[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f it weren’t for Aurelien Collin putting the ball into the back of his own goal, the score would have been even worse for Columbus Crew SC.
Despite Federico Higuain striking early for the Black and Gold, Columbus fell to Orlando City SC 5-2 Saturday night and dropped to third place in the Eastern Conference.
“I felt like we rolled over and we made it easy for Orlando,” Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter told press following the match. “That’s not the type of team we pride ourselves on being and tonight we were an easy opponent to beat.”
Higuain marked the first goal of the contest five minutes in after Justin Meram picked the ball up from 40 yards out. After drawing pressure, Meram put the ball into the penalty box, allowing Higuain to slide the ball past Tally Hall without challenge.
But despite the early pressure from Columbus, Orlando City took control for the rest of the match.
Corey Ashe and Servando Carrasco combined in the 18th minute to set up Cyle Larin and even the tally. After picking up the ball from Carrasco, Ashe put a low cross to the foot of Larin who tucked it into the net.
Orlando City struck again 2o minutes later when Darwin Ceren put it away unassisted after Kaká caught the ball out wide and sent it inward for Ceren to streak across the goal. Michael Parkhurst blocked the first shot but inadvertently set up a first-timer for Ceren to extend his side’s lead, 2-1.
Larin tallied his second goal of the night in the 53rd minute when he picked up Ashe’s cross from six yards out and put it home with his left foot.
Collin teamed up with Luke Bolden to put Orlando City ahead 4-1 in the 77th minute while Cristian Higuita converted off a cross from Kaká for a 5-1 advantage,
With a minute of extra time, Collin faulted and gave Columbus a bittersweet second goal for the night to finish 5-2.
Crew SC goalkeeper Steve Clark had little to say following his side’s loss, but said that Columbus will get back to basics after this loss.
“We’ll look at that the rest of the week,” Clark said after being asked what those basics are.
Columbus falls to 8-8-7 on the season with 31 points. Crew SC will face Colorado Rapids Saturday with an 9 p.m. ET kickoff.
