Columbus travels to New England on Saturday for Game 3 of their semifinal series looking for its first goal of the series. In the Game 1 tie (0-0) and in its Game 2 loss (1-0), Columbus failed to score despite playing with a man advantage.
Daouda Kante returns to the Crew defense after serving his suspension in Game 2 for his Game 1 red card. Jay Heaps, scorer and villain for New England in Game 2, will sit out.
But the biggest blow for New England would be if Taylor Twellman, MLSÆs regular-season leading scorer, canÆt play. Listed as questionable, it seems unlikely that Twellman will take the field. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI today. Twellman left Game 2 with a knee injury in the 75th minute.
With a 4 points to 1 lead, New England would advance to the MLS Cup it is hosting with a win or a tie. A Columbus win would force a 20-minute tie-breaking ''mini-game.''
Saturday, October 12
COLUMBUS at NEW ENGLAND (4:00 pm ET).
TV: Sport! TV, FOX Sports New England/DIRECTV: 794; DISHNET: 465; inDemand: delay at 7:30 ET.
Key Players Out: Columbus – Ed Buddle (broken foot); New England – F Diego Serna (torn ACL & meniscus-L), D Jay Heaps (red-card suspension).
Referee: Kevin Stott.