The Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati will play a decisive third match in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series after Max Arfsten scored and had two assists in the host Crew’s 4-0 victory on Sunday.
The No. 7 seed Crew played with desperation after No. 2 seed Cincinnati won the best-of-three opener 1-0 at home six days prior. Columbus got a goal from Arfsten in the 33rd minute and a free-kick score from Dylan Chambost in the 41st, three minutes after FC Cincinnati midfielder Yuya Kubo was issued a red card.
Cincinnati will host the winner-take-all match on Saturday.
Because aggregate goals don’t matter in the series, goals from Andres Herrera in the 65th and Jacen Russell-Rowe in the 69th were icing on the cake for a boisterous home crowd.
It was about as a dominant a first half as the Crew could expect, and it could have been worse for Cincinnati except for four saves by Roman Celentano.
The Crew took the lead when Arfsten — whose play with the U.S. men’s national team this year may have earned him a spot for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — took a pass from Diego Rossi and dribbled around Celentano to score into an open net.
It was downhill from there. Kubo, already sitting on a yellow card, pulled down Herrera to prevent a goal-scoring opportunity just outside the box and was given a straight red. Chambost then sent the restart over the wall to the right corner.
Columbus had nine of the 10 shot attempts in the half.
Russell-Rowe entered in the 61st minute and it was his cross to the middle of the box that Herrera settled with his right foot before blasting a shot with his left.
Arfsten then set up Russell-Rowe for the fourth goal in what likely was Crew midfielder and four-time MLS Cup champion Darlington Nagbe’s final home match. He announced his retirement on Oct. 7.
Even if the Crew advance to the MLS Cup, No. 8 seed Portland would have to come out of the Western Conference for Columbus to host after No. 6 seed Austin and seventh-seeded Dallas were eliminated over the weekend.
–Field Level Media
