CrewSunday, November 8
The Crew rally past Chicago 4-3 and will face Inter Miami in the playoffs
The CBUStoday team
If you missed the finish: Brais Méndez scored in second-half stoppage time as the Crew beat Chicago Fire FC 4-3 in Saturday's regular-season finale. Columbus trailed three times, and it moved from ninth to seventh in the East when FC Cincinnati lost 2-0 to Nashville SC.
The Crew beat the Fire 4-3 on the final day
- Columbus Crew4 (won)Chicago Fire FC3
Sources: NBC4 WCMH-TV, CBS Sports
Seventh place means no wild-card game. Instead, the Crew open a best-of-three series on the road against No. 2 Inter Miami CF and host Game 2, with a kickoff time still to be determined. Columbus won the season series with a 2-2 draw in South Florida in August and a 2-1 home win in September. Interim coach Laurent Courtois said of Messi and Miami, "They're incredible," but "I like us a lot."
- Record: 14-15-5, 47 points, seventh in the East
- Postseason: fourth straight playoff trip for the Crew
- MLS Cup final: Dec. 18
- Next: Sprint Season, February to Memorial Day weekend
Quite the climb: the Crew were last in the East on Sept. 1 and lost just once from Sept. 19 through Saturday.
The Crew trailed three times, then won it in stoppage time
- 8th min.Robert Lewandowski scores on a penalty kick to put Chicago up 1-0.
- 16th min.Gonzalo Tapia ties it 1-1.
- 22nd min.Lewandowski scores a second penalty kick for a 2-1 Chicago lead.
- 23rd min.Anass Zaroury ties it 2-2.
- 1st halfIn stoppage time, Maren Haile-Selassie puts Chicago up 3-2 at halftime.
- 62nd min.Tapia scores his second goal to tie it 3-3.
- 93rd min.Méndez scores the winner for a 4-3 Crew victory.
Sources: NBC4 WCMH-TV, CBS Sports, mlssoccer
Sources: NBC4 WCMH-TV, CBS Sports, mlssoccer