Crew-Red Bulls Preview

Bradley Wright-Phillips and the New York Red Bulls had plenty to celebrate last weekend after locking up a postseason spot.

The Columbus Crew just secured one, too.

New York tries to continue its home domination against Columbus as these Eastern Conference rivals square off Sunday with playoff seeding on the line.

The Red Bulls (12-9-11) are seeking a season-best third straight victory after defeating Toronto FC 3-1 last Saturday. New York secured its fifth consecutive postseason berth the following day after D.C. United beat Houston.

"We're obviously very proud and very happy with it," coach Mike Petke told the league's official website. "First mission down and now a short mission to get a bye if we could, but, at the end of the day, we are in the playoffs. We are excited about it.

"We need to be sharp, we need to be firing on all cylinders going into these playoffs."

With 47 points, New York has one more than the fifth-place Crew (12-10-10). Columbus is returning to the postseason for the first time in three years thanks to Toronto's 1-all draw against Montreal on Saturday.

"There are certainly going to be playoff implications to (Sunday's) game," Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said of this possible first-round playoff preview. "Depending on the result, one team could be playing at home in that knockout round. This is an important game for us."

Columbus has had an especially rough time in New York of late, going 1-10-5 in its last 16 visits. The Crew are 0-1-1 in the season series following a 4-1 road loss July 12.

"If you have any competitive bone in your body, there's certainly a factor that you want to make up for getting beat pretty badly. Hopefully I don't have to instill that (motivation). Hopefully it's there," Berhalter said. "Our job is to execute: whether we're at home or on the road, we want to have a good game and impart our style of play on New York."

Columbus will try to contain Wright-Phillips, who has scored in both meetings this year. The star striker has an MLS-best 25 goals, three shy of breaking the league's single-season record held by Chris Wondolowski (2012) and Roy Lassiter (1996).

"It's not like I'm thinking about it at home, with two children to look after. It's not until you guys mention it that I think about it," Wright-Phillips said. "Obviously, as a goal scorer you want to break a record. If it does happen, I just want it to be over so I can talk about playoffs."

The Crew also need to be wary of Thierry Henry, who has six goals and five assists in seven matches in the series.

"Our game plan is going to be the same - just play our game and never get frustrated," Crew midfielder Tony Tchani said. "Especially against two big guys like Thierry Henry and Wright-Phillips. ... If we can shut down those two guys, we're in good shape."

The Crew stormed back to win 3-2 at Philadelphia on Oct. 11 for their third victory in four games. Ethan Finlay, Justin Meram and Jairo Arrieta all scored within a five-minute span to put Columbus up with eight minutes to go in regulation.

Federico Higuain, leading the Crew with 11 goals, is set to return from suspension due to yellow card accumulation.