Columbus Crew lifts MLS Cup after tense, rain-drenched win over LAFC
COLUMBUS, Ohio — For much of the rainy MLS Cup at the Columbus Crew’s gold-splashed palace, there was a greater sense of coronation than tension.
The hungry hosts scored twice in the first half Saturday, and with Los Angeles FC flashing few of the elements that had positioned it for a possible repeat championship, the Crew seemed certain to raise the trophy for a third time.
But finals are almost never this easy, and when the final whistle broke a tension-cooked stretch run unfurling in heavy rain, the Crew and its record crowd at Lower.com Field celebrated a 2-1 thriller.
“I cried like a baby,” said Cucho Hernández, the game MVP.
Columbus, an MLS founding member, won the title for the second time in four seasons while denying LAFC’s attempt to become the first repeat champion since the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2011-12.
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Hernández and Yaw Yeboah scored four minutes apart, and Columbus survived a whirlwind finish, including Dénis Bouanga’s 74th-minute goal and seven minutes of stoppage time, before a raucous audience of 20,802.
“I want to see my team face and embrace adversity, and they did it,” said Wilfried Nancy, Columbus’s first-year coach.
Implementing its possession game, the Crew put its stamp on the match right away. Captain Darlington Nagbe was the guiding light, orchestrating from central midfield and calming his team in anxious moments. He became a four-time champion — his second with the Crew after one apiece in Portland and Atlanta.
Nagbe, 33, set the tone in the pregame locker room by giving an emotional speech about the team’s journey.
“Everybody was crying because he is genuine,” Nancy said.
“It was mostly about telling each other how proud I am of them and how I need them,” Nagbe said. “We all need each other.”
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Aidan Morris, Nagbe’s partner in central midfield, said of Nagbe, “Everything that comes out of this guy’s mouth, it’s just special to me.”
Nancy did his part as well. He had collected photos of all the players when they were young and held them up before the match.
“We had a good laugh,” Nancy said.
“Just to see where you’re coming from and where you want to get to, it was motivating,” Yeboah said. “It put a smile on your face; we were laughing at each other. Seeing my picture, it was emotional.”
Nagbe added: “That kind of broke the ice. That’s what Wilfried does, not only on the technical side but making sure he’s managing the guys right and then putting guys in the right mind frame.”
Nancy became the first Black coach to win an MLS title in the league’s 28 seasons.
“I’m so proud, but I’m not happy at the same time because this is not normal,” he said. “Simple as that. It’s something that has to change. I know MLS is trying to do that. This is not only in MLS. This is everywhere.”
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Emotions surfaced hours before the match as Columbus supporters began gathering at the breweries and restaurants within walking distance of the stadium. A river of black and gold flowed down the boulevard and emptied at the gates.
Several hundred LAFC fans, led by actor Will Ferrell, a team investor, made the trip — and made their presence known in several upper-level sections. The energy radiated by dueling supporters’ groups at either end created a fun house for the senses and forged a world-class atmosphere.
Buoyed by the crowd, the Crew was on its front foot from the start. Its possession game kept LAFC locked in its own end. LAFC is most dangerous on the counterattack, but with limited possession, serious threats were scant.
Columbus’s breakthrough came from the penalty spot in the 33rd minute after Diego Palacios’s handball. Hernández converted into the low left corner for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
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Moments later, amid a sudden deluge of rain, Malte Amundsen delivered a wonderful pass from the center circle to Yeboah making a run behind Ryan Hollingshead. As goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau came off his line, Yeboah slid it past him for his first goal in more than five months.
Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte described the pass as “picture perfect.”
LAFC Coach Steve Cherundolo lamented his team’s mistakes.
“We didn’t perform well enough to recover from those errors, which we don’t normally make,” he said.
Columbus dodged an own-goal scare in the final seconds of the half. When the second half began, the Crew was on the prowl for the knockout punch. With LAFC committing more players forward, Columbus salivated at the counterattacking opportunities.
Palacios headed Yeboah’s threat off the goal line. LAFC was teetering.
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The Crew’s defensive work on Bouanga was close to immaculate. The runner-up for MLS regular season MVP — FC Cincinnati’s Luciano Acosta won it — was largely a non-factor on the left flank.
Midway through the second half, though, Columbus began to show cracks. LAFC’s Jesús Murillo disrupted a Columbus possession and crossed to Bouanga. Schulte made a sensational save — with his hands and jaw — but Bouanga banged in the rebound.
The pressure did not let up. Columbus did have chances to restore the two-goal lead, but LAFC survived. The Crew’s collective stress grew.
The final whistle brought comfort and joy. Columbus players fell to their knees and teammates rushed from the sideline, oblivious to the unruly weather.
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