Columbus Crew vs. Portland Timbers 9/18/22 - Major League Soccer Picks & Predictions

The Columbus Crew hosts the Portland Timbers on Sunday in a MLS inter-conference fixture. Columbus Crew is seventh in the Eastern Conference table at 9-14-7 on 41 points with a goal difference of +5. Columbus was defeated by Inter Miami 2-1 on Wednesday. Cucho Hernandez scored an equalizer in the 41st minute for Columbus but the Crew gave up a winner to Inter Miami in the 82nd minute.

Columbus is back in the playoff contention thanks to several draws (14) which is an MLS-high. Despite losing only two matches out of its last 18 with six wins and 10 draws, the Crew has not won consecutive matches all season. Lucas Zelarayan and Cucho Hernandez are the leading goal scorers for Columbus with nine each, while Luiz Diaz is the leader in assists with six.

The Portland Timbers are sixth in the Western Conference table at 11-12-8 on 45 points with a goal difference of +3. Portland took all three points at home last Saturday when defeating Minnesota United 1-0.  Dairon Asprilla scored in the 61st minute for Portland and the Timbers back line and goalkeeper kept another clean sheet. Portland keeper Aljaz Ivacic has six clean sheets this season.

Portland is undefeated in four consecutive matches with all four won by the minimum. Only four clubs in the history of the MLS have won five consecutive matches by one goal. Jaroslaw Niezgoda is the leading goal scorer for Portland with nine, while Dairon Asprilla has scored eight. Sebastian Blanco is the leader in assists with seven, while two others have six assists each.