Crew carrying Massive momentum into Game 3
Hell is Real gets a rubber match in Porkopolis
The Crew vaporized FC Cincinnati, the Ob-Gyn who delivered soccer to the Midwest, by a score of 4-0 in Columbus Sunday night. Their Round One, best-of-three series now careens toward its conclusion – Game 3 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati Saturday night.
The Crew are the No. 7 seed in the East. The Cincinnatis are the No. 2. Kickoff is 6:12 p.m.
Enjoy.
At the end of a disjointed and often disappointing season – despite 54 points! – Crew fans find themselves in a curious place in the first week of November. They can feel good about their team like they did in May, when the Crew were 6-0-3 and looked like a Supporters' Shield contender, and in July, during a 4-0-1 stretch where they beat Vancouver and Philadelphia at home and Cincinnati down there in Kentucky. Or is it Indiana?
The last time the Hell is Real derby-darby had this kind of heft was in 2023, when the Crew came from two goals down and beat the Cincinnatis 3-2, down there, in the Eastern Conference final. A week later, the Crew beat LAFC in the MLS Cup final at the new Crew stadium and stitched a third star above their crest.
"Context of the game: We play Cincinnati, it's a rivalry game," Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said after Game 2. "We went there, and we lost 1-0. We play at home, and it's a do-or-die. Not easy as a context. That's why I love my team because they are able to focus on the task and they are able to play – don't think about the future, don't think about the past; stay in this game, stay in the present moment. I think that they did well. That's why they were able to win the battle of power.
"Now, obviously the next game is going to be really interesting because they are upset and we have the momentum. Yeah, a really interesting game to prepare."
Michael Arace
Root for the Portland Timbers
Prior to the second-half kickoff Sunday night, Crew defender Steven Moreira embraced everyone's captain, Darlington Nagbe, at midfield. Moreira's hug was of such duration, it could've drawn a yellow card for delay of game.
"I was like, 'C'mon, man, we've got to go,'" Nagbe said with a laugh. "Steven – that's my guy."
Nagbe announced nearly a month ago that he'd be retiring at the end of the season. He is one of 15 players in MLS history to register at least 400 appearances. His 445 games played is fifth all-time. He is one of 11 players to win at least four MLS Cups; of the 11, only five have won more – Jeff Agoos, Todd Dunivant and Brian Mulligan won five apiece and Landon Donovan won six.
Michael Arace
Everyone loves Nagbe because he is a beautiful human being. He and Moreira are particularly close, hence the hug: Moreira wanted to share a (long) moment in the middle of the field on what was probably the last game Nagbe will play in Columbus.
"If it was the last one," Nagbe said, "it was special."
The Crew are the No. 7 seed, the lowest seed remaining in the Eastern Conference side of the playoff draw. If the Crew win Game 3 and move on to the conference semifinals, they will have to win three knockout games in a row to win the MLS Cup.
There is only one scenario where Nagbe would once again take the stage at Lower.com Field: If No. 8 Portland makes it past No. 1 San Diego in the West (the series goes to a Game 3 rubber match in SoCal Sunday night) and the Timbers keep winning. If the Timbers and the Crew can upset their way to the Cup final, then Columbus would be the host.
"Anything's possible," Nagbe said.
Former Crew owner Anthony Precourt was already laying the groundwork for an attempt to move the franchise to Austin when the Crew and the Timbers met in the 2015 MLS Cup final at the old Crew stadium. Then, Nagbe was midfield engine of a Timbers team that beat the Crew 2-1 with help from referee Jair Maruffo and the assistant ref who blew a call just seconds before Portland's second goal was scored.
It was Nagbe who poached Tony Tchani – who believed, correctly, that the Crew had a throw-in coming after the ball went out-of-bounds – and it was Nagbe who dribbled through the befuddled Crew to help set up Portland's game-winner.
You can see the ball go over the sideline during the replay at 1:21.
Man, would it ever be bonkers if we got another Portland-Crew final in Columbus.
