Columbus Crew dismantled Atlanta United 4-2 at Lower.com Field to punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference semifinals in the MLS Cup playoffs.
When two of the main attacking groups in MLS meet up, there was certain to be high-scoring moments. Columbus floor out a 2-0 consequence in game one, earlier than Atlanta equalized the sequence with a 4-2 victory in game two for a mixed 12 targets in two video games.
But the Crew returned stronger for game three, returning the favor at house by profitable with the very same scoreline to inch nearer to bringing house MLS Cup.
A pair of long-range efforts from Darlington Nagbe and Malte Amundsen put the Crew up 2-0 inside 20 minutes earlier than Alexandru Matan added a 3rd close to halftime. Giorgos Giakoumakis pulled one again for Atlanta proper earlier than the intermission, however Diego Rossi joined in on the scoring simply two minutes after the restart to place his group in entrance with a commanding 4-1 lead.
Xande Silva discovered the again of the online in fiftieth minute, which was someway the final aim scored in the competition with roughly 40 minutes remaining in regulation, however Atlanta had been unable to construct off of it.
“Like I told you, every game it’s not the same picture,” Crew boss Wilfried Nancy stated after the game.
“This is a new story. We started from zero because it was the third game. I really enjoyed the week that we had. We were able to find ways with the staff and the players to find the balance between, ‘Ok, we lost the game, but at the same time we move forward because we know what we can do.'”
Nancy praised his group’s effectivity with the ball, as they basically did extra with much less, scoring 4 targets regardless of having 47% possession.
“When we had the ball, we utilized the ball in a good way. We were able to speed up the play when it was open. We were able to control the action when we had to do it. I really enjoyed [seeing] my team with this kind of versatility … When we had the ball, we were able to do good things and we were able to play direct. When I mean direct is two or three passes or to keep the ball and to manipulate them to speed up the play.”
The former CF Montreal head coach defined that he seen a pointy distinction in how his group dealt with stress in video games one and three when in comparison with game two at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“… The first game and this game, we were brave. For me, this is a big difference. Again, I like to tell my team that we fear no one but we respect everyone. For me, this is really important that they stick to that. Today, this is what we did. We were really good to be front foot. We provoked the mistake, and after that with the ball, we were more clean. We could have scored more goals obviously. Yeah, it was a really, really good game. Why I’m really proud of my players is because it was a do-or-die game.”
The Crew appear to be severe contenders for MLS Cup, however they will now be tasked with dealing with enterprise on the street, beginning with a November 25 conflict with Orlando City at Exploria Field in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
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