The Crew have secured second place in the Eastern Conference going into the MLS playoffs following a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Union.
In addition to the Crew victory, the third-place club FC Cincinnati lost 3-1 against Orlando City SC on Saturday. Cincinnati is four points behind the Crew with only one game left in the regular season. The Crew have two games left.
Crew striker Cucho Hernandez led the Crew to victory with two header goals off corner kicks. Hernandez leads the Crew in goals with 19 in the regular season.
Both of Hernandez's goals were assisted by Dylan Chambost, who made his first start at center midfield. Chambost was taking the corners over forward Diego Rossi. Prior to this game, Rossi was taking nearly every corner he was available for.
Following Hernandez's goal at the four-minute mark, the Union tied the game at 1-1 with a goal from defender Nathan Harriel in the 25th minute. Scoring during a free kick play, Harriel's goal marked the second free-kick goal the Crew have allowed in back-to-back games.
With four minutes remaining in the first half, midfielder Mo Farsi scored and flipped the game back in Columbus's favor.
The game remained scoreless in the second half for 30 minutes until Hernandez recorded his second goal to give Columbus a 3-1 lead. Union substitution Jack McGlynn quickly cut the lead back to one goal, scoring less than a minute later.
Columbus was able to pick up the victory without two regular back-line starters, Rudy Camacho and Steven Moreira. Camacho was suspended from the game due to a red card against Inter Miami, but Moreira's absence has yet to be disclosed.
Crew defender Yevhen Cheberko earned a yellow card following a foul against Union midfielder Mikel Uhre right outside the Crew's box. The foul set up a free kick, but goalkeeper Patrick Schulte recorded a save on the Union's attempt.
With their final two substitutions of the game, the Crew replaced midfielder Dylan Chambost with Alex Matan and forward Aziel Jackson with Taha Habroune.
Union substitution Jack McGlynn was able to find the back of the net seconds after the Crew scored their third goal of the game. McGlynn's goal cut Columbus' lead to 3-2.
It was another corner kick taken by midfielder Dylan Chambost that striker Cucho Hernandez was able to track down and score a header goal, marking Hernandez's second header of the game.
Both the Crew and the Union took a stoppage in play to make substitutions/
Columbus Crew substitutions :
- Midfielder Max Arfsten replaces Mo Farsi
- Forward Aziel Jackson replaces Diego Rossi
Philadelphia Union substitution:
- Midfielder Jack McGlynn replaces Leon Flach
After the Crew made the first substitution of the game, the Union made their first lineup change five minutes later. Philadelphia replaced midfielder Danley Jean Jacques with Alejandro Bedoya.
With the first substitution of the game, the Crew replaced midfielder Darlington Nagbe with Derrick Jones.
Following forward Christian Ramirez's shot that found went straight past goalkeeper Andre Blake, the official made a foul call charged to Ramirez against Union defender Nathan Harriel. The foul was before Ramirez's shot and overturned the goal.
Crew striker Cucho Hernandez launched a shot from inside the Union's box that goalkeeper Andre Blake made a jumping save to stop from finding the back of the net. Blake hit the ball out of bounds, giving the Crew a corner kick.
Off the corner, Hernandez took another shot attempt, a header, but Blake was able to stop that shot from scoring as well.
The Crew are leading against the Union behind goals from striker Cucho Hernandez and midfielder Mo Farsi. Defender Nathan Harriel scored the lone goal for Philadelphia.
Here are the first half stats:
- Shots: Crew (11), Philadelphia (6)
- Shots on goal: Crew (7), Philadelphia (4)
- Fouls: Crew (5), Philadelphia (4)
- Possession rate: Crew (62.8%), Philadelphia (37.2%)
Midfielder Mo Farsi was able to get the Crew back in front against the Union with a put-back goal off forward Diego Rossi's saved shot. Columbus leads 2-1.
Rossi took a shot attempt off a pass from Farsi, but goalkeeper Andre Blake made a diving save. Midfielder DeJuan Jones was near the goal line when the ball hit Blake's hand and landed at Jones' feet. Jones sent a backwards pass to Farsi who capitalized on the second opportunity.
Union goalkeeper Andre Blake recorded his fourth save of the first half against the Crew went he stopped forward Christian Ramirez's shot from scoring. Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte has recorded two saves in the game.
