Sports Mole previews Saturday’s Major League Soccer clash between Columbus Crew and Houston Dynamo, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Two teams that have made vastly different starts to the 2025 Major League Soccer season will go head-to-head in round three on Saturday when Columbus Crew welcome Houston Dynamo to Lower.com Field.
For the home side, securing a third straight victory will be the major objective, while their visitors head to Ohio aiming to get their league journey up and running off the back of consecutive defeats.
Match preview
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Having suffered a humiliating playoff first-round exit to the New York Red Bulls, the Columbus Crew have kicked off their league campaign in scintillating form with a 4-2 triumph over Columbus Crew on the opening weekend, which preceded a 1-0 victory over New England Revolution.
After coming from behind on two occasions in their curtain raiser, Wilfried Nancy‘s men needed just one goal to claim maximum points last time out as Jacen Russell-Rowe settled matters with his second goal in as many matches.
One of only four teams still with a perfect record after two matches, the Black and Gold are laying down an early marker as they look to reclaim their league title from current champions Los Angeles Galaxy.
Despite their impressive start on the domestic front, Columbus will head into Saturday’s affair fresh from a humiliating 3-0 loss to Los Angeles FC in the sides’ CONCACAF Champions Cup round of 16 first leg on Wednesday.
This weekend’s hosts will have an opportunity to turn things around in next week’s return leg, but in the meantime, their focus will be on making it three MLS wins from as many matches to surpass their seven-point tally at this stage last season.
Given their record of just one victory from the most recent five editions of this fixture, including a 2-1 defeat in February’s friendly matchup, Columbus Crew will need to be at their best to come away with maximum points.
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Like Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo were also dumped out of the playoff first round last time out but have made a poor start to proceedings this time around with two defeats from as many matches so far.
Ben Olsen‘s men were ahead inside 18 minutes in their opening fixture against FC Dallas thanks to Amine Bassi‘s opener before going on to lose 2-1 following strikes from Petar Musa and Anderson Santos.
La Naranja were handed a more daunting assignment against Inter Miami last time out which ended in a humiliating 4-1 defeat despite the absence of last season’s Most Valuable Player, Lionel Messi.
Sitting bottom of the Western Conference with the most goals conceded, Houston Dynamo will be keen to get themselves back on track this weekend, although their record away from home does not make for good reading with only one win recorded since September.
Saturday’s visitors will follow up this weekend’s affair with a home encounter against Real Salt Lake before facing off against El Salvador in a friendly matchup during the upcoming March international break.
Columbus Crew Major League Soccer form:
Columbus Crew form (all competitions):
Houston Dynamo Major League Soccer form:
Team News
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Nicholas Hagen last featured for Columbus Crew in October 2024 due to a finger injury, and the Guatemalan international will also sit out Saturday’s contest.
Joining Hagen on the hosts’ treatment table is Lassi Lappalainen, who is out with a thigh problem that limited him to just 11 league outings for former employers Charlotte last season.
Lawrence Ennali and Nelson Quinones are both sidelined for Houston Dynamo due to knee injuries, with neither of them remotely close to a return.
Nicolas Lodeiro found the back of the net half an hour after coming on as a substitute last time out which could see him rewarded with a place in the starting lineup.
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Schulte; Amundsen, Cheberko, Moreira, Farsi; Nagbe, Zawadzki; Arfsten, Chambost, Rossi; Russell-Rowe
Houston Dynamo possible starting lineup:
Tarbell; Escobar, Awodesu, Sviatchenko, Dorsey; McGlynn, Artur, Bassi; Aliyu, Ponce, Kowalczyk
We say: Columbus Crew 3-1 Houston Dynamo
With one eye on their continental clash against Los Angeles FC, Columbus Crew could be tempted to make some changes here but should still have enough in the tank to comfortably dispatch Houston Dynamo.
We fully expect a routine win for the home side at the end of the 90 minutes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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