Columbus Crew SC vs. Real Salt Lake | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

Columbus Crew SC vs. Real Salt Lake
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 18
MAPFRE Stadium — Columbus
June 30 — 7:30 pm ET
WATCH: ESPN+, MLS LIVE on DAZN (Canada)

It’s not quite crisis mode, but Columbus Crew SC are hungry for three points after their winless streak stretched to five matches following a 2-0 loss to LAFC, their second consecutive defeat. They host a Real Salt Lake squad that has one loss in their last five games.

Columbus have lost just once in their last eight games against RSL (4W-3D), scoring multiple goals in all but two of the matches, per Opta.

Columbus Crew SC

For the second consecutive game, Columbus (7-5-6) fell 2-0, done in Saturday night by a brutal opening 10 minutes that saw Laurent Ciman and Adama Diomande give the hosts an early two-goal lead that they did not squander.

Crew SC have failed to score in four of their five defeats this season, though they did have a goal called back due to offside. Gregg Berhalter felt hard done by that decision and the one to allow Diomande’s goal to stand.

“We’re unfortunate today with a couple of decisions I think that could have went our way and didn’t, notably the second goal, to me, the player was in an offside position,” Berhalter said. “And in our goal, it’s hard to see how the player is offside on our goal. You have two instances that changed the game.”

Suspended: D - Milton Valenzuela
Suspended after next caution: M - Federico Higuain
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: GK - Zack Steffen (left knee injury), D - Josh Williams (concussion); QUESTIONABLE: M - Mohammed Abu (left thigh injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Jon Kempin — Harrison Afful, Jonathan Mensah, Lalas Abubakar, Hector Jimenez — Wil Trapp, Artur — Pedro Santos, Federico Higuain, Luis Argudo — Gyasi Zardes

Notes: Federico Higuaín has created 18 chances in June, five more than any other player. … Columbus are winless in their last five league matches (2L-3D), their longest streak in a single season since going winless in 10 straight in the 2016 season.

Real Salt Lake

Statistical dominance didn’t translate into three points for Real Salt Lake (7-7-2), who settled for a frustrating 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Damir Kreilach put RSL in front in the 54th minute with one of eight shots on frame (26 in total), but Danny Hoesen leveled 10 minutes later for the Quakes. Marcelo Silva had a chance to win it at the death for Real Salt Lake, but he bounced his header off the crossbar on the final play of the game.

“We did more than enough to get three points,” Mike Petke said. “You know just like a handful of games this year already, we just couldn’t find the back of the net. You know maybe it’s me, maybe we should do more finishing on goal throughout the week, perhaps.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Marcelo Silva
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Tony Beltran (right knee surgery), M - Jordan Allen (knee injury), GK - Alex Horwath (Achilles surgery), D - Shawn Berry (knee injury), D - Demar Phillips (ankle injury); QUESTIONABLE: M - Luke Mulholland (back injury), F - Joao Plata (back injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Nick Rimnado — Brooks Lennon, Marcelo Silva, Justen Glad, Danilo Acosta — Albert Rusnak, Damir Kreilach, Kyle Beckerman — Jefferson Savarino, Corey Baird, Sebastian Saucedo

Notes: Albert Rusnak has created 99 chances from open play since the start of last season, 13 more than any other MLS player in that time. … Real Salt Lake have won just one of their last 12 away matches in league play dating back to last season (9L-2D), conceding 2.3 goals per game.

All-Time Series

Overall: Columbus Crew SC 11 wins, 31 goals … Real Salt Lake 5 wins, 25 goals … 4 draws
At Columbus: Crew SC 8 wins, 21 goals … Real Salt Lake 1 win, 8 goals … 1 draw
Last meeting at Columbus: Columbus Crew SC 4, Real Salt Lake 3 (May 28, 2016)