From outside the Union's box, midfielder Dyaln Chambost took a shot for Columbus that would go far right of the goal, and out of play, giving Philadelphia the ball.
The Union were awarded a free kick outside the Crew's box following a late foul call charged to Crew defender Yevhen Cheberko, who fouled midfielder Daniel Gazdag. Defender Jack Elliott took the free kick for the Union, and goalkeeper Patrick Schulte was able to record a save on Elliott's shot attempt.
Once Schulte hit the ball away, Union defender Nathan Harriel tracked down the ball and took a quick put-back shot that went past Schulte to tie the game 1-1.
Crew defender Andres Herrera was shown the first yellow card of the game for fouling Union forward Mikael Uhre near midfield.
Philadelphia midfielder Quinn Sullivan was closer to midfield than he was to the Crew's box when he took the Union's first shot against the Crew. Sullivan's long shot went above the goalpost by inches and out of bounds.
Inside the Union's box, forward Christian Ramirez attempted a header shot that would have given the Crew a 2-0 lead early in the game. Goalkeeper Andre Blake was able to get his hand on the ball and hit it over the goalpost and out of play.
The Crew was awarded the first corner kick of the game, but instead of forward Diego Rossi, who takes most corners for Columbus, it was midfielder Dylan Chambost who executed the kick.
Chambost's attempt found striker Cucho Hernandez inside the Union's box, and from there Hernandez took a header that went past goalkeeper Andre Blake to give the Crew a 1-0 lead.
Unavailable for Philadelphia:
On the Crew official availability report, only goalkeeper Evan Bush and midfielder Sean Zawadzki were listed as out ahead of their game against the Philadelphia Union.
Bush is still recovering from a broken arm, he first suffered in April against Real Salt Lake and then rebroke in June. Zawadzki sustained a ribs injury against Club America in the Campeones Cup on Sept. 25.
Along with Bush and Zawadzki, defenders Rudy Camacho and Steven Moreira were missing from the gameday roster.
Camacho was suspended from the game due to a red card violation he was given against Inter Miami on Wednesday.
The absence of Moreira is undisclosed before the game, but it is unrelated to the October international callups, as those players leave after the Philadelphia game. Moreira is a regular callup for Cap Verde's national team.
Here is the starting 11 for Philadelphia Union vs Columbus:
- GK: Andre Blake
- DF: Jack Elliott
- DF: Jakob Glesnes
- DF: Nathan Harriel
- DF: Kai Wagner
- MF: Leon Flach
- MF: Daniel Gazdag
- MF: Danley Jean Jacques
- MF: Quinn Sullivan
- FW: Tai Baribo
- FW: Mikael Uhre
Here is the starting 11 for Columbus vs Philadelphia Union:
- GK: Patrick Schulte
- DF: Malte Amundsen
- DF: Yevhen Cheberko
- DF: DeJuan Jones
- MF: Dylan Chambost
- MF: Mo Farsi
- MF: Andress Herrera
- MF: Darlington Nagbe
- FW: Cucho Hernandez
- FW: Christian Ramirez
- FW: Diego Rossi
Here are the officials for the Crew vs Philadelphia tonight:
- Referee: Allen Chapman
- Assistant Referee 1: Logan Brown
- Assistant Referee 2: Meghan Mullen
- Fourth Official: Thomas Snyder
- VAR: Carl Anne Chenard
- Assistant VAR: Ian McKay
The Crew are 17-13-6 against Philadelphia Union.
The Crew vs. Philadelphia Union English-speaking radio broadcast will be on Alt 105.7 FM and available via the iHeartRadio app. Columbus' regular radio broadcaster Chris Doran will be on the call.
The Spanish radio broadcast can be found on La Grande 102.5 FM and the La Grande radio app with Juan Valladares doing play-by-play.
The Crew-Philadelphia match will be streaming on Apple TV, with a required MLS Season Pass subscription. Here are the broadcast teams for tonight:
- English broadcast: Steve Cangialosi (play-by-play), Danny Higginbotham (analyst)
- Spanish broadcast: Pablo Ramirez (play-by-play), Jesus Bracamontes (analyst)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 5 at Lower.com Field.
bmackay@dispatch.com
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew secure 2nd place in Eastern Conference, beat Philadelphia Union 3-2: Replay
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