Crew Rd 17, Away to Colorado

July 4th means annual away match for the Columbus Crew. This year it is against the Colorado Rapids. Kick off is 9:30 PM EST.

 GAME NOTES 
CLB: Higuain and Trapp recovering, might be limited
CLB: Starters Giancarlo Gonzalez and Waylon Francis still in Brazil
CLB: Crew team rating dropped to 4th worse according to WhoScored
COL: Have won the last 3 between vs Crew
COL: Have won the last 3 at home, all by shutout
COL: Allow 2nd least shots per game (only behind Sporting KC)

 TEN PREDICTIONS 
Number on left is percentage accuracy picking 2014 Columbus Crew results only.

56% WHOSCORED.COM ... COLORADO RAPIDS
Graham Ruthven comfortably most accurate in picking Crew matches this year. His quick take: "The Columbus Crew are languishing in mid-table in the Eastern Conference, having drawn all of their last three games. The Crew will be looking to snap that streak against the Rapids, but with a win rather than a defeat."

50% COLUMBUS DISPATCH ... COLORADO RAPIDS
Lots of good Crew stuff in today's paper, you should go pick it up. Info and quotes on Gonzalez and comments on attendance. Adam Jardy thinks it's difficult to predict a Crew win today in his preview.

44% GOAL.COM ... (no preview yet)

38% MLSSOCCER ... (no picks yet)

38% WIN DRAW WIN ... COLORADO RAPIDS
Heavily Rapids this time. Large stake on 2-0 home win and Crew only getting 14% in the "your votes" (55% Rapids).

31% BET365 ... COLORADO RAPIDS
5/6 odds in Colorado's favor (13/5 draw, 16/5 Crew).

31% HOME TEAM ... COLORADO RAPIDS
Colorado is always a tough place to play but add in a rare Friday kick and likely larger crowd for fireworks and hill gets steeper.

13% TABLE POSITION ... COLORADO RAPIDS
Rapids have a pretty good young team.

--% WV HOOLIGAN ... (no pick)

--% MASSIVE REPORT ... (no pick)
Head over to Massive Report for Patrick Murphy's latest on the Columbus Crew.

 MY PREDICTION 

Dillon Powers, Rapids

Tough to say the Crew can pull this one out with almost half the regular starters either missing or in various stages of injury recovery.

Looking at longer view, Crew 10 and 20 game points per game averages in danger of bottoming out at lows not regularly seen in over 7 years. For this to change the Crew are going to have earn more than a couple wins in the coming weeks. The only thing keeping the team in the hunt is the bingo hopper most of the teams seem to have fallen in to during a World Cup year.