With the first leg out of the way, both sides will be fancying its chances to progress to the next round come Sunday’s return second leg in Columbus. The Impact have the advantage with its 2-1 win, leaving the Bleu-Blanc-Noir needing either another win, a draw or even a one-goal loss score line (other than 1-0, or 2-1) to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. The Crew go into the return leg needing a win at home as its only hope.
Offensive Organisation
The Columbus Crew SC made it very clear, that despite playing on the road, they wanted to control and take the game to the Impact.
Columbus lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper, with MLS MVP finalist Kei Kamara acting as a target man up front. Justin Meram, Federico Higuaín and Ethan Finlay played right behind. Tony Tchani and Will Trapp act as the holding midfielders, in front of a backline of four and goalkeeper Steve Clark.
In reality, this formation looks more like a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 because Meram and Finlay often tuck inside to join Kamara centrally, freeing up space on the flanks for both full backs, Waylon Francis and Harrison Afful, to push up and provide the width.
In terms of its style of play, Columbus is patient in its buildup, favouring shorter, one-touch/two-touch, passing combinations.
Finally, they create most of their scoring chances by sending the ball out wide for its full backs, who look to get crosses into the box for target man Kamara, who scored all 22 of his MLS Regular Season goals in open play.
Defensive Organisation
Without the ball, the Crew SC are energetic and pressure aggressively very high up the pitch. This is a tactic used by Columbus at home and on the road.
The Crew SC’s defensive shape is for the most part a 4-2-3-1. Opposing teams unable to play under pressure, find it tough to get by the Crew’s initial high tempo pressure.
The Final Word
Columbus Crew SC plays an attractive style with its fluid ball movement and its high tempo defensive pressure, but that leaves them open in some ways.
Columbus is vulnerable against teams playing direct and long, teams who press high up the field, teams playing the counter attack and finally on defending set-pieces. Both Impact goals in the first leg, like many others Columbus conceded this season, fell into one of these four categories, with Patrice Bernier’s header from a corner and Johan Venegas’ winning goal when his aggressive pressure forced Michael Parkhurst into coughing up the ball.
