The Columbus Crew returns home for its final match of the 2012 MLS season, to host Toronto FC in the Trillium Cup finale, on Sunday, October 28. The Black & Gold were unable to qualify for the playoffs but look to finish on a positive note in front of their home fans.
It is Fan Appreciation Day and the Crew will honor its fans in style on Sunday, as everyone coming to the stadium will receive one of 20,000 scratch-off cards and will walk away with a prize.
Prizes range from free items at the concession stands and discounts at the Crew Gear Store, to high-end prizes such as two tickets to the Kansas City Chiefs at Cleveland Browns NFL game on Dec. 9, tickets to concerts and MLS First Kick 2013, hotel stays at some of the Crew’s hotel partners, VIP packages at Sway and BBR Bar, admissions to the Columbus Zoo, Zoombezi Bay and the Wild, and much more. A full list of prizes is available at www.TheCrew.com/October28.
Sunday’s game kicks off at 4:00 p.m. and is televised live regionally in high definition on FOX Sports Ohio, with Dwight Burgess and Duncan Oughton calling all the action and Ashleigh Ignelzi reporting from the sidelines. The game can also be heard in English on News/Talk 610 WTVN and on-line at TheCrew.com with Neil Sika and John Bluem on the call, and in Spanish on La Mega 103.1, with Carlos Cordova and Benny Pietrangelo behind the microphones.
The match comes on the heels of the heartbreaking 3-2 loss at D.C. United, in which Eddie Gaven and Jairo Arrieta tallied one goal each and Federico Higuaín added an assist.
This is the third and final regular season meeting between the clubs. The Crew has already secured the return of the Trillium Cup after winning the previous two contests, 1-0 in Toronto on March 31, behind a well placed strike by Bernardo Anor, and 2-1 at Crew Stadium on August 22, when Higuaín set up Gaven for the first goal and tallied the game-winner.
Since the last meeting with the Crew, Toronto has gone winless in regular season posting a 0-5-3 record most recently playing the Montreal Impact to a scoreless draw on October 20, at BMO Field. TFC has also been active in CONCACAF Champions League and is coming off a 1-0 loss at Santos Laguna that has eliminated them from the competition.
The Trillium Cup is an annual competition between the two teams, named after the trillium, which is both the official flower of the Canadian province of Ontario, and the official wildflower of the U.S. state of Ohio. The rivalry draws on the teams’ similarities and proximity. Both teams are geographically near the Great Lakes that border the United States and Canada and both teams also play in soccer-specific stadiums that have been built in the central city, as opposed to other MLS clubs that have built their stadium mainly in the suburbs.
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