The Columbus Crew has an important match against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday evening that the team hopes will help to regain confidence after a disastrous last fifteen minutes saw the Black & Gold blow a 3-1 lead and lose at Orlando City SC. The task will be made tougher as Columbus will have to go with a rotated lineup as the team prepares to travel to take on FC Dallas on Saturday. 

Wing back Julian Gressel left the last match with cramps, but that is not anything serious. If Gressel does not start, it might be more due to match congestion rather than injury concerns. Defender/midfielder Sean Zawadzki did not pick up a yellow card and will avoid a match suspension for yellow card accumulation for now. Defender Will Sands is this match’s only injury listed on the Crew injury report.

Rotation is expected in a midweek game, and here is how we expect Columbus to line up:

Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte will be looking to redeem himself after the last match. Schulte went off his line to clear a cross he could never reach and was not in position when a shot snuck through everyone’s feet to land in the back of the net. Schulte is a young goalkeeper and hopefully will learn from this. He needs to keep his confidence to give the Crew a chance to fight for the championship.

Columbus needs to make decisions at the backline. A defensive collapse blew a two-goal lead in a defeat in Orlando. Head coach Wilfried Nancy has taken some criticism for making too many substitutions in the defensive half, leading to a communication collapse and missed assignments. Defender Steven Moreira has been the iron man for the Black & Gold and will start this match alongside defenders Gustavo Vallecilla and Zawadzki. 

Last midweek game, the Crew rotated both wing backs, and it’s likely that will happen again. Wing backs Max Arfsten and Mohamed Farsi will start again, especially against a lackluster Fire side. 

The midfield duo of midfielders Aidan Morris and captain Darlington Nagbe will again start this match. Nancy can save the legs of Nagbe and bring him out at halftime or around the 60th minute.

There will be some rotation in the attacking portion of the field. Midfielder Alexandru Matan had a stellar game for the Crew against Orlando, but he will start on the bench, while forward Cucho Hernandez will play as the main creative player in this match. Along with Hernandez will be forwards Christian Ramirez and Diego Rossi.