Two of the hottest goal scorers in the league have their respective teams in the MLS playoff hunt as the Columbus Crew face host FC Cincinnati on Saturday.

Cucho Hernandez has scored eight goals in his first eight MLS games to help the Crew (8-6-11, 35 points) reach the seventh and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with nine matches left.

Cincinnati (8-8-10, 34 points), tied for eighth, is on the cusp of its first postseason berth since joining the league in 2019, thanks to the breakout season by Brandon Vazquez, whose 15 goals are tied for third in the league.

The 23-year-old signed a contract extension through the 2025 season on Thursday.

“Re-signing Brandon was a major priority for us this summer, as he has proven he can be one of the league’s best forwards,” Cincinnati general manager Chris Albright said in a team statement.

The Crew defeated their rival 2-0 on July 17 in this season’s first Hell Is Real derby with Hernandez and Lucas Zelarayan scoring. That should be no surprise. Since Hernandez transferred from English club Watford, he has rejuvenated Zelarayan and the duo has scored the Crew’s past 12 goals.

“His (Zelarayan’s) understanding with Cucho is huge because Cucho, his movement in the box is very predictable from the standpoint it’s early and it’s obvious where he wants the ball,” Crew coach Caleb Porter said. “There’s been times with strikers where it wasn’t obvious where they want the ball.”

Columbus is 5-1-7 in the past 13 matches and 3-0-3 in the past six away games. Cincinnati is 2-1-9 in the past 12 games but is 1-5-3 all-time against its Ohio opponent.

“There’s an immense amount of pride in winning your rivalry games but to have also playoff implications just adds a little more weight to the game,” Cincinnati defender Nick Hagglund said.

Cincinnati could see the return of Costa Rican defender Ronald Matarrita, who has not played since undergoing ankle surgery on April 4.

— Field Level Media