MLS announces Crew-Orlando City match rescheduled for Nov. 4

Add another game to the Columbus Crew’s schedule. The Black & Gold, in conjunction with Major League Soccer, announced on Wednesday that the team’s match against Orlando City SC, originally set to be played on Sunday, Oct. 11, will now take place on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

The match is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET from Exploria Stadium in Orlando. The game will be televised on FOX Sports Ohio and can be streamed on the FOX Sports GO app. Crew fans can also listen to the game locally in English on 97.1 The Fan and stream the radio broadcast on The Fan’s website or in Spanish at ColumbusCrewSC.com.

This match was originally postponed due to two positive COVID-19 tests to members of the Black & Gold’s staff, not players or coaches. The team, along with MLS, deemed it unsafe for Columbus to get on a plane and fly to Orlando on Saturday, Oct. 10 due to these positive tests and potential exposure, and announced the match postponement.

Following the positive tests, the Crew did not train for two days before returning for a small group session on Monday, Oct. 12. The team was cleared to return to normal practice on Tuesday, Oct. 13, a day prior to taking on FC Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium, a surprising 2-1 defeat.

Last Sunday, the Black & Gold returned to the win column with a 3-1 success against New York City FC at MAPFRE Stadium. This was the team’s first win in five matches, after dropping games to Toronto FC, the Montreal Impact and Cincinnati and coming from behind twice on the road to earn a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas.

While the victory against NYCFC helped secure an MLS Cup playoff berth, the work is far from done in the 2020 MLS regular season. In addition to the rescheduled match against Orlando, Columbus has trips to the Houston Dynamo and Eastern Conference rivals D.C. United, as well as home games against the Philadelphia Union and Atlanta United.

The game against OCSC is an important one. The Crew currently sits in third place in the Eastern Conference on 34 points through 18 games, two points clear of fourth-place Orlando City. The Black & Gold, who are yet to earn a win on the road this year, could still catch the Union or Toronto, who sit four and seven points ahead respectively.

In the new MLS Cup playoff format, the top four seeds avoid a play-in game and will host their first matchups in the postseason. Columbus wants to climb as high as possible in the Eastern Conference and overall standings, in order to have as many of the one-off playoff games at MAPFRE Stadium as possible and give the team its best chance to bring home the 2020 MLS Cup.