Columbus.- Orlando City came to Columbus with their “undefeated on the road” banner held high. Nothing cocky, but confident enough after earning seven out of nine points in tough places like Montreal, Houston, and Portland. They proved to be road warriors, only that tonight at Mapfre Stadium everything worked almost perfect for the hosts as the Crew SC routed Kaká and company 3-0.
Two teams with similar systems and possession style games faced off in what was announced as the clash of the passing Titans. That’s exactly what they showed tonight with an accuracy of 85% for Orlando and 90% for Columbus. Where was the difference? Or should we say Who?
Before we go for the answer, let’s clarify something. The red card shown to Rafael Ramos in the 34th minute after a hard foul on Waylon Francis didn’t have a negative impact on the Lions performance. Orlando became more dangerous in the run of play since the ejection.
Now we can focus on the difference maker: Federico Higuaín. The Argentine entered this game scorelessly. He never acknowledged it but for him not to be able to put the ball in the back of the net it was affecting his game. Frustration was coming to place and even a red card for protesting a referee call. Tonight he broke the slump with a back of the heel touch to open the score and the game.
The other main actor of this Play, Kaká, had not influenced on his team’s offense. No rhythm, zero impact, zero shots on goal. What we saw tonight was a ghost. The Brazilian was floating around the front court without a decisive intention to hurt Columbus. Definitively a game to forget for him.
It was one of those nights when everything click. Let’s put the offense aside for a moment. The Crew SC back line played without flaws. No mistakes, no unforced errors and zero goals allowed. They never allowed Orlando pass with their run trough plays, they anticipated with precision and kept Orlando far from Steve Clark.
Up front, Columbus showed two important aspects: Variety. Yes, they attempted open play crosses as they always do. But the run through plays and the mid-range shots also came to the place. Speed: they are keeping their passing accuracy and reaching the final third faster.
“The idea was to have a high tempo to the match. We wanted to push the tempo. And I think we did that. The first half I was really pleased with that. After the red card less so. But he first thirty minutes we really were pushing the tempo, really attacking aggressively; putting them under pressure, and that was good to see.” said Columbus Crew SC Head coach Gregg Berhalter at the post-game press conference.
Possession with speed is a very effective combination; Columbus sent a message to the Eastern Conference tonight after they closed the den to the Lions.
