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Houston Dynamo will host Columbus Crew at the BBVA Compass Stadium on Wednesday in the first leg of their 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup last-16 clash.
The home side faced St. Louis City in the opening round of the Champions Cup last month, suffering a 2-1 defeat in the first leg. However, they bounced back with a 1-0 win in the second leg on home turf with Erik Sviatchenko's second-half strike ensuring the Orange Crush advanced to the last 16 of the tournament by virtue of the away goals rule.
Houston Dynamo faced Deportivo Guastatoya in their last appearance at this stage of the competition. They beat the Guatemalan outfit 3-1 on aggregate and will be hopeful of a positive result here as well.
Columbus Crew have enjoyed a positive start to their MLS campaign and will hope they can carry that momentum onto the continental stage this week. They played out a 1-1 draw against Minnesota United in their league game at the weekend with former Watford man Cucho Hernandez scoring the opener before their opponents leveled the scores at the death.
Houston Dynamo vs Columbus Crew Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- Wednesday's game will mark the 30th meeting between Houston and Columbus. The hosts have won eight of their previous matchups while the visitors have won one more. There have been 12 draws between the two teams.
- The two sides last faced off in a league clash last season which the hosts won 2-0.
- The visitors are without a clean sheet in their last four games in this fixture.
- Only two of Houston's 11 league defeats last season came on home turf.
- Columbus have scored at least one goal in their last 16 games across all competitions.
Houston Dynamo vs Columbus Crew Prediction
Houston's latest result ended a run of back-to-back unbeaten outings and they will now look to bounce back here. They have lost just one competitive game on home turf since last July and will be hopeful of a positive result this week.
Columbus are undefeated in their last six competitive outings, picking up five consecutive wins in that period. They are in much better form than their midweek opponents and should come out on top here.
Prediction: Houston Dynamo 0-1 Columbus Crew
Houston Dynamo vs Columbus Crew Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Columbus
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Four of the last five matches between the two teams have produced fewer than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: NO (Both sides have found the back of the net in just one of their last four competitive matchups)
