Red Bulls-Crew Preview

There's been some debate this week about how New York Red Bulls star Bradley Wright-Phillips has been affected playing without Thierry Henry.

Columbus Crew SC is more concerned with how Red Bulls newcomer Sacha Kljestan and Lloyd Sam will affect the midfield.

Saturday night's contest between the Crew and visiting Red Bulls could come down to how effective Kljestan and Columbus midfielder Federico Higuain are in a matchup of contrasting styles.

A high-scoring game might be on tap after these teams totaled 11 goals last year in three meetings, with each winning once and the other contest a draw.

Wright-Phillips and Sam each scored twice for New York (1-0-1), though that was when Henry was the playmaker with three assists in those games.

"Obviously (Thierry has) given me lessons in football, but he can't help me now against Columbus," Wright-Phillips told the league's official site.

The forward, who led MLS with 27 goals a year ago, scored his first of 2015 in Sunday's 2-0 home win over D.C. United. Wright-Phillips also assisted on a goal by Sam, who scored for the second straight game.

The key to the New York attack now is Kljestan, who is available after being omitted this week from the United States team by coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

"Sacha comes in and adds some creativity to the midfield, I think he's a very good player," Crew defender Michael Parkhurst said. "Sam obviously has started the season very strong so he's a guy we're going to have to keep an eye out. They're a dangerous team."

Higuain was limited to one assist in the three meetings last season. He has done a good job this year of feeding Kei Kamara, who has a team-high 11 shots and one of the club's two goals.

Higuain is the focal point for the Crew (1-1-0), who like to take advantage of his superior passing ability to help distribute the ball all over the field. That's a tactic New York is eager to exploit.

"They want to spread the field, I think we want to shrink it," Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch said. "We want to compress the ball and make sure that we have numbers around the ball. And when they're spread out, then I think when we win it, I think we might have advantages to play forward and catch them quickly."

Columbus hasn't played since a 2-0 win over Toronto FC in its home opener March 14. The Crew finished with 21 shots to match a season high for any team.

Forward Justin Meram, who scored in that match, is with Iraq as the Crew's most notable international absentee. Midfielder Wil Trapp, who has started the first two games, is with the U.S. under-23 team.

New York will be without two players who are with Jamaica in starting defender Kemar Lawrence and reserve midfielder Dane Richards. The club is also without injured defenders Ronald Zubar and Roy Miller.