Following a 2-1 win against the Chicago Fire last weekend, the Columbus Crew continue the team’s road trip on Saturday afternoon. The Black & Gold head to Yankee Stadium to play New York City FC.

City comes into the game in 13th place in the Eastern Conference while earning three points in the team’s last eight games, including two straight 0-0 ties. NYCFC come into the game with one injury to defender Thiago Martins, who has played 1,200 minutes this season. Also missing Saturday’s clash is defender Maxime Chanot, who has compiled 14 starts through the 2023 season, to international duty.

For Columbus, left back Will Sands and center back Milos Degenek are still be out with injuries for Saturday’s match, while center back Gustavo Vallecilla has been upgraded to questionable. Adding to the list of players out are goalkeeper Eloy Room and Lucas Zelerayan, both of whom are on national team duty with Curaçao and Armenia respectively.

Can the Crew the team’s winning ways on the road against New York City FC? The Massive Report Staff gives their predictions for the game against NYCFC.

Caleb Denorme

The Crew comes into this game on a hot streak, winning the team’s last three games. Sure, Lucas Zelarayan’s half-field winner saved the Black & Gold from tying against Chicago, but Columbus won’t complain. The Crew has played well during this stretch, despite fielding a backline of no central defenders. NYCFC on the other hand, has not won a game since April 22. I see the Crew winning this one despite having to play on a baseball field at Yankee Stadium. I can’t trust the Black & Gold defense to not concede, however, the red-hot attack will continue. City’s first win in over a month will not come against Columbus.

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Nathan Townsend

The Crew is rolling while NYCFC hasn’t won a game since April. This seems like a no-brainer. The problem is that MLS is a weird league and weeks like this, playing on the tight confines of Yankee Stadium, are the perfect time for weird results. All that being said, I don’t think the Crew completely flounder this week and Cucho Hernandez, who has been on a goal-producing tear, is likely to continue that on Saturday. I think NYCFC gets a 30th minute goal and the Crew finds the equalizer early in the first half before this game finishes deadlocked and Columbus takes a point.

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Drew McDaniel

Columbus will take on a struggling New York City FC side, who is winless in the last eight matches. The field at Yankee Stadium is a bit awkward, as it is smaller than a typical playing field. Due to this, the defense has less room to cover, which should give the Crew more freedom in attack. Another factor of the field, often there are more corner kicks at Yankee Stadium, which is not a strong point for the Crew. Factor in Columbus will be missing mercurial talent Lucas Zelarayan, this match ends in a draw.

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Collin Johnson

Three wins in a row, with one coming on the road, has the Crew back where the team belongs in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Unfortunately, the chance for four in a row comes at Yankee Stadium on the weirdest, if not worst, pitch in MLS. Plus, Lucas Zelarayan will be with Armenia on international duty. Alexandru Matan is back, so that should help some of the loss of creativity that comes when Zelarayan is absent, but it’s hard to make up for an MVP-caliber player. Cucho Hernandez has been on fire for the last eight matches and if that continues then the Black & Gold will definitely have a shot at grabbing one, if not all three, points against a struggling NYCFC side without a true striker. 

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Adam Miller

The Crew looks to stay hot this Saturday as the team travels to face NYCFC. The Black & Gold will be without Lucas Zelarayan, as he is on international duty with Armenia. Thus, this match will be a good test for Columbus headed into a busy summer. I think the Crew will find a way to get a point from this matchup. NYCFC will take the lead early before Cucho Hernandez scores and earns the Crew a point on the road.

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Patrick Murphy

Two wins in a row on the road for the Crew? Could that be a thing? It will be if the Black & Gold go to Yankee Stadium and defeat New York City FC on Saturday. While City has struggled this season, the Pigeons are 4-2-2 at home and Yankee Stadium hasn’t traditionally been kind to Columbus. Add in that Lucas Zelarayan, who has been one of the best players in MLS this season, won’t be available for this game and it’s tougher to see a Crew win.

While the Black & Gold’s makeshift backline played well last week, and City hasn’t scored goals in bunches this year, I think this will be a difficult one defensively for Columbus. Fortunately for the Crew, Cucho Hernandez can still make things happen offensively.

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Ryan Schmitt

The Crew has been scoring at will in the team’s previous three games, averaging three goals per game in that time period. However, this weekend, the Black & Gold are playing at Yankee Stadium, which means a very irregular field. Along with that, the Crew will start to lose players to international duty, which will only hurt the team as the schedule continues to be busy. This will be a low-scoring affair and I think it’ll end up a Black & Gold win.

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