Arace: Underdog Crew pull a Christian Ramirez out of their hat, survive and advance
It had been 21 years since the Crew last won an MLS playoff game on the road. Does anyone remember Sept. 25, 2002, when the Black & Gold beat the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 at Spartan Stadium? Edson Buddle and Freddy Garcia remember; they had the goals for the Crew. Landon Donovan, then 20 years old, scored for the Quakes, the defending MLS Cup champions. A crowd of 8,068 was on hand.
There have been playoff occasions when the Crew won road games on kicks, as they did in a first-round knockout game in Atlanta in 2017, and again in Washington in 2018. Technically speaking, those are officially draws. Soccer.
Sunday night, the 7,730-day streak ended in Orlando, where the Crew beat Orlando City 2-0 in extra time at Exploria Stadium. A crowd of 25,527 was silenced.
Now, to keep their tittle hopes alive, the Crew have to do it all over again, this time in Porkopolis.
FC Cincinnati, the top seed in the tournament, got a goal in the 94th minute to beat visiting Philadelphia Union 1-0 in the Apple TV nightcap. And there it is: The "Hell is Real" derby will be rejoined in an all-Ohio Eastern Conference Final. It’ll be Crew vs. Cincinnati at TQL Stadium in the Queen City, at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Crew-Orlando game was filled with drama, physical play, 10 yellow cards and one red card. Orlando defender Rodrigo Schlegel took a second yellow and was sent off in the 77th minute for pulling down Crew forward Diego Rossi from behind. While playing a man up was an advantage for the Crew, it does not discount how well they played prior to the red card, and it certainly doesn’t take away from the victory they pulled out of a pressure cooker.
Who was the man of the match?
Was it forward Christian Ramirez, who came off the bench to break a scoreless draw in the 93rd minute? Was it midfielder Aidan Morris, who set up Ramirez’s goal, had a golazo attempt foiled earlier in the game and, per usual, was a human torch? Was it forward Cucho Hernandez, who iced the game with an empty-net goal on a shot that was launched from midfield? Or was it goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, who made three highlight-reel quality saves down the stretch?
I’ll go with Schulte. But there is no wrong answer.
The Crew, seeded third in the East, were perceived to be distinct underdogs against No. 2 seed Orlando City. MLS is the toughest soccer league in the world for visiting teams. Orlando set a franchise record for points this season, had designs on winning the Cup and probably thought it had the Crew’s number.
During the regular-season series, the Crew blew two-goal leads in Columbus (a 2-2 draw May 13) and in Orlando (a horrifying 4-3 loss at Exploria Stadium Sept. 16). What may have been masked by the points that were lost is the fact that the Crew managed to play their possession game and generate an attack for the vast majority of minutes, in both games. They just needed to clean up a few things – managing counter attacks and improving on some awful set-piece defense, to name two – and, by and large, they did. They shut out Orlando in Orlando.
The Crew had the better of possession (56.5% to 43.5%), passing accuracy (89.5% to 81.5%), shots (20-13) and shots on goal (7-3). Crew coach Wilfried Nancy won a chess match against the estimable Oscar Pareja. Well done.
The Crew got the moment of magic they needed from Ramirez, a veteran striker. Ramirez had seven goals in all competitions when he was playing heavy minutes earlier this season. He was relegated to spot duty after the team retooled its roster in July. The greasy goal he scored on a net crash Saturday night was his first in MLS play since July 4.
One other note: As was the case in Game 3 of the Crew’s first-round series against Atlanta, Mo Farsi played in place of veteran Julian Gressel at right wingback. Gressel did not appear in either game. What this says about whether the Crew still want to extend Gressel’s contract, or whether Gressel might be looking for a better fit for next season, is a story for another day.
It’s time to get on the bandwagon, Columbus, if you’re not on it already. The Crew is on to the Eastern Conference Final for the eighth time in the 28-year history of the league’s first chartered franchise. Cucho has 14 goals in the past 12 games, including four in four playoff games.
If the Crew can manage to defeat the Supporters’ Shield winners in Cincinnati, Columbus will host the MLS Cup final Dec. 9 at Lower.com Field.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: MLS East Final pits Columbus vs. Cincinnati in all-Ohio affair
