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Crew-Red Bulls Preview

Aug 29, 2009 - 5:06 PM By MIKE LIPKA STATS Writer

Columbus (10-3-9) at New York (3-16-4), 6:00 p.m. EDT

The Columbus Crew and New York Red Bulls met last year with the MLS Cup on the line, but right now only one of those clubs has realistic plans to return to the league title match.

The club with the fewest losses in MLS and the team with the fewest victories meet Sunday when the defending champion Crew seek a sixth straight win and fourth straight shutout in league play as they visit the woeful Red Bulls.

When Columbus won 3-1 in last year's final game to clinch its first league championship, the team also sent New York into a tailspin. The Red Bulls (3-16-4) have been outscored by nearly a full goal per game during their moribund campaign.

While New York went on an 0-11-2 slide that finally ended with a 3-2 victory over FC Dallas on Sunday, the Crew (10-3-9) have been on another kind of streak, with only one league loss since April 5. They are 10-1-7 over that span, including an eight-game unbeaten run since a 2-1 loss to Dallas on June 20.

Columbus and Chicago are vying for the top spot in the East, with the Crew having allowed fewer goals than any of their conference rivals. Their opponents haven't scored in any of their last three MLS games, running their winning streak to a season-best five to match their longest run from last year.

"Everyone's done well. Anytime you get five wins in a row at this point in the season that's the type of run you need to go on," defender Frankie Hejduk told the league's official Web site. "Everyone's doing his job, filling his role."

The Crew will be seeing their first MLS action since Aug. 15, when they beat Dallas 2-0, but will have a quick turnaround from Wednesday's 5-0 loss at Cruz Azul in a CONCACAF Champions League matchup.

New York will try to take advantage. Last Sunday's victory was a long-awaited one for the Red Bulls, whose previous win came on May 8. They continued to have problems defensively, as they've allowed a league-high 41 goals, but Juan Pablo Angel scored twice with the game-winner coming in the 88th minute.

"We managed to win after a very difficult year and I hope this gives us a great boost going into the last stretch of the season," Angel said. "We have seven games left and I guess if we play like this we will probably have a little bit of a chance."

This match will featured two of the top goal-scorers in MLS, as Columbus' Guillermo Barros Schelotto enters with 10 goals. Angel has nine of New York's 19 tallies.

The location of the game - Giants Stadium - is the only thing preventing the match from being almost historically lopsided on paper.

The Crew are unbeaten in 20 straight home games and the Red Bulls have not won on the road in the regular season in 24 matches since May 10, 2007, a combination that added up to a 1-0 Columbus win at home on June 27.

But the Crew have been mediocre on the road and New York is 3-5-3 at home.