Columbus Crew host Colorado Rapids at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field on Saturday, September 5 (7:30 PM ET \/ 6:30 PM CT \/ 4:30 PM PT).<\/p>\n
Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids both go into this one with no fresh absences flagged, so the shape of this preview leans on the players already carrying the goal threat for each side. For Columbus, D\u00e1niel Gazdag is the header of the team news: 3 goals from 15 shots, 5 of them on target, make him the clear focal point, while Taha Habroune’s 34 chances created show how central he is to whatever build-up play the hosts produce. Colorado’s setup should again run through Rafael Navarro Leal, who leads the group with 10 goals from 67 shots, and Paxten Reid Aaronson, who has created a team-high 39 chances from further back.<\/p>\n
Columbus sit 15th in the East with 20 points from 22 games and have lost 4 of their last 5, including Saturday’s 1-3 home defeat to New England Revolution. Colorado are seventh in the West on 31 points from 22 games and firmly in the playoff picture, arriving off the back of a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake, though a 3-0 loss at San Diego FC is a reminder they are not immune to blanks on the road. Neither side’s underlying numbers \u2014 an East-worst -8 goal difference for Columbus against a +3 mark for Colorado \u2014 suggest an open game, and this looks set to be decided by a single moment rather than a shootout.<\/p>\n\n\n