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New York City-Columbus preview

Columbus expects another big crowd at Mapfre Stadium on Saturday when Eastern Conference leader New York City FC visits, so Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter wasn't hawking tickets when discussing the match against the star-studded visitors.

He was merely pointing out that the teams are among the top five in possession and are unlikely to settle into defensive postures.

"We both want to play attacking soccer. We want to play entertaining soccer," Berhalter said. "That will be an interesting dynamic when you have both teams wanting to do that.

"Something's got to give. It's not the classic offense vs. defense matchup. It's two offensive teams going at each other. At the very least it's going to be very entertaining for the spectators."

NYCFC (10-7-7) features David Villa, second in MLS with 13 goals, and former Chelsea standout Frank Lampard, whose six goals in July won him the league's player of the month award. He has eight goals in 12 games (nine starts) this season.

The Crew (3-8-10) are 0-4-5 in the past nine games and 1-5-8 in 14. Columbus is seven points back of New England and Orlando City for the final playoff spot in the East.

Crew forward Ola Kamara has 10 goals in 15 games and his 0.85 goals per 90 minutes are second in MLS to Lampard's 0.93.

Despite Kamara's exploits and the Crew's desire for attacking soccer, little has gone right for the 2015 MLS Cup finalist, including draws in the past five home games.

"They've been really unlucky with injuries, with some of the scenarios in games, but I really enjoy watching them play," New York coach Patrick Vieira said.

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