The second legs of the 2017 Major League Soccer Conference semi-finals take place on the weekend and the second match up on Sunday is between New York City and Columbus Crew. The first leg finished 4-1 in favour of Columbus Crew at MAPFRE Stadium and while the home team were hoping to take an advantage with them to the Big Apple, even they didn’t expect to have a 4-1 lead at this stage of the tie. New York will be hugely disappointed to have left themselves with a massive mountain to climb and will need the home fans behind them every step of the way to overturn the deficit.
MLS: Conference-Game 1 – Mapfre Stadium, Columbus, Ohio – Wednesday 1st November – 00:00 UK Time
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Draw Best Odd of: 16/5 at Ladbrokes |
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Columbus Crew
New York City FCNew York City’s 4-1 defeat in the first leg of this Conference semi-final was their fourth MLS match without a win. Having lost at New England and drawn with Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew, you must go back to the end of September to find New York City’s last win. Despite finishing second in the Eastern Conference, New York City have won only 2 of their last 10 MLS games and have been struggling to find the winning formula for some time. At home, New York City have failed to win in their last 3 attempts but have lost only 1 of their last 13 MLS games at the Yankee Stadium. However, they need to win this match by a big margin and you must go back to the 12th March to find the last time they won a home game 4-0.
Columbus Crew Form
Columbus Crew went into the first leg of this tie at home as the team in form and came away with a stunning 4-1 win. An early goal settled the home team and they went on to score another 3, with what could have been a vital fourth goal at the end of the match. The win means Columbus Crew are unbeaten in their last 12 MLS games and 8 of those games have ended in victories. They are unbeaten in their last 5 away games in the MLS and have scored in 6 of the last 7 on the road.
Team News
New York City will be without the suspended Alexander Callens and injured duo of Miguel Camargo and Maxime Chanot. Spanish striker David Villa will once again provide the biggest threat up-front. Columbus Crew do not have any players suspended but have several men out with injury. Alex Crognale, Gaston Sauro, Ben Swanson and Connor Maloney will miss the game.
Top Betting Tips
Given the gap in the final score between the teams in the first leg and the overall form of Columbus Crew at present, the away team make a decent bet at 18/5 with Ladbrokes to win the game. New York City have little choice but to come out and attack from the first whistle, which should make for an exciting game and plenty of goal scoring chances at both ends of the pitch. Both teams to score is 1/2 with Ladbrokes. There is no stopping Ola Kamara at the moment and the Columbus Crew striker scored his 19th goal of the season in the first leg. You can back the Norwegian at 13/10 to score at any time.