Columbus Crew SC came into their season finale knowing full well that they essentially controlled their own destiny in terms of locking up the second seed in the Eastern Conference. A win at home against DC United, who went into the game in the two spot, would ensure the club would lock up a bye into the Conference Semifinals.
That said, I don’t think even the most adamant supporters of the club could have envisaged what transpired late Sunday afternoon and into the evening at MAPFRE Stadium.
Buoyed by a four-goal surge in the second half that included two in consecutive minutes from right winger Ethan Finlay, the Black and Gold pulled off an historic 5-0 rout of DC United. The result marked the largest margin of victory in the history of the series between these two MLS charter members. Crew SC had previously beaten DC by four goals on two separate occasions. The first of those triumphs came in both sides’ first-ever match way back on April 13, 1996.
Columbus Crew SC Prove Their Worth By Sealing MLS Eastern Conference Bye
Head coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter emphasized that such a comprehensive victory has been the culmination of what the players have been working at over the past few weeks.
“I’ve been telling you guys for a month now. The end of the season’s preparing us,” Berhalter told Andrew King of MLSsoccer.com. “Remember we talked about how, you know, we’ve had a tough stretch. The game’s we’ve been playing are preparing us for these types of games and then you finally get in a game where you have to prove yourselves and we did it.”
Different players proved themselves in different ways on Sunday.
The attacking players, whether they were wingers Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay or center forward Jack McInerney, did so by contributing to the attack and finding the back of the net with regularity. For Jack Mac, it was as clear-cut an example of making the best of opportunities when they come. Obviously he was going to find it difficult to get playing time in a single striker formation with Kei Kamara the go to guy. With Kamara out due to yellow card accumulation, it was his time to shine and he made the most of it.
In the 25th minute, he took a beautifully timed through ball from Mohammed Saeid, himself playing in place of similarly suspended Federico Higuaín, and thrust it past DC goalkeeper Bill Hamid to open up the scoring. This came mere minutes after he nearly headed in a goal that was brilliantly saved by Hamid.
He would contribute to the score sheet in the second half via an assist on Finlay’s first goal of the game in the 66th minute. Finlay would follow that tally up with another just a minute later and the rout was officially on. The brace made it 12 goals and 13 assists on the season for Finlay.
He nearly completed a hat trick which would’ve been the first for the club in 11 years in stoppage time which would’ve made it 6-0 Crew SC, but was denied by Hamid. It must be said that Hamid’s performance in net for DC likely prevented this match from becoming a rout of unprecedented proportions in league history.
Finlay told Last Word on Sports after the game he thought there was a chance that the 19,121 in attendance would’ve been treated to just one more stroke of brilliance.
“I thought maybe we’d have one more moment,” Finlay said. “Wil (Trapp) did a nice job to break up the pass (in the middle third of the field) and put a long ball in and I kind of had a feeling of Salt Lake last year for me when I did a first-time chip. (Instead) I opted to take a touch this time and fire it near post and Bill (Hamid), credit to him, made a big save.”
Meram similarly proved his mettle in the final game of a regular season that saw his goal-scoring production fall from last year’s campaign. In many ways, his lone score of the game was the catalyst for what would become a second half surge of goals for the Black and Gold. Taking a route one ball from Michael Parkhurst onto his chest, he would then go one-on-one with DC defender Sean Franklin, skirt to his left and bury it past Hamid near post to make it 2-0 Crew SC.
The tally was Meram’s sixth of the season after scoring eight in 2014, and he stressed post-game the importance of having him, Finlay and McInerney clicking the way they were.
“It’s great, it’s awesome, it’s what you want, it’s all part of the game plan,” Meram noted.
The defensive midfield pairing of Wil Trapp and Tony Tchani also came up big in this game. You always want your deep lying playmaker (Trapp) and box-to-box midfielder (Tchani) to be the focal point of the distribution and defensive work, and that’s precisely what took place. The duo had the two highest number of touches, accounted for 28.2 percent of the team’s total passes while also contributing to 27.1 percent of their defensive actions (tackles, recoveries, interceptions and blocks).
And let’s not forget to mention Kevan George. He was forced onto the field in the 40th minute when Mohammed Saeid picked up a hamstring injury. It forced Berhalter into some tactical tinkering considering Saeid’s role as the number ten and George more akin to a holding midfielder a la Trapp. In his 50 minutes on the field, he successfully connected on all but two passes, finished with a 96 percent passing accuracy rate, and nearly had a highlight reel goal from outside the box that just missed the right upper 90 in the second half.
Berhalter credits the collective mentality of the team in being able to not just get the win but to do in emphatic fashion.
“The mentality of the group was they didn’t want to lose this game and they wanted the second seed,” Berhalter noted.
The Black and Gold will get their 2015 Audi MLS Cup Playoff campaign underway on Sunday November 1st. As the two-seed, they will face the lowest remaining seed amongst the two knockout round winners in the first leg which will be held on the road. They will return to MAPFRE Stadium the following Sunday November 8th for the second leg.
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