German Bundesliga-side and DFB Pokal-finalist Eintracht Frankfurt visits Columbus Crew SC and MAPFRE Stadium for an international friendly on Monday, July 17. The match is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. Before the action kicks off at MAPFRE Stadium, ColumbusCrewSC.com has everything you need to watch once the whistle blows:
Willkommen!
This will be Crew SC’s first match in nearly two weeks due to a Major League Soccer sanctioned break for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter's boys have been lining up against each other in full-team training sessions for more than a week now, and are ready to take the field outside of training.
The Eagles are set to be Crew SC’s 21st all-time international friendly, as well as the fourth German club to visit MAPFRE Stadium, following Hamburger SV (2000), Bayer Leverkusen (2001), and 1. FC Nurnberg (2002). The Black & Gold are undefeated against German teams, holding a record of 3-0-0 and outscoring German opponents by an aggregate score of 15-6.
2017 will be the seventh consecutive summer that an international opponent has visited MAPFRE Stadium. Crew SC is 11-6-3 all-time in international exhibitions, last facing Liga MX club Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz from Mexico in 2016 at MAPFRE Stadium in a clash that the Black & Gold won by a 1-0 score.
Familiar Face
The visitors will be taking on the Black & Gold as a part of their preseason training. You may recognize Frankfurt because of it's American exposure thanks to the Bundesliga's coverage on FOX and one player in particular you might recognize is Timothy Chandler. Chandler, a U.S. Men's National Teamer, has 29 caps and one goal for the USNT. The 27-year-old made 31 starts on defense last season for the Eagles.
Eintracht Frankfurt was founded in 1899 and has won the DFB-Pokal – Germany’s domestic cup – four times (1974, 1975, 1981, 1988), the Bundesliga once (1959), and the Europa League (1979-80) once.
Eintracht finished as finalists in the 2016-17 DFB-Pokal, falling to Borussia Dortmund, 2-1, in the final.
Golden Eagles vs. Bald Eagles
Eintracht Frankfurt is taking on the Black & Gold as a part of their Summer 2017 USA tour in preparations for the 2017/18 Bundesliga season. This is the Eagles first official visit stateside. Columbus will be the Eagles' last stop on their tour, behind the Seattle Sounders (July 8) which ended in a 1-1 draw, and the San Jose Earthquakes (July 14). Eintracht just finished 11th in the Bundesliga table with an overall 11-9-14 record for the 2016-17 season.
Columbus returns to MLS action on Saturday, July 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET at home against the Philadelphia Union.
