Columbus Crew Climb Out of Wildcard, Beat Red Bulls 2-1 | OneFootball

On an emotional night in Columbus celebrating Darlington Nagbe's retirement, the Crew get a 3-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls.

Match Recap

The starting lineup featured a surprise, as Diego Rossi was left off the team sheet. Rossi was listed as questionable with a hamstring injury despite playing through it in the previous game. Rudy Camacho made his return to the gameday roster, on the bench.

It wouldn't get off to a pretty start for the Crew, as Red Bulls striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting got on the scoresheet with a half-volley, putting New York up 1-0

Columbus wouldn't take long to respond. Lassi Lappalainen served in a beautiful cross across the 18-yard box to find Andres Herrera, who slotted it home. This is the same combination that got on the board in Orland two weeks ago.

From that point on, not muched happened in the game. A few half chances for the Crew was all to take place. That was until the (unlikely) hero Daniel Gazdag saved the day for Crew fans. Gazdag found the back of the net off of a pass from Taha Habroune (who looked really good in his minutes), putting the Crew up two goals to one.

Second half substitute Ibrahi Aliyu capped off the night capitalizing off of a mistake from John McCarthy, intercepting his pass and slotting it home to make it 3-1

Nagbe was elected man of the match, and it is pretty hard to argue with that. In true Nagbe fashion, he only misplaced two passes all night, controlling the midfield. Some other contenders for that award include Hugo picard and Daniel Gazdag. Picard was lively all night, covering the most ground, dribbling through players, and being a part of several chances. Gazdag came on at halftime and looked like the Union Gazdag. He was in and around the box trying to get on the end of crosses. Gazdag obviously got a goal and had two other good chances. If the Crew want to make it far this season, he needs to step up.

Who's Next?

The Crew climbed out of the wildcard spot, thanks to multiple results from teams below the playoff line. With that, the Crew earned the seven-seed in the East, and will face arch rivals FC Cincinatti. Hell Is Real is coming to the playoofs in a best of three series, making one of the most see matchups of the first round.

Hell is Real brought four points to the Crew this season, including a 4-2 win in Cincinatti in eary July. That game was arguable the Crew's best performance of the year and if the Crew want to get past the two-seed, they will need to play at that level. Luckily for Crew fans, Wilfried Nancy has got the team playing at their best since that game in league play.

Injuries will be a question but if Rossi is ready to play and Abou Ali makes his return (timeline says he could be good for game three), the Crew are one dangerous low-seed that many will not want to play.