The Columbus Crew host the Philadelphia Union on Saturday with various levels of urgency at stake.
The situation is dire for the Union (9-13-10, 37 points) following a 2-1 loss at Orlando City on Wednesday.
Philadelphia is in a three-way tie in points with Toronto FC and D.C. United for 9th place in the Eastern Conference. Toronto currently owns the tiebreaker, which puts it ahead of the Union and D.C. for the final playoff spot. Philadelphia has a match in hand on Toronto.
“We have to find a way to regroup and get results in our last two games, and whether we deserve it or not, we still are in control of our own destiny,” Union coach Jim Curtin said. “If we don’t win a game down the stretch, then we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs, and I’ve said that to our group already.”
For the Crew (16-6-9, 57 points) any hopes of winning the Supporters’ Shield were vanquished when Inter Miami came to town Wednesday and clinched the league’s top points mark with a 3-2 victory.
The goal now is to finish ahead of FC Cincinnati for second in the Eastern Conference. Columbus is a point ahead in one fewer match.
The Crew are also a point away from setting the team’s single-season record.
“Obviously we want to finish above (Cincinnati) because they’re our rival and for the home-field advantage in the playoffs,” Crew midfielder Max Arfsten said. “So, even though we’re not going to win the Supporters’ Shield, there’s still so much to play for.
“These last three games are very important, and we know that we can break that record as well.”
Neither team found many positives from its last match.
“At this stage of the season to go on the road you need a really, really strong performance and we just did not have that,” Curtin said. “Starts with myself. And the entire group just wasn’t good enough.”
Arfsten is glad the Crew don’t have time to dwell on the loss.
“Just a quick turnaround, kind of get this taste out of our mouth and play at home Saturday in front of our fans and do our thing,” he said.
–Field Level Media