Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy is looking forward to taking on San Diego in front of 35,000 fans at Snapdragon Stadium this weekend.

The 2023 MLS Cup champions have taken seven points from their opening three matches in the league, while they come into this game on the back of a 2-1 victory over Los Angeles FC in the Champions Cup in midweek, though they were eliminated 4-2 on aggregate.

The opportunity to take on the newest MLS expansion team and opposite number Mikey Varas is one that Nancy is looking forward to.

"This is amazing, honestly I'm so grateful. I was talking with colleagues in Europe and they are playing in front of 5,000," he said. 

"We regularly play against a good crowd, this is amazing. I know the coach really well, he has good ideas. He's a really good guy and I like him a lot, we have a lot of similarities in the way we see football.

"I'm not surprised he has made a good start because, first of all, he has good players and the way he wants to play is clear.

The game is a third road trip in five in all competitions for the Crew, having travelled to the New England Revolution and LAFC in the last 15 days, but the schedule is of no concern to Nancy.

"The good part is we get used to it, the bad part is we have to travel again. But again, my players are really good at taking care of themselves," he said.

"When we travel like this, it is not like they are complaining. Yes, we are going to have to be good to prepare the players to go again... but to be honest, they don't talk about it.

Nancy was also pleased with the performance of the versatile Sean Zawadski against LAFC and is looking forward to seeing more from him.

"First of all, credit to Sean because he is so good. I'm not here to put a statement [out], but he deserved [to be called up for] the national team," he said.

"My point is that he's so good. For me as a coach and the way I see the game, tactically he gives me a lot of options."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

San Diego – Anders Dreyer

Dreyer is San Diego's top scorer in the 2025 season and the second-highest goalscorer in MLS with three goals.

The Danish forward is averaging three shots per game in the league this season, with no player averaging more.

Columbus Crew – Diego Rossi

Rossi is the Crew's joint-top scorer in MLS this season with two goals in three appearances.

The Uruguayan is averaging 2.7 shots per game in the league, which is at least one more than any of his team-mates.

MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS CREW WIN

Columbus Crew are unbeaten in their last seven matches against expansion sides (W3 D4, regular season and playoffs) with the last defeat to an MLS newcomer coming at LAFC in 2018.

They come into this having won two and drawn one of their three opening matches in MLS in the 2025 season.

The Crew have also won 10 of their last 14 regular-season away games. Their 32 points collected in that period are the most ever earned over a 14-match period in the club's history.

San Diego drew 0-0 in their only home game so far this season and, as such, have not yet scored a home goal in MLS.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

San Diego – 26.1%

Draw – 23.5%

Columbus Crew – 50.3%