Crew is Southbound

• George Pennington
• Tue Sep 15 2009, 4:44am GMT

The Columbus Crew will head south this week to Costa Rica. It will be the furthest thing from a vacation imaginable. Deportivo Saprissa, arguably one of the toughest contenders in Group C, holds the second spot and wants to keep it.

The recently reunited Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno - who have both fully recovered from injuries - are a formidable tandem and will look to score early. They will face one of the best-coordinated defenses in the region. Saprissa's last CONCACAF matchup resulted in a 3-1 victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders.

The Crew defense have had time to lick their wounds since the 5-0 thrashing at Cruz Azul and have performed well in MLS.

The Crew has no players on the injury report and can draw from a combination of youth and experience. If they can control the midfield and not get rushed, their chances of holding down the Purple Monster are good.

The game will be held on Wednesday Sept 16th in San Juan, Costa Rica at 10pm.