The final match of the Conference semi-final first legs takes place in the MLS play-offs on Tuesday night when the Columbus Crew and New York City FC begin their tie in the Eastern Conference. It looks like the winners of the tie will play Toronto FC for a place in the MLS Cup final although there is plenty of football to be played before then.
New York City made it to this stage courtesy of finishing second in the regular season while Columbus Crew had to take care of arguably the most dangerous side in MLS in Atlanta, something they managed to do on penalties.
Columbus Crew
The Crew should have taken plenty of confidence from their win in the knockout match. To go on the road to one of the fortresses in the league and come away still alive in the competition took some doing but they showed no fear and took the game to their opponents and had it not been for the woodwork they would have progressed long before penalties.
It will be interesting to see how the Crew approach this. You would think this is going to be a high scoring tie and if that is the case we should see them get on the front foot once again. The only thing they would want to change from their performance in Atlanta would to be more clinical. If they can convert their chances they have every chance.
New York City FC
Patrick Vieira’s men are back in the play-offs for a second successive season but they won’t be wanting a repeat of the nightmare that their first play-off campaign turned into. They faced Toronto FC and were beaten 7-0 over the two legs and never gave a good account of themselves at all. That may act as motivation for this tie.
They don’t lack for experience in big matches. David Villa has obviously played in the biggest games there are in the game and while Andrea Pirlo isn’t a regular in the side his experience in the changing room will be important. NYC are usually positive on their travels and they need to make sure they have that mindset in this match.
Team News
Columbus Crew remain without the likes of Alex Crognale and Ben Swanson so they could be unchanged from the side which came through in Atlanta last week.
New York City FC have no major injury concerns of their own. Andrea Pirlo is expected to start on the bench while Jack Harrison is expected to continue his rise to fame in one of the biggest matches of his career.
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Betting
When these semi-finals were decided I had this one down as the most difficult to call because New York City FC don’t have a gung ho style like many of the sides in these play-offs do. I often find them a tricky side to predict and I’m not completely sure how they will approach this match.
We know how Columbus Crew will play which is a positive but given the doubts I have over New York I’m going to sit this one out and watch in the hope that the first leg ends in such a way that the second leg delivers a natural and obvious style to get stuck into betting wise.
Tips
No Bet
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