Brais Mendez netted the game winner as the visiting Columbus Crew jumped into the seventh seed after a hectic 4-3 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
Mendez settled Brooks Lennon’s cross after Jack Elliott botched a headed clearance. Undefended, Mendez took his strike well and into the roof of the net in the third minute of second-half stoppage time.
Columbus tied the game earlier in the half when Malte Amundsen sprung Gonzalo Tapia on a tight-angle one-on-one with a long through ball from his own half. The Chilean international managed to thread it past Brady on his first touch to make it 3-3 in the 62nd minute.
Tapia scored a brace for Columbus (14-15-5, 47 points), which leapfrogged rival FC Cincinnati to claim a spot in the first round. Taha Habroune chipped in with two assists while Sekou Bangoura conceded two penalties before coming off at halftime. Anass Zaroury also scored for the Crew.
Robert Lewandowski scored twice from the penalty spot in a five-goal first half as No. 4 Chicago (16-11-7, 55 points) held onto home-field advantage for their first-round playoff matchup against Charlotte FC. Maren Haile-Selassie also scored in his sixth straight home game.
Lewandowski buried a spot kick to open the scoring just eight minutes in, catching out goalkeeper Patrick Schulte with a stutter step and calmly placing the ball into the right corner. Bangoura conceded the penalty with a careless handball off a Chicago corner.
Columbus tied the game 1-1 in the 16th minute. Habroune played it through to an onrushing Tapia in the box, who easily slotted it home past Chris Brady.
Lewandowski dispensed with the stutter step on his second penalty to make it 2-1 in the 22nd minute. Schulte leapt in the right direction this time around, but wasn’t nearly quick enough to paw it away. Bangoura was at fault again, this time for a clumsy challenge from behind on Philip Zinckernagel.
The Crew raced back in the opposite direction to pull level at 2-2. Tapia played a slow cross to the opposite side of the box that narrowly evaded a sprawling Noah Allen. Zaroury arrived late to tuck it into the corner in the 23rd minute.
The woodwork denied Lewandowski a first-half hat trick off a perfectly weighted Anton Saletros cross from the right flank. Haile-Selassie leapt into the rebound to score his 13th goal of the season and to make it 3-2 Chicago in first-half stoppage time.
–Field Level Media
