Our prediction for this MLS match:
Exploria Stadium will host Thursday’s football game between Toronto and Columbus. Several star players left the club before the start of the season, and, as a result, the Reds have been struggling at the start of the new MLS campaign. Toronto have collected only one point in total to date, meaning that they are low on confidence ahead of the visit of Columbus. The Crew, on the other hand, recorded their first win of the season at the weekend, with the team beating DC United at home.
Columbus have big ambitions for the 2021 season, and seeing that Toronto kicked off the new campaign with a severely-weakened squad, away win should be considered. Key Columbus attacker Gyasi Zardes is widely expected to return to the starting XI after replacing Bradley Wright-Phillips in the triumph over DC United. Influential Toronto midfielder Pozuelo remains in the recovery room.
Highlighted Player (Laurent Ciman):
Laurent Ciman is a Belgium international who plays for Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer. The defender who was born in Farciennes on August 5, 1985 played for Charleroi from 2004 to 2008 and he made no less than 85 league appearances for the Belgian outfit.
During the 2007/2008 season he was on Club Brugge’s radar and in the summer of 2008 he joined the Blauw-Zwart. After ending his loan spell with Kortijk Laurent Ciman joined fellow Belgian club Standard Liege and he spent five seasons at Stade Maurice Dufrasne. On January 22, 2015 the defender signed a three-year contract with MLS club Montreal Impact and he has been playing for the Canadian outfit ever since.
Ciman represented Belgium at the 2008 Olympics and he did remarkably well to make Belgium 2014 FIFA World Cup squad. However, he was unused at the showpiece tournament in Brazil. The Montreal Impact footballer scored his first ever goal for Belgium in June, 2016 in a 3-2 victory over Norway.
Highlighted Team (Columbus Crew):
Columbus Crew are an American soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Black & Gold participate in the Eastern Conference and in 2008 they won both the conference and the MLS CUP final. Columbus Crew defeated New York Red Bulls in the MLS Cup final, with the likes of Moreno, Marshall and Hejduk scoring for the Black & Gold in the title game.
The club welcome their rivals at Mapfre Stadium, the venue which was opened on May, 15 1999. The current capacity of the stadium is 19.968 and it has to be noted that Mapfre Stadium is the first soccer-specific venue ever built for a MLS club.
A number of high-profile players were part of Columbus Crew in the past, but Guillermo Barros Schelotto is the most famous footballer that wore the black and yellow shirt. Schelotto played for Columbus Crew from 2007 to 2010 and during his spell with the Mapfre Stadium outfit the Black & Gold won the aforementioned MLS Cup.