The Columbus Crew are still in the playoff hunt after a Saturday evening at Lower.com Field saw the Crew demolish the visiting Inter Miami 4-0 and earn head coach Caleb Porter his 100th career MLS regular-season victory.
The Crew opened the scoring towards the end of a largely uneventful first half when Gyasi Zardes latched onto a Pedro Santos free-kick to nod the ball past a desperately diving Nick Marsman in the Miami goal.
Santos doubled the lead a few minutes later after Darlington Nagbe pinched possession in midfield and selflessly laid off the ball for the Portuguese winger to fire home.
Santos once again provided the assist for the Crew third with a perfectly placed cross onto the head of Zardes as the Miami defense lazily attempted to defend.
Josh Williams almost put himself on the score sheet late in the game before a Miami own goal compounded the visitor’s misery while adding the cherry on top to a well-deserved Crew win.
The Crew travel to Nashville in midweek before taking on the visiting New York Red Bulls next Saturday evening.
For more information, visit columbuscrewsc.com.
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