It was a beautiful day in Central Ohio to celebrate Hispanic heritage and play football. Black & Gold won with seconds remaining. Portland then tied him 1-1, scoring a goal as Columbus battled for his place in the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs.
Black & Gold hosted a Hispanic Heritage Celebration today, and former Communications Team Manager Carlos Mojica shared all public addresses in English and Spanish. Before the game, crews honored his new neighbors with the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League when new addition Johnny Gaudreau swapped jerseys with forward Cucho Hernandez, though not Hispanic. .
After the festival was over, it was time to play soccer. Black & Gold were captainless, with midfielder Darlington Nagbe taking the armband against his former club. Another absence, though not due to injury, was midfielder Arthur and winger Derrick Etienne Jr., while head of crew Caleb Porter chose Aidan Morris and Kevin Molino as replacements.
Within the first three minutes, Columbus nearly took the lead. Hernández received a penalty pass that charged into his area, clearing a defender and Portland goalkeeper Alijaz his Ivacic and he went one-on-one. Instead of going to the post, Hernández chose to chip over the crossbar from close range.
By the end of the half, however, Black & Gold made up for it, not without physical play on both sides of the ball.
Coming into Sunday, Portland led the entire league in yellow card fouls, and crews celebrated by handing out “yellow cards,” yellow pieces of paper, to supporters. The supporters need them too, with 14 fouls in the first half and the Timbers tacking up nine of them.
in 12th In the first minute, crew winger Luis Diaz was getting a tough play by veteran Portland midfielder Diego Chara. No foul was called, but Diaz needed attention and limped off the field, although he returned quickly after leaving the field.
The fouls were mostly in the middle of the field, with Crewe midfielder Lucas Selarayan scoring a goal but unable to challenge Ivacic, with only one dangerous free-kick.
Columbus immediately got a yellow card, but Morris was late for a 10-minute tackleth minutes, Portland scored approaching halftime. First came Yimmi Chara from MiloÅ¡ Degenek of the crew. Crewe’s defensive penalty Cara, who went up for the ball in his area, made contact with Degenek’s face.
Before Portland’s second caution, the crew put a goal on the boards.
For most of the half the crews put themselves in good position but the final pass was off.th Zelalayan spotted Molino and timed it perfectly to get into the penalty area, past Ivacic to put Columbus up 1-0.
With just three minutes of injury time in the first half, Timbers were officially introduced to winger Luis Diaz. A speedy forward prevented the ball from going out of play for a throw and charged the field. Centre-back Bill Tuiloma ran in and knocked Diaz to the ground after he attracted a lot of attention in the first half.
Columbus scored in the 45th minute to secure a very important victory.
Crews entered the second half with momentum, but Portland adjusted and added an attack that started to cause problems for Columbus. Among them were four saves by goalkeeper Eloy Room.
at 58th The first minute started with Chara getting a chance from close range in front of the goalkeeper. Then in the next corner, Rum made a diving save to keep it level. In his two corners after that, he flicked his two balls towards his line of goal.
Porter’s team weathered the pressure and went on the offensive, even though the home side could have been penalized. at 73rd A minute out of the corner, Hernández tried for a header but missed. The ball landed at the feet of veteran defender Josh Williams who took the shot. Midfielder Eric Williamson stole center from behind while shooting. Since the penalty was not called and Williams’ shot attempt was most likely finished by the time contact began, it did not appear to be sufficient to justify a review of a clear and obvious mistake.
With ten minutes remaining, Columbus appeared to hold on, but came off the bench and nearly added a second goal, courtesy of Etienne. Hernández delivered the pass to the Haiti international, who shot across the front of the goal and into the back of the net.
As the stadium celebrated, Etienne was waved because he was in an offside position. Upon further review, the winger looks cooler than he did a few weeks ago when he was ruled against FC Cincinnati. No reviews failed to help Columbus this time, leaving the crew with a one-goal lead to protect.
Unfortunately for the crew, they weren’t able to do it.As the defense closed, Santiano Moreno fired a shot from outside the penalty area, giving Portland the load point gift.
more disappointed
Just when Crewe thought he had three points at home, Portland fought back in the final minute of the stoppage.
Here’s another match where Columbus took the lead and lost a point. The draw leaves Columbus out of the playoffs with his three games remaining if Inter beats his Miami CF to his DC United on Sunday night.
Santos is back
A clear boost to Crewe’s attack was the return of Santos at fullback. The winger-turned-defender is a more natural attacker than rookie Will his Suns, frequently pushing Columbus forward throughout the match.
Santos had a few passes timed off by his teammates, but that’s to be expected for someone returning from weeks off with injury. Santos made it happen.
what’s next
Due to the FIFA International Window, Crews will be closed until October 1st. Black & Gold will return for his home match against the New York Red Bulls at Lower.com Field with more playoff impact.
New York are battling to retain their top four spot, winning a playoff match at home.