The Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati will play a decisive third match in their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series after Max Arfsten scored and had two assists in the host Crew’s 4-0 victory on Sunday.
The No. 7 seed Crew played with desperation after No. 2 seed Cincinnati won the best-of-three opener 1-0 at home six days prior. Columbus got a goal from Arfsten in the 33rd minute and a free-kick score from Dylan Chambost in the 41st, three minutes after FC Cincinnati midfielder Yuya Kubo was issued a red card.
Cincinnati will host the winner-take-all match on Saturday.
Because aggregate goals don’t matter in the series, goals from Andres Herrera in the 65th and Jacen Russell-Rowe in the 69th were icing on the cake for a boisterous home crowd.
It was about as a dominant a first half as the Crew could expect, and it could have been worse for Cincinnati except for four saves by Roman Celentano.
The Crew took the lead when Arfsten — whose play with the U.S. men’s national team this year may have earned him a spot for the 2026 FIFA World Cup — took a pass from Diego Rossi and dribbled around Celentano to score into an open net.
It was downhill from there. Kubo, already sitting on a yellow card, pulled down Herrera to prevent a goal-scoring opportunity just outside the box and was given a straight red. Chambost then sent the restart over the wall to the right corner.
Columbus had nine of the 10 shot attempts in the half.
Russell-Rowe entered in the 61st minute and it was his cross to the middle of the box that Herrera settled with his right foot before blasting a shot with his left.
Arfsten then set up Russell-Rowe for the fourth goal in what likely was Crew midfielder and four-time MLS Cup champion Darlington Nagbe’s final home match. He announced his retirement on Oct. 7.
Even if the Crew advance to the MLS Cup, the top five teams in the Western Conference would need to lose for Columbus to host.
–Field Level Media
