The Columbus Crew play host to Inter Miami in a high stakes contest. Miami has faltered as of late, leaving the door open for the Crew to chase and potentially win the Supporter’s Shield although Columbus now needs help from Toronto or New England after dropping points against DC United. 

The Black & Gold have had one of their healthier seasons with minimal injuries, goalkeeper Evan Bush remains sidelined from reaggravating an earlier arm injury, and midfielder Sean Zawadzki will miss time with a torso injury. Inter Miami have a significant amount of absences due to injury, most notably along their backline. 

Here is how Columbus could lineup:

Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte hopes to reclaim the defensive form that led the league in the least amount of goals conceded. In the last five MLS matches, Columbus has allowed 11 goals, which is more than a third of the goals they have conceded all season. Facing forwards Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez is a tough task, but they have not yet been firing on all cylinders since Messi’s return from injury. 

Defenders Rudy Camacho, Yevhen Cheberko, and Steven Moreira need to be mentally sharp when defending against Messi. Messi has a gravity effect that rightly draws defenders to him whenever he is on the ball, this leads to open players that Messi can find better than anyone. Camacho, Cheberko, and Moreira will need to communicate well.

Wingback Mo Farsi will start on the right and wingback Max Arfsten will start on the left. Arfsten continues to produce at a higher level than any would have expected.

Midfielder and captain Darlington Nagbe has shown some signs of fatigue, giving the ball away more. It has been a long season and the Crew needs Nagbe to be mentally sharp. Midfielder Alex Matan will likely play next to Nagbe. 

Forwards Cucho Hernandez, Christian Ramirez, and Diego Rossi will start against Miami. There is no room for error in this match and the Black & Gold cannot afford to rotate anyone against Maimi. Ramirez was able to rest against DC.