MLS Betting Preview: Columbus Crew vs. Orlando City

Fresh off of their huge win in the Round of 32 during this year's U.S. Open Cup, the Columbus Crew return to action at home against Orlando City. 

The Columbus Crew are in the middle of a solid season and not only do they have the Round of 16 of the 2023 US Open Cup to look forward to, they are also in the midst of the MLS playoff race as the calendar heads into the middle of May. 

Head to Head

Recent history in this series favors Orlando City, as they have won four out of the last five matchups against Columbus. They last met in October of last season when Orlando City picked up a 2 to 1 victory over Columbus. 

The clubs met twice during the 2022 calendar year, which was one of the worst in recent memory for the Crew. In those two meetings, Orlando City outscored Columbus 4-1. 

Orlando City and Columbus faced off three times in 2021 and Columbus picked up their only win of the last five games with a 3-2 victory in October of 2021. The two prior games went the way of Orlando City, a 3-2 win in September and a 1-0 victory in March during a friendly. 

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Recent Performance

The Columbus Crew are in a bit of a slump when it comes to Major League Soccer contests, they have lost their last two games of the year. The two losses are sandwiched in between a couple of US Open Cup victories, but they have dropped games to Inter Miami and Charlotte along the way. 

Orlando City is on a two game losing streak at the moment. They have failed to score a goal during their two game losing streak as well, as they dropped their last game to Charlotte by a score of 1-0 and the game before that to Montreal by a score of 2-0. They have lost three out of their last five on the season all together. 

Stats

Columbus averages nearly three goals a game this season when they are playing at home. Meanwhile Orlando City averages around one goal a game this season when they are playing on the road.

Orlando City hasn’t scored more than two goals when playing away from home this year. While Columbus averages 2+ goals a game in 60% of their home games this year.  

Columbus gives up an average of less than one goal a game when playing at home this season. Orlando City concedes at least one goal per game when playing on the road this season. 

Columbus gives up one goal at least 60% of the time when playing at home this year. Orlando City has given up at least one goal in every road game this season. 40% of the time Columbus holds opponents scoreless at home.

Top Players

Lucas Zelarayan is the leading scorer for Columbus this season with four goals. Youngster Aiden Morris is right behind him with three goals of his own. Tied for second place is Christian Ramirez, with three goals as well. 

Duncan McGuire is the leading scorer for Orlando City with three goals. Three players are tied for second place with two goals, as Martin Ojeda, Facundo Perez, and Ivan Cortes have each bagged a pair this season. 

My Pick 

The odds favor the Columbus Crew in this one and that is what I am going with, Columbus is due for a victory and a struggling Orlando City club is the perfect opponent for them to get that victory this weekend. I have Columbus taking the victory against Orlando City and for the Over 1.5 Goals to hit on Saturday night at Lower.com field. 

My Pick: Columbus ML and Over 1.5 Goals