Columbus Crew SC will be at MAPFRE Stadium again to host Orlando City in its 20th overall and 11th home match of the regular season. Here is everything you need to know looking ahead of the first of two regular-season meetings between Crew SC and Orlando.
LAST THREE REGULAR-SEASON MEETINGS
04/18/2015 CLB 3 vs. ORL 0 W: MAPFRE Stadium
05/30/2015 CLB 2 at ORL 2 D: Camping World Stadium
08/01/2015 CLB 2 at ORL 5 L: Camping World Stadium
BLACK & GOLD NINE-MATCH HOME REGULAR-SEASON UNBEATEN STREAK THEIR LONGEST SINCE 2012
Following a 1-1 draw against D.C. United on Saturday, July 16, Columbus is currently on an active nine-match unbeaten streak at home. The streak dates back to April 16 of this year when Columbus defeated New York City FC at MAPFRE Stadium. The nine-contest streak is the longest such run by the Black & Gold since 2012, when Crew SC went on a 12-match unbeaten run at MAPFRE Stadium that began on July 21, 2012 and extended into the 2013 season, through April 27 of that year. This is the seventh time in Black & Gold history that the team has gone on a home regular-season unbeaten streak of at least nine games. The club record is 22 matches, a streak that began on June 28, 2008 through September 26, 2009.
PARKHURST MAKES 200TH MLS REGULAR-SEASON APPEARANCE, IS ONE AWAY FROM 200 REGULAR-SEASON STARTS
Against D.C. United last Saturday, Crew SC Captain and defender Michael Parkhurst made his 200th MLS regular-season appearance. In doing so, he became the 117th player to ever make 200 MLS regular-season appearances. 85 of those appearances have been for Columbus since joining ahead of the 2014 season. Parkhurst's next start will be the 200th of his regular-season career. Real Salt Lake's Tony Beltran is tied with Parkhurst at 199 starts; should Beltran reach 200 on Friday night, Parkhurst would be looking to become the 87th player to ever reach the milestone.
KAMARA STRIKES FOR NINTH GOAL, REMAINS MOST EFFICIENT GOAL-SCORER IN MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER 2016, BLACK & GOLD HISTORY
Crew SC forward Ola Kamara scored his ninth goal of the 2016 MLS regular-season against D.C. United last Saturday and has now scored nine goals in 879 minutes played for the club, giving him a goals/90 minutes rate of 0.92. That figure leads MLS among all 377 players with at least 200 minutes played. Kamara also leads Stern John (0.89 goals/90 minutes) for the highest efficiency in club history.
KAMARA IS LEAGUE'S LEADING GOAL-SCORER SINCE HIS FIRST TALLY
In scoring his ninth goal of the 2016 MLS regular-season last weekend against D.C. United, Crew SC forward Ola Kamara is on a streak of scoring at least one goal in six out of his last eight appearances. His first Major League Soccer regular-season goal came as part of a hat trick on May 28, 2016 against Real Salt Lake. Since that date, Kamara continues to lead all of Major League Soccer in goals. The Norwegian is currently three ahead of Philadelphia's Roland Alberg in that regard.
AFFUL SEES RED CARD RESCINDED, ELIGIBLE TO PLAY AGAINST ORLANDO
The Independent Review Panel has rescinded the fine and one-game suspension for the red card issued to Crew SC defender Harrison Afful last weekend against D.C. United. As a result, Afful is eligible to play in this match against Orlando.
STEVE CLARK NEARING 300 SAVE MILESTONE
Against D.C. United last weekend, Crew SC goalkeeper Steve Clark registered four saves, bringing his career total to 294. That places him just six shy of becoming the third goalkeeper in Columbus history to reach the 300 plateau (Hesmer, 412 and Busch, 367). Clark has registered six-or-more saves in a single match on 14 different occasions throughout his MLS regular-season career.
CREW SC LEADS MLS IN POSSESSION
According to the League’s official statistician, Opta, Columbus Crew SC leads MLS in possession (55.84%)
BLACK & GOLD TOP-TWO IN MLS IN PASSING ACCURACY, COMPLETED PASSES PER MATCH
According to Opta, Crew SC ranks second in MLS in overall passing accuracy and successful passes per match. Columbus is one of just two MLS teams passing above an 80% accuracy rate as well as one of two clubs completing over 390 passes per game (joining Seattle in both regards).
WHERE TO WATCH/LISTEN
Saturday's 7:30 p.m. ET start is available via regional television on The CW Columbus, Time Warner Cable SportsChannel and BCSN2. Neil Sika (play-by-play), Dwight Burgess (analyst) and Alex Stec (sideline) 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 7:00 p.m. ET with Marisa Contipelli and Chris Doran, and “Crew SC Post-Match” immediately follows the action only on TWCSC and BCSN2. The CW Columbus' broadcast begins at 7:30 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. Internationally, the match can be viewed via the following: Globosat, TVN, Abu Dhabi Sports, LE Sports, Starhub, BeIn Sports Australia, BeIN Sports Asia, Sportscast, Eurosport.
