Columbus Crew take 1-0 advantage over Houston Dynamo in CONCACAF Champions Cup
For the second game in a row, a goal in the final minute changed the outcome of a Crew matchup, but this time it was in favor of Columbus.
On the road in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16, Crew's Alex Matan scored off a free kick from Aidan Morris to pull Columbus ahead 1-0 against the Houston Dynamo the final minute in stoppage time on Wednesday night.
This comes four days after the Crew's 1-1 draw at Minnesota in which their opponent scored in the closing seconds.
"I am not a coach who likes to talk after the game on the pitch," said Crew coach Wilfried Nancy. "But I felt it was a good moment to tell them that they were humble enough to adjust themselves and today, to win during the last minute. This is something that I am really proud of."
For a majority of the match, it looked as though if the Crew or Dynamo wanted to take any goals away from the first leg of their two-game series they had to get past the video assistant referee (VAR) first.
In the 60th minute, Houston's Ethan Bartlow put the ball past Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte off an assist from Franco Escobar. After VAR review, it was determined that Escobar was offside before the ball got to him.
The Crew' Christian Ramirez got a shot of his own past Houston goalkeeper Steven Clark in the 74th minute. It would be discovered shortly after that Ramirez was offside before his goal.
During the second half, Nancy made several changes in the lineup. Ramirez, Matan, and Cucho Hernandez, who had Columbus' only two goals this year leading up to this matchup, came off the bench. Matan was Nancy's last substitution in the 78th minute.
"In the second half, the idea was to bring a bit of freshness," Nancy said. "And to adjust also tactically a few things. So, that is why I decided to make the rotation and they did it well."
Diego Rossi, the only player that has started every game so far for the Crew on the frontline, got one of his best looks at what would be his first goal of the year during the 15th minute. But Rossi's attempt was cleared over the goal by Clark.
In his first appearance for the Crew since being acquired in the offseason, Marino Hinestroza got the start at right forward.
On the field for only the first half for Columbus, Hinestroza demonstrated the speed that was being advertised by the club before the start of the season but made a questionable in-game decision.
At the 38-minute mark, while in control of the ball going up near midfield, he was met one-on-one with Clark, who had left the Dynamo's goal wide open. After getting around Clark, Hinestroza launched an attempt at an open goal but missed to the left.
Going into halftime 0-0, Nancy would put Hernandez in the game for Hinestroza. Hernandez had five shot attempts, but none on target.
"They had a good half, the first half," Nancy said. "The second half was better from us. We were more aggressive, we were a bit hesitant first half... After that, with the ball, it was good. I'm happy for the players. Now, we'll see the second leg."
The series switches Lower.com Field on Tuesday. Since the winner is determined by aggregate goals, the Crew would need only to a tie to advance to the quarterfinals.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew win 1-0 over Houston Dynamo in Champions Cup
