CREW 0, SOUNDERS 4: Albert Rusnák bagged his first career MLS hat trick, nicely finishing off a feed from Jordan Morris.

CREW 0, SOUNDERS 3: Albert Rusnák added a second goal, banging in a shot from near the edge of the penalty area.

CREW 0, SOUNDERS 2: Jordan Morris set a career-high for all-competition goals, bagging his 15th goal of the season off a pass from Paul Rothrock.

CREW 0, SOUNDERS 1: Albert Rusnák scored on a free kick deep into first-half stoppage time, beating Sean Zawadski who was in goal after Albert Romero was red-carded on the play that preceded the free kick. The Crew were playing with just one goalkeeper because their top two goalkeepers were on international duty, another goalkeeper was out with an injury and their two MLS Next Pro goalkeepers had exhausted their short-term loans.

LINEUPS: The Seattle Sounders made just one significant change from last week’s loss to the Portland Timbers, with Reed Baker-Whiting replacing Nouhou in the lineup. Andrew Thomas is also in place of Stefan Frei, who is in concussion protocol

The Columbus Crew rarely lose at home. In fact, over the past 42 games across all competitions — the entirety of the Wilfred Nancy era — they have just two losses at Lower.com Field.

Of course, they are rarely ever missing as many high-level players as they are for today’s game against the Seattle Sounders.

Among the Crew’s eight missing players, five were likely starters — including an MLS MVP contender — and another has been their most effective player off the bench. They'll also be without their top three goalkeepers. The Sounders aren’t exactly full strength — they’ll be missing four likely starters — but this still feels like a chance to at least claim a point.

Possibly working in the Sounders’ favor is that they’ve enjoyed a reasonable degree of success in Columbus, where they’ve gone 5-3-1 over the years. That includes a win in their only other trip to Lower.com Field, a 2-1 win in 2021 that featured two late goals to snatch the victory.

Notes

• The Crew are the reigning Leagues Cup and MLS Cup winners. They also went to the Concacaf Champions Cup final earlier this year.
• Albert Rusnák has 12 assists in the MLS regular season, four shy of Nicolás Lodeiro’s club record of 16.
• Jordan Morris has 10 goals in the MLS regular season and 14 across all competitions. He has already tied his career high for all-competition goals in a season and is two shy of his regular-season personal best.

Absences: Injury, international duty and suspension

Crew

OUT: Malte Amundsen - Suspended; Evan Bush - Arm; Mo Farsi - International duty; Nicholas Hagen - International duty; Cucho Hernandez - International duty; Steven Moreira - International duty; Jacen Russell-Rowe - International duty; Patrick Shulte - International duty.

Sounders

OUT: Stefan Frei - Concussion; Nouhou - International duty; João Paulo - Calf; Raúl Ruidíaz - Knee; Obed Vargas - International duty

Recent form

Sounders: LWLWW
Crew: WWLDW

Kit matchup

Officials

REF: Rosendo Mendoza; AR1: Cory Richardson; AR2: Kevin Lock; 4TH: Marcos DeOliveira; VAR: Daniel Radford; AVAR: Tom Supple

How to Watch

Match date/kickoff time: Saturday, 4:39 PM PT

Venue: Lower.com Field

Global Streaming English: MLS Season Pass (Steve Cangialosi & Danny Higginbotham)

Global Streaming Spanish: MLS Season Pass (Bruno Vain & Andres Aguila)

Local Radio: 93.3 KJR-FM iHeartMedia (Danny Jackson & Kelyn Rowe)

Local Spanish Radio: El Rey 1360 AM (Rodriguez, Maqueda, Tapia)

Is this game available to stream for free? No

Will Sounders radio be available as an alternate feed? No

Lineups

Highlights will be posted as the match progresses.

This is Seattle Sounders at Columbus Crew; watch with us

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