Columbus Crew defeat New York Red Bulls 3-2 ahead of MLS Cup playoff series: Takeaways

On the final day of the regular season, Cucho Hernandez stood in front of his teammates and gave a speech as the Crew's captain before their game against the New York Red Bulls. Hernandez, wearing the captain's armband to start a game for the first time this year, wanted to set the tone for the last stretch of a long season.

"Basically he said we need to win the game and we want to keep going because playoffs are coming," defender Yevhen Cheberko said. "So, we need to show how we can play the game, and we know we can face the Red Bulls if we win the game."

Hernandez helped lead the Crew to a 3-2 road victory , recording an assist on the first goal of the game.

Replay: Columbus Crew score late goal, defeat New York Red Bulls 3-2 on Decision Day

By defeating the Red Bulls, it solidified New York as Columbus' first-round playoff opponent . The first round is the only round that is a best of three series, so the two teams will be facing each other at least three times in a row. Dates have not been announced for the series.

Getting the Crew on the board early against New York, Hernandez found Aziel Jackson inside the box on a crossing pass and Jackson scored with a header two minutes into the game.

Hernandez closed the regular season with a club-record 33 goal contributions with 19 goals and 14 assists.

For Hernandez's teammates, what was more impactful than his assist was the motivation that Hernandez gave the team going into this game.

"Everyone knows Cucho, he wants all the time to win the games," Cheberko said. "He's so competitive in the trainings and the games. When he's the captain, everyone feels more responsibility, and Cucho’s the same way."

The Crew finished the season with 66 points, the most the club has recorded in a season. Already having second place in the Eastern Conference secured , the victory put the Crew two points ahead of the top team in the Western Conference, Los Angeles FC and secures home-field advantage in the MLS Cup final if the they reach that point.

Columbus Crew struggled to earn victory vs New York Red Bulls

Once Jackson scored, the New York native went on to record an assist on Cheberko's goal at the 14-minute mark.

Columbus held on to a 2-0 lead for more than 60 minutes before Red Bulls midfielder Emil Forsberg scored in the 78th minute.

Forsberg evened the score nine minutes later with a goal on a penalty kick against goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen. New York was awarded the penalty opportunity when defender Rudy Camacho was called for a foul inside his own box.

"We had many highs, and after that we had 10 minutes where we allowed New York Red Bulls to play their style, and they did it well," Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. "I'm happy that it happened, to be honest. ... This is perfect because sometimes we have to feel certain things to get better. We found a way to win the game."

With nine minutes of stoppage time added to the second half, the game appeared to be heading toward a draw until defender Malte Amundsen scored his first goal of the season. Following the goal, Amundsen celebrated with a big slide across New York's field.

"I think the big celebration came because there's a lot of emotions after two frustrating goals that we conceded after playing a great game for a big amount of time," Amundsen said. "Conceding two right in our face, that hurt a lot. I think I just let the emotions loose and celebrated when I got to score."

Columbus Crew defender Yevhen Cheberko able to overcome 15 months of being scoreless

Ahead of the Crew's game against the New England Revolution on Oct. 13 , Cheberko joked about struggling to find a goal with Columbus and said that, "Maybe I save for playoffs, my goals."

The goal happened one game before the playoffs and marks Cheberko's first since signing with the Crew in July of last season. Cheberko had been waiting for this moment, but was still a bit shocked his run inside Red Bulls' box had this result.

"I don't know how I got there, I was so tired," Cheberko said. "I just saw the open space, AZ (Jackson) gave me the perfect ball, it was a good touch and I just shoot. Closed my eyes and I scored the goal. ... Maybe I opened my account here, and I hope I will score more.”

Columbus Crew midfielder Sean Zawadzki able to make return from a rib injury ahead of MLS Cup playoffs

After remaining nearly completely healthy for a majority of this season, the Crew had been hit with a slight injury bug.

Defender Steven Moreira missed the Red Bulls game with a lingering ankle injury from the Inter Miami loss and Nancy confirmed that midfielder Mo Farsi suffered a concussion during international play with Algeria.

Against Liga MX's Club America for the Campeones Cup on Sept. 25 , midfielder Sean Zawadzki went down with what would later be confirmed as a rib injury in the first five minutes of the game, but played until the 78-minute mark.

Zawadzki had been sidelined since that game, and while Nancy was unsure if Zawadzki could return before the postseason, the 24-year-old checked into the game in the 73th minute.

"He trained Wednesday and felt good," Nancy said. "Friday we discussed and it was the good moment for him to be in the group. I wanted to give him 10, 15 or 20 minutes to come back, and this is what happened.”

bmackay@dispatch.com

@brimackay15

Get more Columbus Crew content by listening to our podcast

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew defeat New York Red Bulls 3-2 ahead of MLS Cup playoff series: Takeaways