Minnesota United vs Columbus Crew
Major League Soccer
Date: Wednesday, 5th July 2017
Kick off at 00:00 UK/ 01:00 CET
Venue: TCF Bank Stadium.
The same Crew SC side that lost just one of their first five matches to open the season have but two wins in their last seven MLS outings and are out of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup competition after getting bounced by USL upstart FC Cincinnati in the Fourth Round. They are currently clinging to the sixth and final playoff spot in the East (8W-10L-1D, 25pts), but the competition is right on their heels with multiple games in hand.
Given the usual struggles that expansion teams experience, Crew SC's Independence Day match at Minnesota United would seem to be just what's needed to get them back on track. But as woeful as United have been on the road this year, going winless in 10 across all competitions so far (0W-8L-2D), they've been a decent 5-3-1 at home and are just four points below the playoff line in a weaker-than-usual Western Conference.
Also, the Loons will be playing on two extra days' rest. In other words, don't ring this one up as a much-needed road victory for Crew SC until the postmatch fireworks start going up.
Minnesota United
The English manager Adrian Heath is well aware of the limitations in his squad. We primarily refer to the defensive line which has been super vulnerable as Minnesota is the team with most conceded goals so far in the season in the entire MLS.
The latest of the failures for Heath and his men came on Friday evening when New York City put three goals past Minnesota to leave them at the tenth position of the Western Conference standings.
Columbus Crew
Columbus managed to end the series of negative results last weekend when they saw off Montreal Impact 4-1 on the home patch.
However, the Crew quickly returned to the old habits by suffering the second loss to Atlanta United in only two weeks.
The team is now on the brink of getting out of the playoffs zone after somewhat of a promising start to the new season.
Minnesota United vs Columbus Crew: Head to head
The two sides have not had the chance to meet each other previously.
Minnesota United vs Columbus Crew: Prediction
Columbus Crew are one of the worst visitors in the league as they have lost each of their last five games away from MAPFRE Stadium.
We doubt that Minnesota will fail to take advantage of Columbus’ poor form and we must see the value in chasing the hosts to grab three points at the odds of 13/8.
