MLS Columbus Crew SC

Columbus Crew SC to Play First-Ever Road Contest at Orlando City SC Tomorrow

Published on May 29, 2015 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Columbus Crew SC News Release


COLUMBUS - Columbus Crew SC (4-4-3, 15 points) travels to Central Florida to meet Orlando City SC (3-5-4, 13 points) at the Orlando Citrus Bowl tomorrow, May 30 at 7:30 p.m. ET. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel is televising the game, with Dwight Burgess and Neil Sika co-hosting the broadcast. Burgess and Sika's call is set to be simulcast on CD102.5 FM, and Juan Valladares is calling the action for La Mega 103.1 FM in Spanish.

Tomorrow's match is the second-ever meeting between Crew SC and Orlando City, with the first coming on April 18 at MAPFRE Stadium in a clash that the Black & Gold won by a 3-0 final. Federico Higuain, Justin Meram and Kei Kamara all tallied for Crew SC in that match. This is slated to be the second of three meetings between the clubs this season, as well as the first-ever road contest for Columbus in Orlando. The Black & Gold return to the Orlando Citrus Bowl to close-out the regular-season series on August 1.

The last time Crew SC played Orlando, the Black & Gold passed to an accuracy rate of 88.1%. That total still stands alone as the best team passing performance by any one MLS club in any match this season. Of the five best single-match passing accuracy performances around the League in 2015, four have been recorded by the Black & Gold. In addition to the top-ranking performance against the Lions, Crew SC also registered team accuracy rates of 87.9% (vs. Philadelphia, April 25), 87.1% (vs. Toronto FC, March 14) and 86.8% (vs. Seattle, May 9).

Crew SC's Kei Kamara is currently the solo League leader in goals, with nine scored this season. His brace against the Chicago Fire on May 22 extended his lead over Seattle's Clint Dempsey and San Jose's Chris Wondolowski to two goals. The performance helped Kamara capture the League's Player of the Week honor for Week 12, joining Ethan Finlay as Black & Gold players to earn that recognition this season. Kamara is one goal away from recording the 19th-ever double-digit goal campaign in Crew SC history. If he scores in his next appearance, he would become the fastest player in club history to accomplish that feat (12 games).

With nine appearances thus far in 2015, midfielder Justin Meram enters the last match of May with 99 career appearances in both Major League Soccer and for Crew SC and is one away from 100. The longest-tenured member of the club, Meram has made 52 starts from 2011-present. He has notched 16 goals and 11 assists in Black & Gold, with 11 goals and seven assists coming since the start of the 2014 season, all under Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter. A member of the Iraq National Team, Meram made his debut for the Lions of Mesopotamia in 2014, and has since earned 13 caps, including appearances at the 2014 Gulf Cup of Nations and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. Meram would become the 21st player to reach 100 Black & Gold appearances.

Columbus Crew SC at Orlando City SC

Saturday, May 30 - 7:30 p.m. ET - Orlando Citrus Bowl (Orlando, Florida)

Regional Television: Time Warner Cable SportsChannel

Crew SC Radio: CD102.5 FM (English); La Mega 103.1 (Spanish)

Check out the Columbus Crew SC Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from May 29, 2015


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