Two teams in the Eastern Conference of MLS will do battle today in a match between the Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire. The first-division clash scheduled for 5 p.m. ET will be held at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus and can be live streamed here free. Additional TV coverage can be found on ESPN2.
What They're Saying
Columbus Crew midfielder Ethan Finlay (via MLS): "What's more important is where it puts us in the standings right now. There's a lot of teams bunched up right here and Chicago's a team that's in the lower half of the table and we need to take advantage of those teams right now."
Chicago Fire head coach Frank Yallop: "I'm frustrated as hell as well. It [ticks] me off when we don't play well, it [ticks] me off we don't have our players on the field too. You get judged on what you play like. It's not always the true picture, but I can't say anything because it's excuses."
The In-Form Player
Finlay is proving to a distribution weapon for the Crew this season. In 20 appearances, the 24-year-old has nine assists and is averaging 1.2 key passes.
Projected Lineups
Columbus Crew (4-2-3-1): Clark; Francis, Wahl, Parkhurst, Barson; Tchani, Trapp; Meram, Higuain, Finlay; Kamara
Chicago Fire (4-4-2): Johnson; Doody, Polster, Gehrig, Palmer; Shipp, Ritter, Cocis, Stephens; Igboananike, Magee
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
Standings
| Rnk | Team | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Pts | |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FC Dallas | 20 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 28 | 24 | 4 | 35 | |||
| 2 | LA Galaxy | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 36 | 25 | 11 | 34 | |||
| 3 | Sporting Kansas City | 18 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 33 | |||
| 4 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 21 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 24 | 21 | 3 | 33 | |||
| 5 | Seattle Sounders | 21 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 32 | |||
| 6 | Portland Timbers | 21 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 24 | -1 | 32 | |||
| 7 | Real Salt Lake | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 21 | 26 | -5 | 26 | |||
| 8 | San Jose Earthquakes | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 21 | 24 | -3 | 25 | |||
| 9 | Colorado Rapids | 20 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 18 | 19 | -1 | 24 | |||
| 10 | Houston Dynamo | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 24 | 26 | -2 | 24 |
| Rnk | Team | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- | Pts | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC United | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 36 | ||||
| 2 | New York Red Bulls | 19 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 29 | 23 | 6 | 29 | |||
| 3 | Toronto FC | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 28 | 28 | 0 | 27 | |||
| 4 | Columbus Crew | 20 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 28 | 29 | -1 | 27 | |||
| 5 | New England Revolution | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 27 | 33 | -6 | 27 | |||
| 6 | Orlando City SC | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 26 | -3 | 24 | |||
| 7 | Philadelphia Union | 21 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 26 | 34 | -8 | 22 | |||
| 8 | New York City FC | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 24 | 28 | -4 | 21 | |||
| 9 | Impact Montreal | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 23 | 27 | -4 | 21 | |||
| 10 | Chicago Fire | 18 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 19 | 25 | -6 | 18 |
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