Orlando City SC vs. Columbus Crew SC | 2020 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 23
Orlando City SC vs. Columbus Crew SC
Exploria Stadium – Orlando
November 4 – 7:30 PM ET

TV: TSN3

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US

LOCAL TV: FOX Sports Ohio, FOX 35 Plus

Orlando City SC and Columbus Crew SC are hoping to lock up a top-four spot in the Eastern Conference and the home game in the 2020 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs that come with it Wednesday night at Exploria Stadium.

Orlando City SC (10W-3L-8D) have won back-to-back games, including 1-0 over the Montreal Impact at Red Bull Arena Sunday. They are level with Columbus at 1.81 points per game, but are in fourth on the most wins tiebreaker. The Crew (11W-5L-5D) put the Philadelphia Union's Supporters' Shield celebration on hold following a 2-1 win at MAPFRE Stadium Sunday afternoon.

Orlando City SC

Daryl Dike's sixth goal of the season, and third in as many games, held up as the lone goal as the Lions defeated struggling Montreal 1-0 at Red Bull Arena Sunday night. The victory moved Orlando a step closer to locking down a critical home playoff game and head into penultimate game of the season having lost just once in their last 15 games.

“As always, proud of the players. Tonight it was a game that was probably missing some precision in the boxes offensively, but in the bright moment Mauro [Pereyra] came and put that beautiful ball to Daryl [Dike] and then we found the goal," Oscar Pareja said after the match. "The other thing that I like is we learned how to win these types of games tonight. We were obviously closer to score more goals in the second half, but they had one chance as well where Pedro [Gallese] kept us in the game. Overall, I like it. The discipline was there. I think we were great today and we had today the personality to get the three points that we needed.”

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Dom Dwyer (F) - knee injury
- OUT: Joao Moutinho (D) - groin injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Joao Moutinho (D), Mauricio Pereyra (M), Rodrigo Schlegel (D)
International duty: None

Columbus Crew SC

Eloy Room was spectacular in goal and Krisztian Nemeth came off the bench to score the decisive goal six minutes from time to lift the Columbus Crew to a 2-1 win over the Union Sunday afternoon. Room made sure the result held up, denying Kacper Przybylko and Jack Elliott with a pair of spectacular saves late. It was an important result for a Columbus side that entered the marquee matchup with one win in their last seven games.

"Playing a team that was at the top of the table who wanted to come in here and be able to celebrate [winning] a Supporters’ Shield, we didn’t want to let that happen," Caleb Porter said after the match. "The guys were not going to let that happen here on our home field. It’s great to get back to looking like us."