Trapp, Crew set to tangle with Leitch, Earthquakes (Aug 05, 2017)

By AP
Published

Columbus midfielder Wil Trapp was nine years old when he first saw Chris Leitch play for the Crew in 2002.

Leitch is from the Columbus suburb of Pickerington and Trapp, from nearby Gahanna, aspired to make it in Major League Soccer like the defender, who played 13 games as a rookie for the Crew in 2002 before being traded to New York. He returned to the Crew in 2006 for 24 games.

"I watched him quite a bit when he was with Columbus and obviously followed his career because he's local guy," Trapp said.

Their paths will cross Saturday night at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif., in a match of playoff importance to each club.

Leitch took over as head coach for Dominic Kinnear on June 25. After a 1-0 home win against Colorado last week to end a three-game losing streak, the Earthquakes (8-9-5) reside in seventh place in the Western Conference, one point out of a postseason spot.

The Crew (10-11-2) have a two-point gap ahead of seventh-place Orlando in the East.

"They've been good," Columbus coach Gregg Berhalter said of the Earthquakes. "I like some of the variation they have in their build-up play. I like some of the movement they have. Overall I've been impressed."

Columbus is expected to be without midfielder Federico Higuain for a fifth straight match. The first absence on July 4 was to rest him, the others because of a sprained ankle.

Higuain stunned the Crew on Thursday when he told the Columbus Dispatch that he did not intend to return to the team next season.

The Crew relied on forward Ola Kamara in their last match when he scored twice in the 2-2 comeback tie at Real Salt Lake. He leads the team with 11 goals, two more than Higuain and Justin Meram.

"They have some dangerous attacking players and Kamara is one of them," Leitch said. "We have to make sure we have at least one guy, if not two, right there with him throughout the whole match to make sure we limit his time and space."

The Crew are only 3-8-1 on the road while the Earthquakes have a 6-1-4 home mark. Columbus is 0-1-1 on its trip that will end at San Jose.

"They have a good home record," Berhalter said. "They have some good technical players and good strong center backs."