Columbus Crew 1-New York Red Bulls 0
There will come a day when Major League Soccer teams will stop underestimating Federico Higuain and the Columbus Crew. Crew supporters will hope that it won’t be for at least another three matches. The man affectionately known as Pipa once again provided to be the difference for the lads in yellow, coming off of the bench to help pip the New York Red Bulls in their 1-0 win on Sunday.
The two sides were locked in a real defensive battle for the first hour of the match with goalkeepers Zack Steffen and Luis Robles each stopping any sort of attacking opportunity. But Crew coach Gregg Berhalter made a tactical substitution at half bringing on Higuain for Patrick Mullins. The move paid off in the 61st minute as the Argentine broke past the Crew defense and cooly laid a backheel pass to a surging Gyasi Zardes. Zardes made the most of his chance knocking the go-ahead goal into the back of the net.
With the win the Crew take control of the two-legged series against the Red Bulls. But the road to MLS Cup 2018 doesn’t get any easier for the newly saved side. To earn their spot in the Eastern Conference Finals they will need to either get a result or a road goal to punch their ticket to the next stage. The match will be on Sunday at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST on FS1.
Please enjoy some of our photos from the match courtesy of photographer Julie Jackson. Make sure to give her a follow on Twitter and on Instagram. Also, you can check out all of her work from the 2018 season on SmugMug.
Chicago Fire
2018 World Cup
