Kei Kamara (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Chicago Fire. The win is the first on the road this season for Columbus Crew SC. Stephanie Sokol/The Pit
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] short pop from one side of the box by Ethan Finlay gave Kei Kamara all he needed to head the ball home Wednesday night at Toyota Park, as Columbus Crew beat the Chicago Fire, 1-0.
The play came in the 41st minute after the Black and Gold had been putting pressure on the Fire defense and, especially, goalkeeper Sean Johnson. Throughout the match, Columbus has plenty of scoring opportunities that would be denied by the feisty Johnson, but this one was the one that got away for him.
“It’s mostly the guys believing in themselves and understanding how good they are and how good they can be,” Crew SC Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said following Wednesday night’s win in Chicago. “When we move the ball like that, we are very difficult to play against. And, the movements and the pressure we put on the fire to get behind their back line and penetrate was just relentless.”
Kamara’s header breaks the recent trend for Crew SC of the club falling behind early only to comeback and win, draw or ultimately lose.
“It was important. Obviously, we needed validation for playing that well,” Berhlater said of Kamara’s goal. “We got it and we got to keep going from there.”
For Crew SC, the win at Toyota Park marks their first road victory of the year and gives them sole ownership of second place in the Eastern Conference at 27 points. New York Red Bulls trail by just one point in third place.
“It feels pretty good,” Crew SC goalkeeper Steve Clark said. “We’ve battled tough on the road but it’s a nice mental hurdle to get over. It felt more than a victory because we had to play a pretty good game. So, that’s probably the most important thing is how we play as a team.”
Columbus came out of the gate strong, controlling the ball for much of the first half and driving it deep into enemy territory. Chicago did mount some offense near the end of the half but failed to get much of anything going.
“Just having belief in our system and trusting our system. We have great quality on the field and when we knock the ball around like that we’re one of the best teams in the league,” Finlay said of Crew SC’s overall performance. “You saw that was evident with the chances we were creating tonight, especially in the first half.”
In the end, Columbus dominated possession for much of the game despite Chicago adding fuel to the fire – no pun intended. Crew SC held the ball for 55.5-percent of game time.
Black and Gold also took advantage of Chicago in the attacking end, taking 14 shots with half of those on target. The Fire had just two shots on target all match.
Wednesday’s match also saw the return of midfielder Wil Trapp to his starting role for the first time since April after being sidelined with concussion-like symptoms.
“We’ve been getting him back in slowly,” Berhalter said. “He played in Orlando in the cup game, he played in Montreal in the second half and he looked great tonight.”
Columbus Crew SC and the Chicago Fire are not done yet, however. The two teams will meet for the last time this season Sunday at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus with an 8 p.m. kickoff.