Disa and data
- The Crew will have a watch party for Game 3 on the Chase (East) Plaza outside Lower.com Field Saturday night. Tickets are free and are available through this link. If you're looking for a ticket to sit in the stands at TQL they may still be available through this link. Apologies in advance: Both links take you to the greedy bastids at Ticketmaster.
- Center back Rudy Camacho, the Gibraltar of the back line in 2023 and through much of 2024, suffered a pelvis/abductor injury just prior to the start of the 2025 season. He had surgery five months later, in July. He made his first appearance of the year, as a substitute in the 81st minute, in Game 2 Sunday night. He received a huge ovation from the crowd of 19,506 at the LDC.
- Nancy on Camacho: "I was afraid that the fans were thinking that it was his jubilee because every ball that he got, it was like it was the end (laughter). No, I'm joking. Everybody was happy. You can see the reaction of the fans when he came in. You can see the reaction of… This is the first time that I sub Steven (Moreira) and he was smiling. Usually, he doesn't smile because he wants to play. I'm so, I'm so, I'm so happy for him because obviously, we missed him a lot and he's so important for the team, and he struggled a lot this year. It was good to give him a few minutes to go back on track and to see if he can help us in the future."
- After the preseason departures of MVP threat Cucho Hernandez (sold to Real Betis in Spain) and Christian Ramirez (traded home to the LA Galaxy), Crew GM Issa Tall moved to refit his front line with the acquisition of Daniel Gazdag in a $4-million cash deal in mid-April – and then signed Gazdag to an extension. Gazdag has four goals and four assists in 26 appearances and, as his scoring struggles continued, Nancy often talked about how well Gazdag fit in his system. For the past five games, Gazdag has seen more of the bench than he has the field. Against the Cincinnatis, he played 29 minutes in Game 1 and 20 in Game 2.
- A now-healthy Diego Rossi, in combination with Hugo Picard and Taha Habroune, helped create the kind of havoc Nancy enjoys concocting. Rossi played more of a true No. 9 and dogged and pushed the Cincinnati rearguard backwards. He created horizontal space while wing backs Max Arfsten and Andres Herrera stretched FCC vertically. We can talk about how Cincinnati went down a man with Yuya Kubo's red card in the 38th minute, but by that point, the Crew already had the Orange & Garys discombobulated. How does Gazdag fit in all of this? Good question. He checked into the game in the 71st minute, at which point a romp was assured.
- Dang, the Crew's wing backs were excellent in Game 2. So was Picard, who photo has now been removed from milk cartons.
- DP striker Wessam Abou Ali, acquired on a $7-million transfer in August, suffered a hairline fracture in his right ankle in a game against Toronto Sept. 20. He has spent the prescribed six weeks on the shelf and, presumably, his bone has fully knitted. We'll have a better idea of whether he's fit to log any minutes when Nancy meets the media Wednesday or Thursday. Abou Ali scored in each of the last three games he played – and worked well in combination with Gazdag, who had two goals in the five games Abou Ali played.
- Quick reminder: In the event of a tie at the end of regulation, Round One games go directly to penalty kicks. Beginning with the conference semifinals next week, the tournament has reached the knock-out stage and tied games go to added extra time before kicks.
- The Tao of Nancy, who, when asked whether his team plays better in "desperate" situations, said: “I don't know to be honest with you. We like to compete, for sure, but last year was a do-or-die and we didn't make it. It's difficult. I think that during this game, we had at certain moments we had the flow. The flow is a mix between the skills that we have and also the good energy that we have. Sometimes we don't think about the game; we just play. The connection helps all the players to have this kind of flow. That's why I think they had a really good game and they didn't think about the do-or-die. They just wanted to get better.”
Thanks for reading. If you're enjoying what you see and you are of a mind, click on the link below and leave a tip. It'll help defray costs for the trip to Porkopolis for Game 3. If you've yet to subscribe, consider making a small hop over a paywall. It'll help keep local, independent media disrespected. Have a nice day.
Michael Arace
