Columbus Crew endures weather delay, defeats St. Louis City SC in Leagues Cup opener
It took two days to sort out two firsts and one final result at Lower.com Field.
For the first time, the Crew faced MLS expansion club St. Louis City SC. The game was the first for both clubs as part of the inaugural Leagues Cup, a monthlong competition between MLS and Mexican Liga MX teams. And it was supposed to take place entirely within the confines of Sunday evening in downtown Columbus, but Mother Nature had other plans.
After enduring a 217-minute delay due to storms in the area, the Crew built a two-goal lead, weathered some nervy situations in the final moments and ultimately prevailed, 2-1, in a game that didn’t end until 1:08 on Monday morning.
With the Nordecke chanting "Past our bedtime" as the clock inched toward 1 a.m., the Crew defense seemingly fell asleep on the fourth corner kick of the night for MLS' most prolific team on set pieces. While the visitors had notched just one shot on goal through the first 84 minutes, St. Louis City SC halved the Crew's lead on a corner kick that was credited as an own goal off of Jacen Russell-Rowe.
As has often been the case in the final moments for the Crew, it got worse from there. Gustavo Vallecilla fouled Aziel Jackson in the 89th minute in a dangerous spot just outside the penalty area where Indiana Vassilev lined up for a free kick.
With a chance to tie the game, his attempt sailed right to Crew goalkeeper Evan Bush, who made the save to preserve the lead.
The heavy rains and lightning that descended on Central Ohio quickly nullified any thoughts of pregame warmups and sent players into their locker rooms and fans into the concourses for shelter more than an hour and a half before the scheduled 7:30 p.m. start time. What followed was a series of announcements that warmups would not begin until a specific time as many fans eventually made their way to the exits. Those who stayed clustered in every dry spot available, filling stairwells and occupying any spot to sit against.
Some created a vuvuzela train, parting their way through the masses while blowing their horns. At the north end, the denizens of the Nordecke pounded drums and chanted Crew songs to pass the time.
The final announced deadline said warmups wouldn’t start until at least 10:50, but two minutes before that time, fans clustered underneath the eastern concourse began to cheer at the sight of team personnel emerging from the opposite side of the stadium. At 10:49 p.m., the balls were rolled out once again and St. Louis’ players were quickly greeted with boos from the southwest corner.
Cheers for the newly announced start time of 11:16 p.m., and the Crew’s emergence on the field at 10:52, were quickly muted, however, when an announcement rang out that all alcohol sales would cease at 11 p.m.
When the game did finally get underway, St. Louis nearly delivered a stunner when Eduard Lowen’s shot on net went just wide of the right post only 16 seconds into the game. It would be the only real chance for the visitors for nearly half an hour, and by the time they would threaten again the Crew had already built a two-goal lead.
First, St. Louis’ Jonathan Bell took down Crew midfielder Darlington Nagbe from just outside the box, giving Lucas Zelarayan a good look on goal for the ensuing free kick. His attempt in the 11th minute floated into the right side of the net as goalkeeper Benjamin Lundt froze in place and made no outward movement to stop the ball. Just like that, the Crew held the 1-0 lead, and they would keep coming.
Just before the half-hour mark, The Crew pressed its attack up the right flank where Christian Ramirez crossed it back into the box and onto the foot of a charging Cucho Hernandez. He redirected it back toward the net only to have the ball strike the arm of St. Louis defender Lucas Bartlett, who was whistled for a handball and giving the Crew a penalty kick.
Hernandez took it and buried it in the 29th minute, putting the Crew ahead 2-0, but the remainder of the half would belong to the visitors. St. Louis City entered Leagues Cup play with an MLS-leading 18 goals on set pieces, and from the 33rd until the 38th minute the visitors would earn three of them that would each prove dangerous but ultimately fruitless as the Crew took a 2-0 lead into the break.
The game marked the club debut for center back Yevhen Cherberko, a Ukrainian center back acquired during the summer transfer window. He came on for Yaw Yeboah in the 70th minute to a warm welcome from the fans who remained at 12:43 a.m.
One moment later, St. Louis' Miguel Perez recorded his team's first shot on goal of the game.
Coach Wilfried Nancy made three changes to what was essentially a first-choice lineup. Hernandez replaced Jacen Russell-Rowe at forward, Vallecilla replaced Steven Moreira at center back and Bush got the start at goalkeeper.
Bush’s appearance was his first since a May 24 U.S. Open Cup game, a 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh, and only his fourth of the season. He has not yet played in an MLS regular-season game, and his inclusion meant the Crew’s No. 1 goalkeeper and native of the St. Louis area, Patrick Schulte, would not start against what is essentially his hometown team.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Worth the wait: Crew beats St. Louis after lengthy weather delay
