Columbus Crew take crucial 2-1 advantage over CF Monterrey in Champions Cup: 2 takeaways
Looking at the history, the Crew's 2-1 victory over CF Monterrey on Wednesday in their home leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals was vital. Up until a little less than a month ago, no MLS club had ever advanced in the Champions Cup against a Liga MX club without winning its home leg.
Columbus was the team that finally broke through. The Crew defeated Tigres in the quarterfinals after finishing their match at Lower.com Field tied 1-1 on April 2. Despite the fact the Crew rallied once before, they wanted to avoid the need to do it again with the second leg of the two-game series at Monterrey's home stadium of Estadio BBVA.
"We know what we have to do," Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. "Are we going to try to defend or attack? We're going to do both because we have to respect the game. We know that it's going to be a good environment."
Wednesday, the Crew relied on the offensive production of forwards Cucho Hernandez and Jacen Russell-Rowe. Russell-Rowe recorded both his first ever goal and assist in Champions Cup play.
Hernandez, meanwhile, had a goal in the first half and a few other close calls. He appears to be on a positive trajectory following his two-game suspension and a three-game scoreless streak.
Before the Crew's MLS regular season matchup against the Portland Timbers, which took place on his 25th birthday Saturday, Hernandez said he was looking to start a "new season." Since then, he has goals in back-to-back games.
"I'll always try to score," Hernandez said via translator. "It's my job as a forward, and now it's all about keep going onwards with trying to score."
Replay: Columbus Crew take 2-1 victory over CF Monterrey in Champions Cup semifinal
The Crew and Monterrey finished with at least 10 shot attempts each. Columbus produced 12 and Monterrey 10.
Nancy and Hernandez would have preferred to one more of those shots to find the back of the net. Now, if the second leg match ends 1-0 in favor Monterrey, Columbus will be eliminated as Monterrey would hold the tie-breaker with one road goal, which Maximiliano Meza scored.
Here are the top takeaways from Wednesday's game:
Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy having trust in Jacen Russell-Rowe has paid off
Russell-Rowe is now second in scoring for the Crew with three goals. He's behind Hernandez, who has six.
Wednesday, Russell-Rowe scored off a header that took a friendly bounce as it went past Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada. The tally was assisted by Sean Zawadzki who also headed the ball. His pass came off a corner kick from Diego Rossi.
"It's amazing to finally get a goal in the Champions Cup," Russell-Rowe said. "It's been a long coming, I feel, from the start. When we were playing Houston, I didn't finish any chances that I got in the first two games, and then Tigres. But to be able to get an assist today and get on the scoresheet and help my team win at home, it's just amazing."
Jacen Russell-Rowe. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/jmNYwLVeQb
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 25, 2024
Russell-Rowe had been struggling to find the back of the net during MLS regular season games as well. Coming into the match against Monterrey, the 21-year-old was scoreless since March 16, despite taking 11 shot attempts in six appearances.
Despite the struggle, Nancy still kept trusting Russell-Rowe.
"Jacen deserved it," Nancy said. "But also, the flick from Sean. So, he touched the ball first, this is something, my staff works on that, and it worked. So, I think that we deserved it because they didn't stop, they pushed it and they pushed for that."
Columbus Crew were able to defensively handle a tough CF Monterrey team
Monterrey plays a style very different from any other team Columbus has matched up against this season.
Similar to the Crew, Monterrey likes to be in control of the ball, and Wednesday, Monterrey was close to Columbus in terms of possession with 45.9% compared to the Crew's 54.1%. Where the two teams differ is Monterrey likes to play a with an aggressive attacking style.
"I think they have good individual players," said Crew midfielder Aidan Morris. "I think that's never an easy thing to deal with. Tactically, they're doing well with overloading the wide areas, but I think we figured that out in the second half."
Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte was forced to make five saves. The shot that did make it past him came off a speedy counterattack.
"From the split second, I knew there was a runner," Schulte said. "I didn't know how free he was, but I knew that I needed to cut off the pass. But it was a ball in behind that I think we just got caught lacking on."
The Crew's backline of Rudy Camacho, Yevhen Cheberko and Steven Moreira also helped slow Monterrey down, specifically in the second half. Columbus, as a team, recorded seven clearances.
"This is not easy to play against this team, they have really good players obviously and they have different profiles," Nancy said. "Tall players that are able to keep the ball, fast players that are able in behind. ... But from the first forward to Pat Schulte, they tried to defend as a team."
Get more Columbus Crew content by listening to our podcast
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew earn Champions Cup victory over CF Monterrey. Takeaways
