CINCINNATI – With the Hell is Real rivalry as real as it’s ever been, the Crew came out victorious.
In the first-ever postseason Hell is Real match, Columbus went on the road and defeated Supporters’ Shield winner, FC Cincinnati, 3-2 in overtime of the Eastern Conference Final, thanks once again to Christian Ramirez.
A familiar hero, Ramirez came through for the Crew, scoring the game-winning goal right in front of the net late in the second overtime period. This comes one week after Ramirez scored the first goal in overtime in the Crew’s 2-0 victory against Orlando City in the Eastern Conference semifinal and five days after welcoming his third child.
“Emotional week. I’m just thankful for all the help from my family. Letting me just try to live this week as a normal week, get enough sleep,” Ramirez said. “We live one more week, one more game to come.”
At the beginning of the match, it was a misstep from Mo Farsi that allowed FC Cincinnati to take the early advantage when the Crew’s starting right wingback lost possession near the penalty box. Cincinnati’s Aaron Boupendza recovered the ball and found Brandon Vazquez, who swiftly got the ball past goalie Patrick Schulte, giving the home team a 1-0 lead less than 15 minutes into the match.
After falling behind, the Crew controlled the ball, with over 65% possession through the first half, the problem was their inability to get the ball past the Cincinnati defense. Going into halftime, Columbus had six of their 11 shots blocked.
Their misfortunes followed them on the defensive side of the ball during the first half’s extra stoppage time. Nearly at the exact spot Farsi lost the ball earlier in the match, the Crew’s Steven Moreira was handed a yellow card. This set up a free kick on the border of the penalty box for FC Cincinnati, which reigning MVP Luciano Acosta nailed, putting Columbus down 2-0.
This was familiar territory for the Crew. Although they ultimately fell 3-2, when Columbus visited TQL Stadium in May, they had rallied from two goals down.
“Every day in training we put ourselves in similar scenarios like this,” Schulte said. “If you’re down, you have to fight until the end, and this group is a special group. So, we knew that we were just going to fight till the end, and we had 45 minutes left in our season at that point.”
It was much of the same for the Crew to start the second half, struggling to build any momentum when in control of the ball. Crew coach Wilfried Nancy made a lineup change at the 65-minute mark, subbing in Julian Gressel and Ramirez for Farsi and Aidan Morris, respectively.
“Tactically I needed to change something,” Nancy said. “I needed to have more players in between lines, so that’s why I decided to put Christian and Julian in. Also, to give us something different, but it was a difficult call.”
The switch eventually led to the Crew’s first goal of the night. Gressel made a cross meant for Ramirez 75 minutes into the match, but it volleyed off the foot of Cincinnati’s Alvas Powell for an own goal. Ramirez was convinced he was credited with the goal, but his moment would come later in the match.
The Crew’s night was far from over, and with less than five minutes left in regulation, Diego Rossi finally found the back of the net with a goal from the center of the box to tie up the match 2-2.
And when the whistle blew to signal the end of regulation, the score remained that way, so the Crew headed into overtime for the second playoff match in a row. Unlike the Crew’s meeting against Orlando City SC, in which the first overtime period was scoreless, this game came down to the wire. But it was Ramirez again who scored the game-winner.
The Crew will now host the MLS Cup Final, with that being the first MLS championship game at Lower.com Field. That game is next Saturday, Dec. 9 against the winner of the Western Conference final between the Los Angeles FC and Houston.
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Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
