The Columbus Crew will host CF Montreal on Wednesday night with both sides missing multiple players, turning an ordinary Eastern Conference matchup into a test of depth before the ball is even kicked. Wessam Abou Ali is out for Columbus because of a knee injury, part of a list that also includes Sekou Bangoura and Jamal Thiare.
The match starts at 7:30 p.m. EST and will air on Apple TV, which is why fans searching for Montreal Vs Columbus are doing it now. They are not just looking for a time and a channel. They are looking for whether either team can cover for what is missing.
That is where the forecast gets interesting. Dimers ran 10,000 simulations of the CF Montreal vs. Crew matchup and came away with Columbus as the more likely winner at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, projecting a 2-0 result. It gave Crew ML a 61.4% probability and put the 2.5-goal total 57.0% toward the over, a lean that suggests goals are more likely than a tight, low-event game.
But the injury list complicates that clean read. CF Montreal is also short-handed, with Frankie Amaya, Wiki Carmona, Bode Hidalgo, Efrain Morales and Josh-Duc Nteziryayo all sidelined by lower-body injuries. When both teams arrive this depleted, a model can still favor the Crew, yet the margin for error narrows fast once the lineup cards are handed over.
So the number to watch Wednesday is not the projection alone but whether Columbus can turn that advantage into a result at home without Wessam Abou Ali and the rest of its missing pieces. The kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST will answer more than a broadcast question; it will show whether the favorite can look like one when both benches are tested.
