Columbus Crew made club history by advancing to their first-ever CONCACAF Champions Cup Final on Wednesday eliminating Monterrey who were heavily favored going into the matchup. Columbus won 5-2 in the aggregate score and were able to win both matches in the series.
MLS has started to get notoriety in this tournament the last few years going back to Seattle’s CONCACAF Championship in 2022. Columbus Crew will now take on Pachuca in the Final which has changed to a one-game play-off for this edition. It will be in Pachuca due to Pachuca having more points in the round of 16 and onwards of the tournament.
Columbus Crew showed that they are force to be reckoned with and they can compete with anybody. Is MLS finally at the level of Liga MX?
Columbus Crew Can Defend
What Columbus Crew showed in the two matches is that they are an elite defensive team, not something we saw from MLS teams in years past. They were able to shut down Brandon Vazquez who has been one of the best players for Monterrey all season. Vazquez has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season including 4 in CONCACAF play. He didn’t score at all against the Columbus Crew.
Defensive efforts like this one from the Columbus Crew show that it is important to have that in a two-game home and away series. Columbus Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte was key for them in this series, especially in the second leg in a tough environment in Monterrey. Schulte made stop after stop in the first half when Monterrey was dominating.
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Columbus Crew Had Timely Goals
Columbus Crew was able to score goals in crucial moments. The key goal came from Aidan Morris during stoppage time of the first half of the second leg. A bad pass from Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada led to a turnover and a great shot from Morris outside the box which gave Columbus Crew a huge goal that put them ahead 3-2 in the aggregate score.
It was such a deflating goal for Monterrey who had been controlling play during that first half. The momentum completely shifted in favor of the Columbus Crew and they tacked on two more goals in the second half to put the series away. Diego Rossi scored in the 49th minute early in the second half and that was a big one because it made it 4-2 in the aggregate score and gave the Columbus Crew one more away goal than Monterrey.
At that point, Monterrey needed three goals to win the series and they never got close. Columbus Crew showed they were the better team in this series and it should be interesting to see what they do against Pachuca in the final. The winner of that final goes to the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
About the Author
Mike Nelson lives and breathes sports. Ever since he was very young he has also dreamed of covering sports. Mike graduated from CSULA in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. He has been very lucky to cover sports and be on the radio for the last few years with different organizations including a stint with the LA Galaxy where he was one of the announcers for the LA Galaxy 2 team for two seasons.
Mike loves music, he hosts his radio show/podcast “The Mike Nelson Show” where he has gotten to interview the biggest names in rock and metal including Les Claypool, David Ellefson, and others.
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