A 12th home win, an unbeaten run of eight matches and a spot secured in the 2017 MLS Playoffs made for a pretty good night at MAPFRE Stadium as Columbus Crew SC continued their red-hot end of season run with a 2-0 victory over D.C. United.
The home team produced another dominant performance to brush aside the worst team in the East as a composed and confident looking Crew SC out passed, out possessed and out scored their conference opponents while Columbus’ attacking players did what they do best as Federico Higuain picked up another assist and Justin Meram bagged another world-class goal.
Defender Josh Williams found the net for the second game running to open the scoring with a well taken header coming off of Higuain’s corner-kick in the 14th minute.
Justin Meram put the game to bed in the 56th minute with an absolute peach of a strike. The ball coming to the Crew SC winger after some clever build up play from Higuain, Artur and Hector Jimenez down the right side of play and Meram, still with plenty to do, casually struck the ball from just inside the area with laser-like precision into the top corner of former Crew stopper Steve Clark in the United goal.
Columbus will now finish off the regular season on the road at Orlando and New York City FC as they try to keep the momentum going and hopefully gain home field advantage for the post-season.
All photos by Matt Ellis.
