• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

United-Crew Preview

Jun 25, 2010 - 7:23 PM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

D.C. (3-8-1) at Columbus (6-2-3), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Columbus Crew have cooled off since their excellent start, going winless in their past three matches and even losing at home for the first time.

D.C. United, meanwhile, are hoping their early struggles are a thing of the past.

United haven't lost in their last three matches after a horrific start, and they'll hope the momentum of their first road win before the World Cup break hasn't fizzled prior to Saturday night's visit to Columbus.

D.C. (3-8-1) lost eight of its first nine but seems to be on its way to an impressive transformation from its early bottom-of-the-conference form.

A late penalty kick gave United a 3-2 win over Chivas USA on May 29 and they earned a scoreless draw against defending champion Real Salt Lake on June 5.

D.C.'s most impressive result, however, came just before the break. Chris Pontius scored twice and assisted on Adam Cristman's goal, and United survived a pair of late strikes to win 3-2 at Seattle on June 10.

"For us, we needed to accumulate points over the last couple of weeks," coach Curt Onalfo said. "We are within striking distance for playoff contention. We have (the break) to get better as a group so we can continue to climb up the standings in our goal of making the playoffs."

D.C.'s last road victory prior to Seattle came Oct. 17 on the strength of Luciano Emilio's goal against the Crew (6-2-3), who are tied atop the Eastern Conference but aren't playing like one of the league's elite.

Columbus won six of its first eight games but has picked up one point from its last three. It seemed on the way to a scoreless draw June 5 at Colorado before allowing a goal in the 85th minute to lose 1-0.

"I don't know if it's the number of games we've played the last three weeks, (but) that's really no excuse," defender Andy Iro said. "We have some tired legs and probably some tired minds."

Columbus hasn't gone four consecutive matches without a win since opening the 2009 season 0-2-5.

"We've played pretty well in the past three games," midfielder Adam Moffat said. "We felt we should have won at least two of those games and gotten points in all of them."

The Crew would love to have defender Frankie Hejduk back Saturday, but the team captain could miss a fifth straight game due to a hamstring injury. They will, however, likely get Danny O'Rourke back from a quadriceps injury.

While O'Rourke will help strengthen Columbus' back line, it could use a boost up front from Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The 2008 MLS MVP has one goal in seven matches after scoring three times in his first three games.