On a cold Columbus night, the Chicago Fire looked to heat things up in the fortress known as Lower.com Field. In a storied rivalry match between Columbus and Chicago, the Crew have seemed to have the upper hand at home against the Fire over the past 11 seasons. The Black & Gold came into this match still running on emotions from their late game-winning goal against Houston on Wednesday.
Coming off scoring the most goals last season, the goals haven't been falling the Crew's way so far this Season. Prior to the match Crew forward Jacen Russell-Rowe "The goals are there, they are coming. we have had the chances." Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy has stated "I'm pleased with the chances; the goals will come."
In the first five minutes of the first half, Chicago got out on the front foot quickly. Maren Hile-Selassie received the pass from Xherdan Shaqiri on his right foot and dribbled into the Crew's six-yard boxand sent a shot that went between Patrick Schulte's legs and deflected off his back leg for a Columbus clear by Rudy Camacho. The rest of the half saw Chicago putting a high press on the Columbus offense and Patrick Schulte.
The Columbus Crew did look a little bit like the first half of the Crew's previous league match against Minnesota United. The Crew came out a little sloppy with passing at first but seemed to fix itself as the half went on. At times during the first half, it appeared the timing and chemistry was just not there for the front row of Cucho, Rossi, and Hinestroza, but like the play of the Black & Gold, it appeared to begin to tighten up and become fluid.
At the half, the score remained 0-0 at the end of the first 45 minutes. The Crew went into the locker room with a little momentum.
The second half saw a different side of the Black & Gold. The Crew came out of the locker room showing a different aggression. The Crew came got out on the front foot early in the second half. Coach Nancy seemed to change up the tactical approach when he brought on Jacen Russell-Rowe (better known as JRR) and Steven Moreira in the 60th minute.
The excitement for the Crew came in the 68th minute. It started with the Black & Gold regaining possession. Columbus Crew Left center back Malte Amundson sent a long pass to JRR. After receiving the pass, JRR had a great turn and began to attack the back line of the Fire. Dribbling past the Firew defender, JRR got to the top of the 18-yard box and sent a sniping shot past Fire Keeper Chris Brady to open the scoring for The Crew and put them up 1-0.
Just 4 minutes later in the 72nd minute, Fabian Herbers taps the ball in off a rebound for Chicago, and Chicago equalizes the score at 1-1. Originally called offside on Chicago, the center ref Richonne Clark made his way over to the monitor for a VAR check. After a couple minutes, Clark whistled for a good goal the offside was overturned to keep the score at 1-1.
The Fire appeared to set back play for a draw, however that was not the case for the Crew. One of the issues from last season and in the match against Minnesota United that plagued the Columbus was late goals allowed. Columbus was bound to fix that issue.
As the match approached the 90th minute, the fourth official showed 12 minutes of stoppage time. The Black & Gold came alive. Like a shark in the water smelling blood, Columbus became more aggressive and executed their style play better. With Columbus Slowing the pace down to their level and maintaining possession more, the Crew attack the Fire defense in waves. Folks, hang on to your seats!
In the 90th+10-minute mark, Columbus was on the attack. On the ensuing throw in, JRR received the ball and immediately began to drive. Looking up, he found Diego Rossi, and sent the pass through the legs of the Fire defender to Rossi who let the quick shot loose, and on the rebound Mo Farsi was there to clean it up and put the ball in the back of the net to put the Crew up 2-1 late in stoppage time.
The final whistle blew and Columbus remain unbeaten so far this season after defeating Chicago 2-1.
The story of the match.
Saturday's match saw 20,236 fans come out in the Columbus cold for a showdown between a long storied rival for the 19th consecutive home sellout. Also, the Columbus Crew are unbeaten in the last 17 home matches boasting a record of 14-0-3. Also to note, The Crew have now scored in every league match including the playoffs since they were shut out last season at Houston in September of last year. On a high note, Mo Farsi scored his first career league goal and his second with the club ( US Open cup match against Indy 11 win 1-0), and his goal broke a club record and league record of the latest game winning goal in stoppage time.
The black & Gold now turn their attention to the second leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup tournament against Houston on Tuesday March 12th, 2024 at 6pm on FS1, 102.5 FM.
