The season isn't quite over for New York City FC yet, but it's pretty evident that any chance of beating the Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference Semifinals is going to come down to producing a ton of goals in a hurry. Facing a 4-1 deficit, the Sky Blues have no choice but to go for broke early and often against a team that is suddenly playing its best soccer of the season.
This MLS duel will go down Sunday, November 5, 2017, at 10:30 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium. The match will be televised live on FOX Sports 1.
Opening Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
New York City FC – Check Back Later
Columbus Crew – Check Back Later
Draw – Check Back Later
Over/Under – Check Back Later
Odds Analysis
The fact that NYCFC is going to have to win this match going away makes it an easy one to stick a line on for the oddsmakers. The Sky Blues are going to be massive favorites right out of the blocks to win this one on the moneyline, something that would have been true regardless as to whether they were down 4-1, up 4-1 or anywhere in the middle.
The real question is whether there's any real chance to actually overturn this opening match embarrassment at MAPFRE Stadium. The odds are certainly stacked against City, but they aren't impossible. When BookMaker.eu puts out odds on City to advance, we suspect we're going to see a price of around 8 to 1 on the hosts to go through anyway.
Remember that 3-0 is good enough for New York City FC to reverse the tie and go through, though it should be noted that it only won two matches all season long by that type of margin, one against Orlando City in the Sunshine State and one in the home opener against D.C. United. Neither team made the playoffs.
The First Leg
It was a miserable night in Columbus for New York City FC. The Crew needed just a handful of minutes to strike the opening goal. At their first sight of allowing City back into the match, the normally reliable David Villa fired one off the post. After Alexander Callens was sent off for NYCFC in the 52nd minute, the floodgates opened wide. Both Artur and Justin Meram scored goals on odd-man breaks to put the Crew up 3-0, and though Villa pulled one back in the 78th minute, Harrison Afful put on a tremendous individual display of dribbling in the box to restore the three-goal margin.
There's nothing for New York City FC to hang its hat on from this match, but perhaps things would have been different if not for two crucial moments in this match.
Villa's shot off the woodwork should have been a different story. He was in by himself and simply tried to get too cute. If that goes through, it's a whole different game. Perhaps frustration doesn't set in for Callens, who probably didn't deserve to get sent off in the first place. Still, he took a cheap shot just before a corner kick and caught a Columbus player in the head, and with VAR in place, it almost felt like a mandatory red card was coming.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
If there's one man we'd want on our side in this situation, it's David Freaking Villa. Yankee Stadium has been a house of horrors at times for opposing defenses, and there is enough attacking power here for City to score three or more times.
Even for as motivated as the Crew seem and as well as they played at home, they were really more fortunate and opportunistic than good on this night.
Columbus is going to have to work hard to put this away, but we get the feeling that it isn't going to happen. The dream that is the Crew's season could come to a shocking end with a tremendous plot twist in the Bronx.
MLS Odds: New York City FC 3, Columbus 0
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