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The Crew is off this week. So, that means there isn’t much for us to pay attention to in MLS, right? Wrong. All eyes of Crew fans are on New England as they take on Nashville Saturday night in a game with some major playoff implications for the Crew.
KISS principle
No, not THAT Kiss. When it comes to this explanation of what the New England vs. Nashville match means to the Crew, we’re going to use the KISS principle, as in “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” So, here it is: the Crew currently sits fourth in the Eastern Conference with 54 points and one game remaining, while New England is fifth with 52 points and two games yet to play. If New England loses or draws with Nashville, the Crew controls their own destiny for securing home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs. A New England win over Nashville means the Crew drops to fifth and will need help on the final matchday of the regular season to get home field advantage. By late Saturday night, we’ll know if the Crew controls their own home field destiny or not. It’s that simple.
It's meaningful to the Boys in Gold as well
Don’t think this game only has meaning for the Crew and Revs. Nashville, who is in seventh, is trying to catch Atlanta and move up a spot. They’re four points behind and have two games to play, while Atlanta has just one remaining. Nashville will be scratching and clawing for all they’re worth against New England. Nashville has just eight home wins (to go with four draws), but the Revs have won only three times on the road.
Things look like they can fall the Crew’s way, but let’s not assume anything. We’ll have our answers sometime late Saturday night.