Columbus Crew - Toronto

Reasoning: The 0–2 win for the Crew against Cincinnati surprised me, although anyone who saw the statistics from that match or watched the game knows they were extremely lucky.. Anyway. The main point is that the cup final came shortly after that match, with very little rest, and the teams still could not settle things within 120 minutes.. As a result, this will be Columbus’s 5th(!!) match in just 13 days, including a 120(!)-minute final they had to play in the meantime.. Their entire defence, meaning the three centre-backs — Malte Amundsen, Sean Zawadzki and Steven Moreira — have played the full 90 minutes in each of their last 4 matches.. This certainly will not help them against Toronto today.. I expect that section to show some signs of weakness. At the same time, they rested their attackers against Cincinnati, so although they have also accumulated a significant number of minutes, at least they had more time to recover beforehand, and that could still earn them something today.. Especially since Toronto’s defence is not solid at all.. They have conceded 55(!) goals in 30 matches, and the fact that Zimmermann (defender – 22/1), Kobe Franklin (defender – 20/2) and Nicksoen Gomis (defender – 10/0) will also be unavailable today further weakens that department.. In any case, this match is important for both teams, as their playoff hopes could depend entirely on this result, so I expect both sides to produce decent attacking play, with more mistakes at the back.