Chicago Fire is hosting Columbus Crew in the Open Cup clash at Toyota Park. In the last league game Chicago Fire drawed against Portland Timers (2-2) at Toyota Park and Columbus Crew losed (3-0) to Philadelphia Union at PPL Park.
Chicago Fire will be witout defenders Arne Friedrich and Steven Kinney (long-term injuries). Midfielders Joel Lindpere and Victor Pineda remain unavailable for selection as they’re on international duty. Team captain Logan Pause is questinable for this match.
Chicago Fire is expected to field a strong team against Columbus Crew at Toyota Park for this match. Normally MLS teams plays with rotated squads in Open Cup. But Chicago Fire's next MLS match is on 19th against Colorado Rapids at Toyota Park.
Columbus Crew will be without Eddie Gaven, Chad Marshall and Augustin Viana. All injured. While attacker Jairo Arrieta remains on international duty with Costa Rica. In the last league game against Philadelphia Union we have mentioned that without the missing players Columbus Crew will have very hard to create possesion and score. Because without Eddie Gaven, oppenents team make very easy pressure on Federico Higuain. Federico Higuain is the player with most shoots on goal in the Columbus Crew team. Wenn he see the pressure and oppenents team plays good defensive football, Columbus Crew is an easy team to beat away from home.
Columbus Crew will play at the weekend against Montreal Impact. Therefor they can't play with a strong team in this match. Because they have lots of missing players. Columbus Crew have to choose between the two (Chicago Fire or Montreal Impact) games. I think that Columbus Crew head coach Robert Warzycha will choose the weekend league game in the MLS against Montreal Impact. So, he can use some young players for this match.
Therefore it should be an easy game for Chicago Fire.
Expected Full Time Score: CHiCAGO FiRE 2-0 COLUMBUS CREW
Stake: 10/10