On a crisp Saturday night in Columbus, you sensed there was something was different for Columbus. The Black & Gold looked sharp and refreshed after some off days and rest following the grueling road trip. The Crew wanted to get on the front foot right away from the start. That's exactly what happened. Columbus looked spread the Timbers out wide and impose their style of play. With an early chance from a cross that just sailed by Cucho Hernandez and startled Mo Farsi who could not capitalize on it. The 10th minute saw The Timbers capitalize on a counter. Portland who is really good in transitional offense, put The Crew on their heels as the Timbers began their attack. Cutting through traffic, Felipe Mora got the pass and took a shot that got passed Patrick Schulte and put the Timers up 1-0.
After the Portland goal, both Columbus and Portland had settled into the game. With both teams going back-in-forth, Columbus had several chances, but they could not finish on them. The Black & Gold look a tad out of sync with some of their passing in the attacking third. In the 27th minute saw a Crew breakthrough when Cucho gave a chip shot over Timbers' keeper James Pantemis, or so they thought. The Goal was waived off due to Cucho being deemed offside. Score remained 1-0 in favor of Portland. The 40th Minute saw a weird sequence where Yaw Yeboah was fouled and also Cucho was fouled but neither was called and play continued. As play continued, Mo Farsi took the shot after having Pantemis beat. Luckily for him the ball hit the post and bounced into his outstretched arms.
The halftime whistle blew, and Columbus went into the locker room trailing Portland 1-0. With Columbus needing to figure out the final third, the second half would provide answer for Wilfried Nancy's team with any changes he made at halftime.
Both teams came out for the beginning of the second half, but it was only The Crew who made and substitutions. The only change that happened was Will Sands came off and Forward Jacen Russell-Rowe (JRR) came on to kick the second half off. With the addition of JRR coming it appeared that the tactical formation for the Crew to switch back to their normal formation with Yeboah dropping back down to a wing back.
Columbus came out the gate like how the first half ended. Both teams trading attacking chances. Just six minutes into the 2nd half saw Columbus build the attack in Portland's half. From a glance, it appeared Aidan Morris might have been trapped in the corner. Keeping his eyes up, Morris found Farsi with a short pass, who then quick passed to Diego Rossi. Rossi with the short dribble found Cucho. Without having to take another touch, Cucho buried the ball in the back of the net in the lower left corner passed Pantemis. With his goal, the score was now leveled at 1-1. Also, with his goal, that is Cucho's 14th goal in his last 15 league matches.
Moments later, Portland answered with their second goal of the night. On the ensuing attack for Portland, the Timbers attacker seemed to use the miscommunication of the Crew defenders as a screen and also cleared them out the way when they ran into each other. Evander was able to clear Rudy Camacho and found Santiago Moreno for the easy tap in shot. The Timbers took the lead 2-1 and would look to kill the clock now.
Now, Columbus had to pick their tempo and pace up. Not really in desperation mode, the Crew still never gave up and continued to press forward. With a beautiful cross from Steven Moreira, Cucho looked for the spectacular bicycle goal, just the timing was a little off. The Black & Gold had several more chances from different players to level the score, but those shots were unsuccessful. Steven Moreira? 73rd minute fans as well as the Timbers were stunned. The goal scoring opportunity started from the far side of the field with Yeboah who passed back to Morris and then sent the pass cross field to Steven Moreira. From at least 30 yards out, Moreira launched a rocket into the upper corner out of reach from Pantemis. Scoring his first goal the season Moreira leveled the score at 2-2.
The game went back-and-forth with both teams trading attacking chances. With the score tied 2-2 Columbus never let off the gas. The history of the two clubs stems back to MLS Cup 2015, and there is no blood loss between these clubs. As the match progressed into the latter stages, the intensity from both clubs picked up. You could feel it in the air. Columbus had a chance on the breakaway being led by Rossi. streaking down the side, Rossi only had one defender to his left, and had JRR flying down the middle with a defender at his heels. Rossi's pass was just short and JRR could not get a foot on it as it was broken up by the Timbers defender.
At the end of 90 minutes the Black & Gold still were looking for the go-ahead goal. The fourth official announced there would be 5 minutes of stoppage time. While Portland was looking to just slow the game down, Columbus on the other hand looked to speed it up. Crew captain Darlington Nagbe was fouled just at the top of the box. Star forward Cucho Hernandez stepped up to take the ensuing free kick. Cucho went for it all on the kick. The shot hit of the post and looked to deflect into the goal, however the ball just brushes Pantemis' arm and is redirected passed the goal.
The final whistle blew, and the Columbus Crew remains unbeaten at home extending that streak to 20 league matches (15-0-5). With Saturday's draw against the Timbers, Columbus remains in the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference with 14 points.
The Black & Gold now turn their attention towards leg 1 of the CONCACAF Champions Cup against Monterrey on Wednesday. This match kicks off the semifinals of the tournament. It also marks the first time ever that Columbus will be playing in the semifinal round. Tune in at 8:15pm on Fox Sports 1 to see the Columbus Crew continue their historic run through CONCACAF Champions Cup.