Columbus Crew SC will head to Philadelphia to face the Union for its 13th match of the regular season and its last match before the two-week Copa America break. Here’s everything you need to know leading up the second regular-season meeting between the Black & Gold and the Union.
LAST THREE REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS
06/03/2015 CLB 0 at PHI 3 L: Talen Energy Stadium
09/12/2015 CLB 2 at PHI 1 W: Talen Energy Stadium
03/12/2016 CLB 1 vs. PHI 2 L: MAPFRE Stadium
OLA KAMARA STRIKES FOR FIRST CREW SC REGULAR-SEASON HAT TRICK IN NEARLY 12 YEARS
On Saturday, May 28 against Real Salt Lake, as part of a 4-3 Black & Gold win, forward Ola Kamara scored in the 17th, 64th and 74th minutes to register his first, second and third career MLS goals as well as Crew SC's first MLS regular-season hat trick since Edson Buddle registered four tallies on September 18, 2004 against the MetroStars.
KAMARA'S 10 SHOTS TIES FOR LEAGUEWIDE SEASON HIGH
Against Real Salt Lake, Ola Kamara fired 10 shots (seven on target) en route to his hat trick. Both are tied for the Major League Soccer leaguewide season high by any one player in any match this campaign. Two other players have notched 10 shots in one match this season (Sebastian Giovinco, David Villa twice) while only Fabian Espindola has matched Kamara's seven shots on target in one clash. Kamara's seven shots on target represented the first Black & Gold single-match performance with at least five shots on goal since Federico Higuain achieved that feat with five on June 22, 2013 against Chicago.
HIGUAIN MOVES UP GAME-WINNING ASSIST CHART
With the game-winning assist to Ola Kamara on a corner kick, Federico Higuain registered his 12th such helper of his Black & Gold regular-season career, breaking a tie with Brian McBride and moving into third place in all- time club history in the category. Higuain trails Robert Warzycha (16) and Jeff Cunningham (14) on the list.
SAEID, SARAVIA TOP THREE IN ALL OF MLS IN PASSING ACCURACY
Among players with at least 100 passes attempted, Crew SC midfielder Mohammed Saeid leads all of MLS in passing accuracy (92.2%), with Rodrigo Saravia in third place (91.5%). Federico Higuain leads MLS in successful passes in the opposing half per game (33), followed by Tony Tchani in fourth and Wil Trapp in eighth. Also, Trapp ranks second in the League in successful passes, with 748.
CREW SC SECOND IN MLS IN COMPLETED PASSES PER MATCH, LEADS LEAGUE IN PASSES PER MATCH
According to the League’s official statistician, Opta, Columbus Crew SC currently ranks second in the League in completed passes per match (402.6) and also leads MLS in passes attempted per match (487.8). The club also ranks second in MLS in overall passing accuracy (82.5%).
LARSEN, SARAVIA CALLED UP
On Monday, May 30, Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter confirmed to reporters at the EAS Training Center at Obetz that Emil Larsen (Denmark Under-23) and Rodrigo Saravia (Guatemela) had earned international call-ups. Larsen joins the U-23s in South Korea for three matches in a preparation tournament before the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Meanwhile, Saravia joins Guatemala before a friendly against Venezuela in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The duo joins Harrison Afful (Ghana) and Cedrick Mabwati (DR Congo) on international duty for Crew SC.
CLARK MAKES PENALTY STOP
On Saturday against Real Salt Lake, Steve Clark stopped a penalty kick attempt from Real Salt Lake's Joao Plata just before halftime. It was the third career spot kick save for Clark in his MLS regular-season career as well as the first for Crew SC since Clark stopped Marco Di Vaio on September 27, 2014.
MERAM NOTCHES SECOND MULTI-ASSIST PERFORMANCE OF 2016
Midfielder Justin Meram registered a two-assist performance in Saturday's match against Real Salt Lake, his second two-helper game of the season. Meram previously accomplished that feat on April 16 against New York City FC. The former University of Michigan player now has two multi-assist matches in his last seven games after not recording any over his first 126 MLS regular-season appearances.
WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN
Wednesday's 7:00 p.m. ET start is available via regional television on The CW Columbus, Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and BCSN2. Neil Sika (play-by-play) and Dwight Burgess (analyst) are set to have the call of the match on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and BCSN2, “Crew SC Matchday,” the exclusive pre-match show, starts at 6:30 p.m. ET with Chris Doran, and “Crew SC Post-Match” immediately follows the action only on TWCSC and BCSN2. The CW Columbus' broadcast begins at 7:00 p.m. ET. Locally, the contest is available via the radio in English on CD102.5 FM and in Spanish on La Mega 103.1 FM. The English radio broadcast also is set to stream live on ColumbusCrewSC.com. A complete list of places to catch the Black & Gold on TV is available here and to find places to watch the match, check out our list of Crew SC bars.
