Malte Amundsen scored twice and Dylan Chambost had three assists as host Columbus held on to defeat Toronto FC 4-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Santi Rodriguez had two assists for the Crew (11-15-5, 38 points), who have won five of six and moved into a playoff position in the Eastern Conference for the first time since May 2.
With the three points they moved from 11th to the ninth and final spot — ahead of Toronto and the New York Red Bulls pending Saturday’s late matches.
Toronto (8-11-12, 36 points), which trailed 4-0 with 30 minutes to play before mounting a comeback against the 10-man Crew, had a three-match unbeaten streak end.
Goals in the 16th minute by Chilean international Gonzalo Tapia and the 21st by Amundsen staked Columbus to the 2-0 lead.
Amundsen (48th) and Brooks Lennon (59th) made it 4-0 before Daniel Salloi cut it to 4-1 in the 69th minute. Two minutes later, the Crew threw Toronto a lifeline when Sekou Bangoura was issued a red card after being issued his second caution of the match.
Josh Sargent then drilled a shot from outside the box to cut the deficit to 4-2 in the 81st minute.
The Crew was fortunate to build the early advantage.
Tapia scored in a second straight match to complete a nifty build-up with Santi Rodriguez making a diagonal pass to Mo Farsi on the left side of the box. Farsi one-touched a flighted ball to Tapia in the middle for his third goal of the season.
A corner kick by Chambost led to the second goal. He whipped the ball to the middle of the box for the flick by Amundsen to the far post.
Amundsen extended the lead to 3-0 when he put away an inswinger from Chambost. Lennon, who entered in the 57th, converted from the left side of the box with a feed by Chambost. Rodriguez got the secondary assist.
The blowout became tense for the Crew after a reckless challenge by Bangoura on Theo Corbeanu. Bangoura’s first yellow came in the 31st minute for fouling Sargent.
The Crew was able to finish out the match, their fourth in 11 days.
–Field Level Media
