Columbus Crew

What: Columbus Crew (10-8-6, 36 points) at Union (7-12-4, 25 points) When: 8 p.m. Wednesday at PPL Park, Chester TV/radio: The Comcast Network. WIP-AM 610. Columbus on the road: 3-5-4 Union at home: 5-5-2. Goals for: Columbus 29, Union 24 Goals against: Columbus 28, Union 28. Previous meeting this year: The Union beat Columbus, 1-0, on April 14 at PPL Park. Gabriel Gomez's penalty kick was the lone score. Most recent MLS game: Columbus overcame a 2-0 deficit to score a 4-3 home win over New England.

Peter Nowak isn't scared of the Crew. He's got a posse of his own - and, according to the Union boss, one that costs considerably less. Sure, Columbus has taken over the top spot in MLS' Eastern Conference, a spot the Union held for a third of the season. But Nowak asks that with all of the Crew's supersized, high-priced personnel what does it have to show for it? "Look at Columbus and us and compare both teams," Nowak said. "They have big targets that they have paid a lot of money for and what is the production?

While coaches preach that all games are of equal importance, the Union will be excused for taking a different view Saturday when they visit the Columbus Crew. Columbus (10-7-7) is in first place in the Eastern Conference with 37 points. The Union (8-5-10) are in second place with 34 points and have a game in hand. The Union have 11 games remaining and Columbus 10. "It's a big game, a six-pointer," said Union defender Danny Califf. "From here on out, Eastern Conference games are six-pointers with how tight the conference is. " By six-pointers, Califf is referring to the fact that a team receives three points for a win (and one for a draw)

The New York/New Jersey MetroStars clinched a spot in the Major League Soccer playoffs with a 1-0 win over the Columbus Crew last night. Antony DeAvila got the goal for the MetroStars, who are third in the MLS Eastern Division standings. TAMPA BAY 2, SAN JOSE 1 SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Mutiny won it on the shootout after Tampa's Roy Lassiter tied the score in the second half with his league-leading 25th goal of the season.

The New England Revolution scored a 2-1 shoot-out victory over the Columbus Crew last night in a Major League Soccer game, after trailing well into the second half. Columbus took a 1-0 lead late in the first half, on a goal by U.S. national team veteran Paul Caligiuri. It wasn't until the 78th minute of the game that New England tied the score on a goal by Ted Chronopoulos. The Revs then won the shoot-out by 3-2, with New England goalkeeper Jim St. Andre making three saves, to get one point in the MLS standings.

The Kansas City Wiz came back from a two-goal deficit with four straight second-half goals to score a 6-4 victory over the Columbus Crew in a Major League Soccer game last night. Preki and Mo Johnston each scored two goals for Kansas City as the Wiz moved into second place in the MLS Western Division. Columbus led, 4-2, before Preki narrowed the margin by scoring on a penalty kick in the 67th minute. The Wiz then gained the victory with goals by Mike Sorber in the 77th minute, Johnston in the 80th, and Preki again in the 88th.

Former West Deptford High School star Steve Rammel scored three goals as D.C. United beat the Columbus Crew, 5-2, in a Major League Soccer game last night. Rammel's three goals were the first hat trick in the brief history of MLS, which now has played 31 games since its inaugural season began on April 6. His third goal, which was his fifth of the season, briefly tied him with Brian McBride of Columbus as the league's top goal-scorer, but McBride got his sixth goal of the season 19 minutes later.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Colorado Rapids picked up a point in the standings, not enough to escape the Western Division cellar, with a shoot-out victory over the Columbus Crew in a Major League Soccer game last night. The two teams had played a 2-2 tie in regulation time. Colorado got its goals from a pair of U.S. national team defenders, with Steve Trittschuh scoring in the 44th minute and Marcelo Balboa in the 48th. But Columbus, which had taken a 1-0 lead on a goal by Billy Thompson in the 31st minute, got another from Marcelo Carerra in the 58th to force the shoot-out.

Brian Maisonneuve scored three goals last night as the Columbus Crew beat the Kansas City Wiz, 5-1, to improve to 13-16 in Major League Soccer. Marcelo Carrera opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a left-footed kick to the upper corner of the net, and Maisonneuve made it 2-0 in the 39th minute. Maisonneuve's second score came three minutes into the second half. Preki scored for the Wiz (17-14) in the 54th minute, but Pete Marino restored the Crew's three-goal margin off a goal-area scramble in the 80th minute.

It was the most explosive sequence in the Union's four-year history. Three first-half goals in six minutes propelled the Union to a 3-0 Major League Soccer victory over the Columbus Crew before 16,113 Wednesday night at PPL Park in Chester. The Union (6-5-4) had captured each of their previous five wins by one goal. "I am careful in trying not to make too big a deal of a game one way or another, but I think this one was the kind of game we needed," Union team manager John Hackworth said.

Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., PPL Park, Chester. TV: Comcast SportsNet. Records: Columbus, 4-4-5, 17 points; Union, 5-5-4, 19 points. Columbus on the road: 3-2-2. Union at home: 2-2-2. Goals for: Columbus 16; Union 19. Goals against: Columbus 13; Union 24. Last MLS outing: The Crew had a 1-1 draw at home with the Houston Dynamo on Saturday. The Union had a 1-1 draw Saturday at Toronto FC. This season: The teams played to a 1-1 draw on April 6 at Crew Stadium.

Union forward Jack McInerney has been voted the Major League Soccer player of the month for April by the North American Soccer Reporters, the league announced Thursday. Tied for the league lead in goals and game-winning goals, McInerney scored four goals in four matches in April, including two in the Union's 3-2 win over D.C. United on April 21. Voted the MLS player of the week in Week 8 of the season after his performance against D.C. United, McInerney also scored in ties against the Columbus Crew on April 6 and Toronto FC on April 13. So far, the 20-year-old has six goals, including three game-winners, this season.

Trey Burke , the Associated Press men's player of the year, is leaving Michigan early for the NBA draft. Burke led Michigan to the NCAA title game as a sophomore. The 6-foot point guard averaged 18.6 points and 6.7 assists per game this season. He made perhaps the most memorable shot of the NCAA tournament, a long three-pointer in the final seconds against Kansas that sent the regional semifinal to overtime. Connecticut's latest victory parade had a French Quarter feel to it. About 10,000 fans lined Hartford's Bushnell Park on a cold and windy Sunday afternoon to cheer the national champion UConn women as they passed by on the top of a double-decker bus, tossing Mardi Gras beads to the crowd.

When/Where: Saturday, 5 p.m. at Crew Stadium, Columbus, Ohio. TV: Live Well Network. Records: Union (2-2, 6 points); Columbus (2-1-1, 7 points). Union on the road: 1-1. Columbus at home: 0-0-1. Goals for: Union 5; Columbus 7. Goals against: Union 6; Columbus 4. Last MLS outing: The Union suffered a 2-1 loss against the host New York Red Bulls last Saturday. The Crew won, 2-1, at D.C. United on March 23. About the Union: Union team manager John Hackworth wouldn't say if 33-year-old Brazilian midfielder Kléberson would make his debut, but he's been practicing with the team, and it would surprise nobody if he plays.

The Week in Soccer Bolivia at Colombia 4 p.m. Friday (beIN Sport) While World Cup host Brazil is automatically in, South America qualifying goes on. Colombia, with former Union goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón and defender Carlos Valdés, faces a Bolivian squad featuring Gremio star Marcelo Martins Moreno. Mexico at Honduras 5 p.m. Friday (Telemundo) Fresh off a victory over the United States in San Pedro Sula's raucous Estadio Olimpico, Honduras and Wigan ball hawk Roger Espinoza now look to beat Mexico and Manchester United striker Javier "Chicharito" Hernández a second straight time.

Rafael Nadal won his first of two matches Friday in a test of his sore left knee, defeating fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver , 6-1, 6-4, to reach the semifinals of the VTR Open in Chile. Nadal had not played for seven months until he took the court earlier this week in the Pacific coastal resort city. With a doubles match set for later Friday, Nadal will have played five matches in four days. He's yet to lose a set. Li Na pulled out of next week's Qatar Open because of the ankle injury she sustained in the Australian Open final.

The Union will open their preseason in Florida at 6 p.m. Saturday with a matchup against the USL Pro Orlando City Lions in the opener of the eight-team Disney Pro Soccer Classic tournament. The Union are in Group A with Orlando and Major League Soccer's Toronto FC and Columbus Crew. In Group B are the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League and MLS sides D.C. United, the Montreal Impact, and Sporting Kansas City. Every group-stage game of the tournament will be streamed live on Philly.com's soccer blog at www.philly.com/tgk . The Union will play Columbus at 1 p.m. Wednesday and face Toronto at 3 p.m. Feb. 16. The consolation and title games will be Feb. 23. In addition to the tournament, the Union will play exhibitions against the Impact in Jacksonville at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15, and against United at 6 p.m. Feb. 20 in Deltona, Fla. The Union will open the MLS season against Sporting at PPL Park in Chester at 4 p.m. March 2. TV schedule.

Milovan Mirosevic scored the tiebreaking goal in the 87th minute to lift the host Columbus Crew to a 3-2 victory over the Union in a Major League Soccer match Saturday night. With the loss, the Union were eliminated from playoff contention. Jairo Arrieta scored twice for the Crew (14-11-6). Danny Cruz scored on a penalty kick in the 65th minute and Jack McInerney tied it in the 86th for the Union (8-15-6), just before the Crew went back ahead. Arrieta put Columbus ahead in the 44th minute off a service from the right side by Sebastian Miranda.