Kansas City (5-5-5) at Columbus (8-5-3)

After finishing 2007 as one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, the Columbus Crew will go into the All-Star break as one of the best.

The Crew play their final league game of the season’s first half Thursday when they try to sweep the regular-season series against the Kansas City Wizards.

Columbus (8-5-3) hasn’t finished in the top half of the league since 2004, when the Crew posted the conference’s best record at 12-5-13. Last season, they were 9-11-10, scoring 39 goals while allowing 44 to finish in second-to-last place in the East.

The Crew, who are now six points behind the conference-leading New England Revolution, are coming off a 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday after going 2-0-2 in their previous four league games. Columbus scored 10 goals during that stretch, but managed just two shots on goal against Real Salt Lake.

“Obviously we just weren’t clicking,” midfielder Robbie Rogers said. “We’re not used to playing on turf field like this, it’s really fast. I don’t really think it allows you to play as much soccer as you would like. We just didn’t make the right adjustments for it and we kind of learned are lesson from it.”

Rogers has five goals in 16 games this season - second on the Crew behind Alejandro Moreno. Rogers, though, hasn’t scored in the last nine games.

He and the Crew look to bounce back against a team they’ve beaten twice already this season. Columbus posted a 2-1 home victory over Kansas City (5-5-5) on May 3, and a 3-0 road win on June 14. Rogers has one goal against the Wizards this season while Moreno has two.

Kansas City is tied for last place in the conference with New York despite being unbeaten in its last four games, including a 2-1 victory over the Red Bulls last Thursday. Jimmy Conrad scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season while Davy Arnaud added his first.

The Wizards are last in the conference in goals scored this season with 14 - also the second-fewest in the MLS.

“We’re extremely pleased to get the three points,” Kansas City coach Curt Onalfo said. “It puts us right back in the mix. Today was a must win as far as I was concerned.”

The Wizards, who are also playing their final game before the MLS All-Star game on July 24, are seven points behind the second-place Crew. Kansas City is 1-3-4 on the road, and has played to a draw in its last three league road games.

Kansas City will have Josh Wolff available Thursday, likely off the bench, for another scoring option. The forward has signed a four-year contract to rejoin his former team, for which he scored 27 goals from 2003-2006. He’s spent the last two seasons playing with 1860 Munich and is also a member of the U.S. National team.