The Columbus Crew (12-14-5, 41 points) continued its ascent up the MLS Eastern Conference standings on Sunday night at Toyota Stadium, claiming its third consecutive League win with an emphatic 4-2 triumph over FC Dallas (10-10-10, 40 points). The victory gives the Black & Gold its fourth win in their past five MLS matches under Interim Head Coach Brian Bliss, while also allowing the club to retain the Pioneer Cup – the trophy contested between the two sides with longtime ties to American soccer legend Lamar Hunt. With the win, the Crew moves to within a single point of the fifth and final MLS Cup Playoffs position in the Eastern Conference, trailing Philadelphia (11-10-9, 42 points). Bliss’ side has three regular-season matches remaining to close this gap, with all three contests coming against intra-conference opponents.
Four different Crew players found the back of the net on Sunday night, with captain Federico Higuain recording his 11th tally of the season to open the scoring in the ninth minute. Jairo Arrieta doubled the Crew’s advantage eight minutes later, taking a cross from Dominic Oduro to give the Black & Gold a two-goal lead in the early going. Blas Perez pulled one back for home side in the 21st minute, only for Oduro to add his team-leading 12th goal of the campaign just before the stroke of halftime. With that strike, Oduro equals his season-high scoring mark from 2011, when he scored a dozen times for Chicago. Dallas’ Mauro Diaz tallied in the 54th minute, and after some strong goalkeeping from Homegrown Player Matt Lampson, Bernardo Anor added a fourth and final Crew goal in the 86th minute to seal the Crew’s victory.
The Black & Gold continue their push for the postseason with an Eastern Conference clash on Saturday, October 5 against Sporting Kansas City (7:30 p.m. ET / FOX Sports Ohio) in the third and final meeting between the two teams, as the Crew opens up a stretch of three crucial in-conference tests to finish the regular season.
