Kei Kamara leaps over a defender in pursuit of the ball during Saturday’s game against Philadelphia Union. Andrew Maniskas/The Pit
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n a rather abysmal night weather-wise at MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus Crew SC made sure the fans were happy by hammering the visiting Philadelphia Union on Saturday night, 4-1.
The rain cleared out just in time for kickoff but stayed chilly with the temperature never clearing 45 degrees. The pitch remained in excellent shape, though, and outside of a couple of moments, Columbus dominated the match the entire night. Gregg Berhalter opted to play his strongest eleven available, though the formation was a tad unusual. Mohammed Saeid, who continues to improve every week, played an extremely deep position between Michael Parkhurst and Emmanuel Pogatetz, who protected the flanks while the fullbacks, Waylon Francis and Hernan Grana pushed up the pitch. This allowed Tony Tchani to join the attack on a more regular basis.
The results were outstanding. Columbus pushed around Philadelphia’s midfield and began to reap the benefits in the 21st minute when Kei Kamara got the scoring started after a beautiful cross into the box by Ethan Finlay. Tony Tchani picked up a secondary assist thanks to his pressing, causing the turnover and feeding Finlay.
Eleven minutes later, Ethan Finlay fired home the first of two goals for him on the night, getting on the end of a perfect cross by Francis. John McCarthy had no chance on either of the goals, and his night went from bad to worse after the second goal.
“Ethan has been working so hard and we’ve been happy with him with how he’s playing.” Gregg Berhalter commented after the match.” “Anytime someone scores after not scoring for a little bit, it’s a relief, but he’s been playing well and we couldn’t be happier because of the work he’s put in.”
Right before the half, Justin Meram received a long ball from Emmanuel Pogatetz and won a 50/50 duel with Philadelphia defender Maurice Edu, turned and made a 50 yard run that he finished himself to make it 3-0. McCarthy was poor on the play and should have stopped it, but it ended up in the net regardless.
“I saw him take a hard step at it and pushed it.” Meram explained regarding the play. “My first instinct was to play Ethan or Kei, but the ball got behind me a bit so I took it myself. I don’t think [McCarthy] saw it until it was too late.”
The second half saw much of the same play as Columbus continued to impose their will both in attack and in the midfield with Mohammed Saeid, Tony Tchani, and Federico Higuain keeping the match under wraps in the middle. Between Tchani and Saeid, the pivot pair only failed to connect on ten passes throughout the entire match. Saeid was playing deeper than he has been in previous matches, almost acting like a third center back while Pogatetz and Parkhurst played out wide. He took it all in stride and owned it.
“I talked about [Saeid] a lot as well. He’s fearless. He’s never afraid to get the ball, and how he’s played that position he’s getting better and better each week. He’s done a good job.” Berhalter remarked.
A minor slip up in the second half led to Philadelphia’s lone highlight of the night. C.J. Sapong managed to get past Hernan Grana, really the only time he did the entire night, and flipped a cross into the box to find Eric Ayuk Mbu, who received some boos from the Crew faithful as he did multiple backflips to celebrate his first goal in MLS.
Columbus made sure it was a short-lived celebration as they clamped back down after that. Just nine minutes after Philly’s only goal of the night, Ethan Finlay received the best pass of the night from Kei Kamara, a perfectly weighted through ball that Finlay slotted far post for the final goal of the night. Finlay celebrated the goal in front of the Nordecke, who was rocking most of the night.
“Ethan was incredible tonight.” Meram discussed after the match. “He was a part of almost every goal tonight. He was waiting for these goals to come and it was well deserved.”
Finlay, who was voted Man of the Match, talked about the performance about not just himself but the team as a group.
“This was the way we wanted to do it. We wanted to come back home, take pride, and get six points. That was the goal and we accomplished it. We’re extremely happy and we need to take it in to D.C.” Finlay said. “The movement was fantastic. We were spot on tonight and we probably could have had a couple more.”
There is no doubt about the confidence gushing out of the locker room right now. The two match homestand involving Orlando City and Philadelphia resulted in six points with seven goals scored to just one surrendered. Columbus goes on the road next week to D.C. United, who are now in a tie for second in the Eastern Conference with the Crew and New York Red Bulls, all with eleven points.
