal also made him the leading scorer against the Sounders, with three goals in four matches against the Western Conference team. Through 14 appearances (all starts) in the 2017 MLS regular season, Higuain has scored five goals and notched five assists, bettering his output of four goals and four assists in 2016.
After the conclusion of the match, Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter gave the following quote on where Higuain stands all-time in Black & Gold history:
“As far as I’m concerned, he would go down as one of the better players, if not the best that ever played for [Crew SC], with another Argentine, a forward and maybe a defender.”
NEWEST 40/40 CLUB MEMBER: FEDERICO HIGUAIN
With his assist in Wednesday’s match against Seattle Sounders FC, Higuain became one of only three players in Crew SC history to have recorded at least 40 goals and 40 assists or more for the club in regular-season action. The other two other players have achieved this feat are Jeff Cunningham (64 goals, 44 assists) and Brian McBride (62 goals, 45 assists). Since joining the club in 2012, Higuain has made 137 regular-season appearances (132 starts) for the Black & Gold, recording 44 goals and 40 assists.
JIMENEZ REACHES MILESTONE WITH CREW SC
Jimenez reached a milestone in Wednesday’s match against the Sounders, as he made his 50th Crew SC start in 78 regular-season appearances for the Black & Gold. Jimenez also registered an assist, providing the helper in Higuain’s goal against Seattle. The midfielder joined the club ahead of the 2014 MLS season and has registered one goal and 11 assists in that time. This year, Jimenez has made six regular-season appearances (five starts) for the Black & Gold.
Following the match, Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter complimented Jimenez’s performance:
“His passing I thought was outstanding in the first half, his competing was outstanding. A play like that, you get a goal out of virtually nothing with a guy just competing and it was great to see from Hector. I think he played a great game.”
IRON MAN: ZACK STEFFEN
Through 15 regular-season matches this year, one player leads the club when it comes to minutes played: Zack Steffen. The goalkeeper has played 1,350 minutes to date, playing every minute of every match for the club in the 2017 MLS season.
Crew SC Sporting Director and Head Coach had this to say of his starting goalkeeper following his shutout against Seattle on Wednesday:
“What I really like about Zack [Steffen] is his calmness, he stays collected, he stays poised and for a young goalie to be that poised and calm is quite remarkable”.
STEFFEN RECORDS 4TH SHUTOUT OF SEASON
Steffen registered his fourth career MLS shutout and seventh career MLS win in Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over Seattle. Steffen made four stops on the night, bringing his regular-season total to 45 saves in the 2017 MLS season. The goalkeeper has started in all 15 of the Black & Gold’s regular-season matches in 2017 and the club is undefeated (4-0-0) in the matches in which he has kept a clean sheet.
MERAM EQUALS CAREER-BEST GOAL TALLY
Meram registered his eighth goal and fifth assist of the regular season in Wednesday’s match against Seattle. With eight goals through 15 regular-season appearances this season, Meram has equaled his career-best output of eight goals from 2014. To date, Meram has tallied 32 goals and 31 assists in 169 regular-season appearances (117 starts). He is currently tied with Kamara as the leading scorer for the Black & Gold in the 2017 MLS regular season.
During the post-match press conference on Wednesday, Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter commented on Meram’s scoring this season:
“One of the things we challenged Justin with in the offseason was scoring more goals. We thought that he got into very good situations last year, we didn’t think he converted enough and the emphasis was on how do we get you scoring more goals, taking more chances and this year he’s done that.”
MERAM CURRENTLY 3RD IN AUDI PLAYER INDEX
Meram is currently in third place in the Audi Player Index standings with a total score of 543. The Audi Player Index tracks and evaluates nearly 90 components and 2,000 player movements for every MLS match to calculate each player’s individual score. At the end of each season, Audi honors the player with the highest Index score with the Audi Player Index Award.
KAMARA & MERAM: JOINT SCORING LEADERS
Currently, forward Kamara and midfielder Meram are tied as joint leading-scorers for the Black & Gold in the 2017 regular season, with eight goals each. Kamara has registered eight goals and one assist in 14 appearances (13 starts), while Meram has notched eight goals and five assists in 15 appearances (all starts). Behind them is midfielder Higuain, who has scored five goals and provided five assists in 14 appearances (all starts) this season.
KAMARA: AMONG MOST LETHAL STRIKERS SINCE 2016
Kamara, who joined Crew SC ahead of the 2016 MLS season, has the 10th highest rate of goals per 90 minutes in MLS since the beginning of last season with a rate of 0.71 goals per 90 minutes. Kamara is ahead of players like David Villa (0.70), Bradley Wright Phillips (0.69), Sebastian Giovinco (0.66), Erick Torres (0.63), Giovani dos Santos (0.55), Juan Agudelo (0.53), Cyle Larin (0.54) and Fanendo Adi (0.53) among others in this category.
TRAPP AMONG TOP PASSERS IN MLS
Through 15 matches in the 2017 MLS regular season, Wil Trapp leads the League in attempted passes (1,098) and in successful passes (1,004) according to Opta. Trapp is currently in second place when it comes to successful passes in the opponents half (483) and touches (1,268). Additionally, Trapp leads the League in passing accuracy for players who have attempted 500 or more passes (91.44%).
CREW SC: PASSING ITS WAY TO THE TOP
After 15 matches in the 2017 MLS season, Crew SC is in first place in the League in terms of touches (10,222), passes (7,555) and completed passes (6.232) according to Opta. The Black & Gold are in second place in the League in passes in the opponent’s half (4,098) and successful passes in the opponent’s half (3,130). Crew SC is in third place in the League in passing accuracy percentage (82.49%).
BLACK & GOLD GOALS: BY THE NUMBERS
Through the first 15 matches of the 2017 MLS season, the Black & Gold have scored a total of 23 goals. So far, Crew SC’s 23 goals have come from five different players: Meram (8), Kamara (8), Higuain (5), Ethan Finlay (1) and Niko Hansen (1). Of those 23 goals, 15 have been scored with the right foot, five have been scored with the left foot and one has been a header; 18 of the 23 goals have been scored from inside the box and five of those goals have been scored from outside the box. Three of the goals have come via penalty kick, two against D.C. United (March 18) and one against Toronto FC (May 10).
ARTUR: MAKING AN IMPACT
Artur returned to the starting lineup in the match against Seattle Sounders FC (May 31) and had eight recoveries, more than any other Crew SC field player that night. He played all 90 minutes of the match, completing 71 passes — second most for the Black & Gold — and getting 81 touches on the ball. Artur also completed three tackles, tying Jimenez for most tackles completed for the Black & Gold against the Sounders.
