Out to run their regular-season unbeaten run to eight matches and further crowd the top of the Eastern Conference standings, the Philadelphia Union have their sights set on the Crew in a tussle for second place in Columbus on Wednesday night.
The Union (4-1-3) put together arguably their best performance of the season Saturday, thumping D.C. United 4-1. Using their high line of pressure to harass United in their defensive third helped Kacper Przybylko register a brace in the first 16 minutes.
Sergio Santos added a third five minutes later, and Przybylko set up Brenden Aaronson for Philadelphia's fourth just after the hour. Philadelphia is 4-0-3 in its last seven regular-season matches and 6-1-3 in its last 10 when including its run to the MLS Is Back tournament semifinals.
"It really doesn't matter who is scoring the goals, what matters is that we keep collecting the points and doing our jobs," said Przybylko, who has three goals in his last two matches after finding the back of the net just once in the first nine. "I know we had a bunch of other chances, but 4-1 is a decent result."
Left back Kai Wagner was forced off in the 27th minute with what appeared to be a right leg injury, but Union coach Jim Curtin said the move was more precautionary in nature with his team already up three goals and this match looming on a quick turnaround.
Columbus (5-1-2), which is two points ahead of Philadelphia, is looking to re-ignite its offense after being blanked for a second straight match. The Crew did salvage a point Saturday night, though, leaving FC Cincinnati with a 0-0 draw in the first regular-season installment of this year's "Hell is Real" derby.
It was a cagey affair throughout as the teams combined for just five shots on target and 12 overall. Columbus held a majority of possession but breaking down a deeply lying Orange-and-Blue back line and midfield was not in the cards.
"I don't care who you're playing, you take a point on the road," Crew coach Caleb Porter said. "The clean sheet, I'm very proud of that, and the back four and in general defensively, we didn't give them anything. So I thought we executed extremely well. We had a lot of the ball, and that's our game, and we need to do better at finding at least one goal. If we do that, then teams stop playing the low block and making life difficult."
The draw also marked the return of No. 1 Eloy Room for the Crew as he made two saves for his clean sheet. Those two saves, though, had a high degree of difficulty as he turned aside a free kick by Siem de Jong in the first half and had a reflex save on Maikel van der Werff on 53 minutes, punching a first-touched shot from de Jong's low free kick over the bar.
"It's always nice to be back like this, you know? You're staying busy and some shape," Room told the club's official website. "I thought it was difficult because it was more mental this game, because we had more ball possession, so we have to be sharp in those moments. Luckily, today I stepped up and had some good saves and could help the team out."
The Crew are 3-0-1 in their last four home matches versus the Union and recorded a 2-0 victory last year when Pedro Santos set up a goal by Youness Mokhtar in the 69th minute and scored one himself four minutes later. The Union have not scored in Columbus in 376 minutes since Keegan Rosenberry provided the match-winner in a 2-1 victory in 2016.