For Columbus Crew SC fans, there’s little that can beat the enjoyment of victory over Eastern rivals Chicago Fire, but to combine a win with a historic 1000th goal ever scored in the club’s lifetime made for a delightfully entertaining evening at MAPFRE as late second-half goals gave the home side the points with a final score of 3-1.
High flying Chicago opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Michael de Leeuw drifted past a sleepy Crew SC defense to freely head the visitors into the lead.
Future superstar Kekuta Manneh quickly put the teams back on level terms with a well taken dink over Fire ‘keeper Matt Lampson after the ball fortuitously deflected into the Crew SC forwards path.
Justin Meram — who deservedly takes the honor of bagging the historic 1000th goal — put Columbus up 2-1 in the 73rd minute and set the stage for a final 15 minutes of almost relentless Crew SC attacks as a shell-shocked Chicago looked to have no answer to the Columbus front line.
Ola Kamara put the game to bed in the 88th minute after being unceremoniously dumped on the ground by an onrushing Lampson as the Crew SC striker tried to take the ball past the Fire ‘keeper.
Kamara took the resulting penalty himself, calmly slotting the ball the wrong side of the goalkeeper.
Next up, an away trip to Orlando before a string of three home games beginning with LA Galaxy on Wednesday, August 23.
All photos by Matt Ellis. Matt Ellis is a freelance photographer who covers bands that visit the city and the Columbus Crew MLS team. More about Matt can be found at Matt Ellis Photography.