The Crew (0-0-1, 1 pt.) head down to south to take on CF Montreal (1-0-1, 4 pts.) at DRV PNK Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as the Canadian club continues to play its "home" matches from the Sunshine State.
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Montreal has won three of its last four matches against Columbus, including a 2-1 victory at Historic Crew Stadium against the eventual MLS Cup Champions last October. The Crew had gone unbeaten in five straight against Montreal (W3 D2) prior to this run.
Columbus is coming off Wednesday's 2-2 home draw against Liga MX-side CF Monterrey in Leg One of the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals, with Lucas Zelarayan and Milton Valenzuela bagging goals for the Black & Gold.
Meanwhile, Montreal opened its season with a win and a draw for the second straight year. Montreal has gone unbeaten through three matches of a season just once in its history, winning its first four games to begin the 2013 campaign.
Columbus drew Philadelphia, 0-0, to open the 2021 MLS regular-season back on April 18. The only time the Crew have gone scoreless in their first two matches of a season or kept a clean sheet in their first two matches of a season was in 2007, when they played scoreless draws against the New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake to begin the campaign.
Montreal's Mason Toye has scored in each of their first two matches this season. This is the third straight season that a Montreal player has scored in the team’s first two matches of a season after Maximiliano Urruti in 2020 and Saphir Taider before him in 2019. On the other side, Zelarayan (3 shots, 3 chances created) was directly involved in half of the Crew’s 12 shots in the Club's season-opening draw with Philadelphia back in Week 1, in addition to scoring and providing an assist in Wednesday's draw vs. Monterrey.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on Bally Sports Ohio and 97.1 FM The Fan.
