On a night where it is win or go home, the lights were bright for both Atlanta United and the Columbus Crew. 20,182 fans packed Lower.com Field Sunday night to see the final game of this series. Coming off the 4-2 loss in Atlanta on Tuesday night, coach Wilfried Nancy said, "We did not play aggressive." Sunday was a different story. All season long, the Crew have played with the mentality of "Respect all, fear none." That was on full display on Sunday.
All the pregame festivities ended and now Columbus went to work. The center Official blew the whistle and the game got underway. Columbus came out of the gate on the front foot and put pressure on The Five Stripe's defensive backline. The first crack in Atlanta's backline came in the later part of the 8th minute. Columbus captain Darlington Nagbe pounced on the turnover by Miles Robinson and dribbled to his favorite spot at the top of the 18-yard box and sent a shot to the lower left of Atlanta keeper Brad Guzan and put The Crew up 1-0.
Continuing to stay aggressive, minutes later in the 17th minute, Aidan Morris plays a through ball to Malte Amundson. With wide open field in front of him, the archer of the Black & Gold shot a laser just out of the reach of Guzan and went in the top right corner to add to the Crew lead and made it 2-0.
The Crew on X: "An arrow into the top corner 🏹 #Crew96 ✘ @malteamundsenn https://t.co/1V8lqC6R0s" / X (twitter.com)
The 33rd minute Alex Matan patiently waited on the right side of the 18-yard box. Cucho Hernandez picked off the pass from Xiande Silva and went on the attack. He found Diego Rossi at the top of the box. Once he received Cucho's pass, he spun and found Matan. Quickly attacking into the 18-yard box, Matan at an incredible angle ripped a shot past Guzan and put Columbus up 3-0.
With a little under 12 minutes remaining in the first half, Columbus looked to close out the half. However, Atlanta thought differently. in the 35th minute, Brooks Lennon found Giorgos Giakoumakis on a pass in the box and tapped it in and made it 3-1 Columbus right before halftime.
The halftime whistle blew, and Columbus goes into the the locker with a 3-1 lead.
Second half got underway and at the 47th minute, Matan saw a streaking Rossi coming up the left side. Threading the needle with his pass, Rossi sprinted full steam ahead and got a shot off that pinballed off the far post and right passed Guzan and made it 4-1 Columbus.
The Crew on X: "With great power comes great responsibility 🤟 https://t.co/SnairJGokr" / X (twitter.com)
Just minutes later, Lennon found an unmarked Silva who tapped it in to make the score 4-2 Columbus. Atlanta had several scoring opportunities in the second half. Fortunately for Columbus, The Black & Gold were able to hold on to the 4-2 lead until the final whistle blew.
In full time, The Crew defeated the Five Stripes 4-2 and won the best of 3 series. After the match, the fans voted, and Darlington Nagbe was named Man of the Match.
Now the Eastern Conference semifinals are set. The Columbus Crew will travel to Orlando on November 25th, 2023 to take on the lions of Orlando City SC at 5:30pm. The winner will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. You can watch the match live on Apple TV's MLS season pass.