Predictions: Crew (H) v. NYRB

Good Morning,

The Columbus Crew are playing Red Bulls tonight at Crew Stadium under a wounded but functional scoreboard. Early 4:00 PM EST kickoff (Reserve game to follow). Game is 'nationally televised' on NBC Sports network.

::NOTES::
-Crew looking for 1st consecutive wins since Sept 1 last year (16 games). Only TFC longer (22 games).
-2nd consecutive home match out of 3 for the Crew.
-NY embarrassed CLB in this fixture last year, 4:1
-NY on mini hot streak, have won 3 out of last 4
-Columbus stopped a D,D,L slide without Arrieta, win 3:0 over DC last week
-NY beat same DC team in DC 2:0 4 weeks ago.

::PREDICTIONS::
Starting with a doozy over at Win Draw Win. Their impressively accurate 'your vote' section (greater than 60% accurate with CLB games) has Crew almost as a sure fire win at 65% while NY chances are at a minuscule 7%. On top of that they are claiming large stake on 3:0 Crew. Something appears not quite right, but it is what it is I guess.

The MLSsoccer.com group likes Crew again this week. Four out of six like them to take outright win. Diego Pinzon (Draw) and Jason Saghini (NY Win) dissenting. Matt Doyle, most accurate at 46% (rest of group 37-41%) has the Crew winning.

Over at Goal.com, where there doesn't appear to be many vote, we see the fan's taking NY today with 61.5% of the vote. Draw least likely at 15.4%.

Columbus is odds on favorite at Bet365 this morning at 7/5. Draw 23/10 and NY win 19/10. Normal MLS odds on scorelines.

Lastly, Crew beat writer and 'area man' seems to be optimistic about this one. He also says that this could even tell the world that "the Crew is a serious contender" in the East if get a win here.

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::MY THOUGHTS::
The long dry consecutive wins streak for the Crew is troubling.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Crew play, once again, not to lose. Outside of Robert Warzycha's normal propensity to play that way, this fixture last year rattled this Crew team after the 4:1 beating. Crew went on to lose three and draw two in their next five matches which absolutely set them way back on the year.

This year is a little different for the Crew as they have had more games as a group together. More pre-season and regular season matches to become a lot more consistent. In fact, this is probably the most consistent I've seen the Crew this year. Even with Viana out at left back, he is getting replaced with Tyson Wahl, who was playing that spot earlier this year.

Result? The biggest problem for this NY team sometimes seems to be level of interest but shouldn't be a problem here because it will be the NBC Sports national game.

If the Crew play more open and someone scores in the first, say, 25 mins this one could be a really fun one to watch. Maybe a 2:2 or 3:2 type game. If not? Look for this to turn into a counter attacking 'spring Henry' or 'spring free Arrieta and Oduro' type thing.

Tough one to call. One thing is for sure, look for Glauber to get his next yellow (suspending him for next match) pulling down Henry on the break.

How about this one has 4 goals in it, split even.