Columbus Crew SC won an entertaining game against Seattle Sounders FC 3-2 at MAPFRE Stadium on Saturday night. The match contained a total of 35 attempts on goal and continued Columbus’s home goalscoring exploits, now with 13 in five home games.
“Obviously, I’m pleased with the game,” Crew SC Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter commented. “I think the way the game was played, I told the guys to go out and entertain the fans and entertain the people watching, and I think they did that.”
It was an unhappy homecoming for defender Chad Marshall, playing in Columbus for the first time since he was traded to Seattle in 2014 after ten seasons with the Crew.
Crew SC started the game in confident mood and were creating plenty of chances and took the lead on ten minutes. Waylon Francis broke free down the left wing and his cross was headed home by Kei Kamara, whose movement was too good for a static Seattle defense.
The chances continued to come with the best falling to Justin Meram after a Federico Higuain through ball split the Seattle defense and his shot was well parried by Stefan Frei.
Ethan Finlay had a good opportunity on the followup, but his shot was high over the bar.
Crew SC were eventually made to pay for not converting their chances as Seattle started to come into the game and leveled on 24 minutes. After some nice interchange in midfield the play found Clint Dempsey on the edge of the box, who had time to turn and place a curling left foot shot in off the post to beat Steve Clark.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first with Columbus pressing and taking the lead on 50 minutes. Higuain collected a long cross on the left and started on a run into the area and after multiple shot fakes he let rip a shot to beat Frei to his left.
The similarities to the first half continued as Columbus missed opportunities to extend the lead with Finlay now at fault, blazing high when clean through on goal after beating Marshall with a lovely first touch to take him into the area.
But Crew SC kept the pressure up and the third goal did come in the 58th minute as Meram escaped down the left and his cross went through a crowded box to find Hector Jimenez on the other wing, who then returned it to find a free Kamara to side foot home. Kamara’s seventh goal in the opening nine matches takes him to the top of the MLS scoring leaderboard.
The Sounders were not finished and brought it back to 3-2 after poor defending from Crew SC. Pushing out to catch Dempsey offside they missed the deep run from Obafemi Martins, whose shot was well saved by Clark, but Dempsey was free to put in the rebound. Seattle continued to push for the equalizer, but the Columbus defense hung on for the victory.
The exciting win was a welcome sign for the 16,714 fans in attendance. Crew SC hope to continue their hot start when they travel to Northern California to face the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium on May 16th.
