A third win in a row to close out the 2021 MLS Season wasn’t enough to make up for a poor summer as Columbus Crew said farewell to a disappointing year with a 2-0 win over Chicago Fire at Lower.com Field on Sunday afternoon.
While not mathematically eliminated prior to kick-off, the Crew’s chances of making the post-season were slim at best, but to the credit of the team they went about the task with a purpose and once again it was Lucas Zelarayan that led the way to a convincing victory.
After an evenly contested first half, the Argentine playmaker picked up the ball from Derrick Etienne Jr and weaved his way through the Fire defense before drilling the ball into the goal to try to spark the goal explosion needed to potentially progress to the play-offs.
Miguel Berry continued his impressive late season form with the second goal in the 58th minute after finding himself one on one with the Fire goalkeeper. The Crew forward’s initial shot was well saved but power and determination from Berry allowed him to get a second shot that just about crossed the line and was awarded as a goal after a brief VAR intervention.
Columbus had chances to increase the lead as the game progressed, but with an eight-goal gap between them and New York Red Bulls they needed to close, it all became too little too late as the final whistle blew on the end of the game, and the end of the 2021 season for the Crew.
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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 on his Instagram.
All photos by Matt Ellis