The Columbus Crew welcomes the New England Revolution to Crew Stadium on Saturday (4 pm ET) in the first leg of their No. 2- vs. No. 3-seed Eastern Conference semifinals matchup.
Two of the hottest teams finishing the regular season, neither side lost a league match to anyone other than Saturday’s opponent since the Montreal Impact dropped the Crew on Aug. 30 (the Revolution last lost to a non-Crew side on Aug. 2).
The Crew took the regular season series by a tally of two games to one, outscoring the Revs 4-3 in the process.
The Crew return to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011, while the Revs return to the postseason for a second straight year after taking eventual champions Sporting Kansas City to extra time in the second leg of their conference semifinals matchup in 2013.
Lineups
Columbus Crew: Clark, Jimenez, Parkhurst, Wahl, Francis, Finlay, Trapp, Tchani, Meram, Higuain, Schoenfeld
Subs: Lampson, Anor, Pogatetz, Speas, George, Gehrig, Arrieta
New England Revolution: Shuttleworth, Tierney, Goncalves, Soares, Farrell, Caldwell, Jones, Rowe, Nguyen, Bunbury, Davies
Subs: Knighton, Alston, Neumann, Barnes, Fagundez, Kobayashi, Mullins