Crew SC did not leave fans waiting much after a thirty minute weather delay, earning a penalty kick in an MLS-record twelve seconds, a chance which Federico Higuain promptly capped-off.
“That was actually a play that we had set up to run in Chicago, and we did not actually talk about it before this game, and when we were getting ready to kick off the ball, I said ‘Well we have the ball let’s run what we were going to run’ and they weren’t ready for it,” Ethan Finlay said after the match.
The Fire did not appear to be “ready for it” as Wil Trapp played a ball into Kei Kamara, who headed it over to Finlay who drew the penalty against Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson. After some debate between Federico Higuain and Kei Kamara, presumably over who would take the first Crew SC penalty of the season, Higuain would step up and rolled in a shot to the left side of the net while Johnson dove to his right, giving Columbus a 1-0 lead in the second minute.
The action continued straight away as the Fire answered in the ninth minute as David Accam sent a free-kick from just outside the box straight into the Crew SC wall, and the shot deflected straight off of Justin Meram’s face and behind Columbus goalkeeper Steve Clark to even the score.
Columbus would not miss a beat after the Chicago goal, as Waylon Francis brought the ball down the side, sent a lofted cross to the back post and newly-named MLS All-Star Kei Kamara leaped up nearly the height of the crossbar to power the header home.
“(It was a) great ball from Waylon (Francis) and I just had to do my job and put it in the back of the net,” Kamara said.
“It’s an honor,” Kamara said with regards to his All-Star selection. The forward added that he believes teammate Ethan Finlay deserves a spot on the team as well.
The two teams would then play to a stalemate for the rest of the half despite the wild start, with the help of Steve Clark who managed to stop a one-on-one chance from Patrick Nyarko and a rebound attempt from Jason Johnson as well, making the halftime score 2-1 in favor of Columbus.
A big moment of the match came in the 50th minute when Chicago’s Jason Johnson was called for his second yellow-card for embellishment when Johnson appeared to make contact with Crew SC defender Tyson Wahl and went down in a fashion that referee Chris Penso thought was worthy of sending the forward off, leaving Chicago with 10 men for the remaining forty minutes.
Despite the man advantage, Chicago seemed to create more chances while Columbus seemed to struggle.
“That was another mental test for us,” Crew SC Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter added. “After the red card I saw too many direct balls, too many balls trying to make the killer pass right away instead of circulating and waiting for the absolute right moment to execute on moves.”
“It didn’t feel like we were up a man,” Kamara said on the man advantage.
Crew SC would eventually find the insurance goal which, according to Berhalter, “deflated” Chicago. Ethan Finlay took a couple touches and poked home a cross from Chad Barson in the 83rd minute to secure the victory with a final score of 3-1.
With the win, Columbus moves up to second place in the Eastern Conference Standings.
Columbus Crew SC is back in action next Saturday as they take on Toronto FC at home at 7:30 pm.
