COLUMBUS — The Crew entered the international break with exactly the kind of momentum they needed.
Columbus beat CF Montréal, 2-0, on the road before returning home and knocking off Inter Miami, 2-1, in dramatic fashion. The back-to-back wins moved the Crew to 29 points through 27 matches and kept their postseason hopes alive entering the final stretch of the regular season.
Now comes Orlando.
The Crew visit Orlando City on Saturday night at Inter&Co Stadium, where Columbus will face a team sitting five points ahead of it in the Eastern Conference. Orlando enters with 34 points and a 10-13-4 record.
The matchup also comes less than a month after the Crew eliminated Orlando from the U.S. Open Cup with a 2-1 semifinal win at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. Josef Martínez and Brais Méndez scored for Columbus in that match, sending the Crew through to the tournament final.
Orlando has struggled since then.
The Lions lost 4-2 at New England on Sept. 19 and followed that with another 4-2 loss at Philadelphia before the international break. Orlando has struggled defensively during that recent skid, allowing four goals in each of its last two league matches, but still has plenty of attacking talent capable of creating problems.
Antoine Griezmann remains the biggest name to watch. The veteran forward has already shown his ability to change matches since joining Orlando, while Martín Ojeda and Iván Angulo give the Lions additional threats in the final third.
For Columbus, the bigger issue is opportunity.
The Crew were four points outside the Eastern Conference play-in line when the international break began, and there are only eight regular-season matches remaining. After Orlando, Columbus hosts Charlotte on Wednesday before traveling to Cincinnati for Hell Is Real on Oct. 18.
That leaves very little room for wasted chances.
Patrick Schulte said after the Miami win that Columbus knew October would be a demanding month and hoped the victories over Montréal and Miami could help kick-start the club in the right direction.
Saturday is the first chance to find out whether that momentum survived the break.
