The Crew’s blazing run into the playoffs continued on Saturday as the black & gold secured a third straight win in the final minutes of the regular season as Bernardo Anor’s controversial goal earned the Crew a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia.
The Crew needed only a draw to secure their first home playoff game since 2010 and with only a few minutes to go it appeared as though the game was going to end up at 1-1 until Anor, who looked to be in an offside position, poked home a loose ball that Toni Tchani had pushed towards goal.
Columbus opened the scoring early in the game. After starting strong and putting Philadelphia under early pressure. Jairo Arrieta found himself through on goal after Ben Speas slipped the ball to the Costa Rican forward. With only Zac MacMath to beat, Arrieta rounded the Philly ‘keeper and softly rolled the ball into the back of the net.
With a playoff place guaranteed and a 1-0 lead on the board the Crew stepped off the pressure and seemed happy to sit on what they had, a risky plan that relied on the usual heroics of Steve Clark in the Crew goal to keep the Union from equalizing.
Philadelphia did managed to get their goal in the 85th minute when Zach Pfeffer finally managed to beat Clark after sneaking into the box and knocking the ball into the corner of the net.
After the game, the Crew handed out end of season awards to Matt Lampson, Steve Clark, Ethan Finlay and Federico Hiquain for the outstanding season each of those players have had.
The Crew (as of this writing) sit in 3rd spot in the Eastern Conference but have to wait on later games before knowing who they will face in the MLS Post-season.
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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.
