Crew beat 10-man Orlando City 2-0 in extra time to advance to conference final

ORLANDO (WCMH) — It was a gritty, tenacious 2-0 extra time win for the Columbus Crew over a 10-man Orlando City side in the Eastern Conference semifinals at Exploria Stadium. The Crew will now face in-state rival FC Cincinnati in the Eastern Conference Finals. FCC beat Philadelphia 1-0 in the other east semi-final.

The Black & Gold were dominant in regulation and gained a huge edge after Orlando City defender Rodrigo Schlegel received a red card late in the second half. After no goals in regulation, Columbus’ substitute Christian Ramirez scored the game winner early in extra time that sealed the club’s first road playoff win not via a penalty shootout since 2002.

Columbus will play in the Eastern Conference final on Dec. 2 at rivals FC Cincinnati in the first Hell is Real derby playoff match. The game will be played at TQL Stadium in the Queen City after Cincinnati’s 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union. Kick-off is set for 6 p.m. as the winner will host the MLS Cup final.

This is the first time since 2020 the Black & Gold have made the conference final as they are one win away from hosting MLS Cup for the second time in four seasons.

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Both teams kept things to calm in the first 10 minutes before the Crew got a free kick in a dangerous area. Cucho Hernandez teed it up and hit the bottom of the wall. Orlando’s first chance came on a surging counter attack led Ivan Angulo. Angulo sprinted down the left and found Facundo Torres, whose shot went just over the net.

Just two minutes later, Hernandez got a shot towards the goal that was deflected off Orlando defender Rafael Santos and right into the feet of Alex Matan in front of net. Matan was caught by surprise and could not cleanly get a good shot off.

Columbus started to control possession while Orlando began to rely on the counter attack for chances. The Lions got a second one in the 19th minute with Angulo using his pace to get past Steven Moreira but the Crew’s French defender caught up to make a brilliant slide tackle to prevent a shot.

The Crew’s next best chance came in the 22nd minute as Diego Rossi had a one-on-one with an Orlando defender. Rossi shot just outside the box right at Orlando keeper Pedro Gallese who made the easy save. Aidan Morris had a cracking shot in the 35th minute from over 30 yards out that Gallese had to acrobatically save.

Columbus outshot Orlando 9-2 in the first half and controlled a majority of the first 45 minutes. They passed with 91% accuracy while maintaining 54% possession as a drizzle of rain began to fall at Exploria Stadium.

The Crew continued its overall possession of the game in the second half but could not create too many clear cut opportunities in the first 15 minutes. Columbus continued to dominate the second half and looked like the team that would break the deadlock. They were unable to in the 67th minute after Rossi was through on goal but was stopped by Orlando defender Dagur Thorhallsson.

Orlando then went down to 10 men as centerback Rodrigo Schlegel took out Rossi on a clear goal scoring opportunity in the 77th minute to earn a second yellow card, leading to a red. Despite the man advantage, the Crew could not seal the game in regulation and almost lost in the last minute as Martin Ojeda just missed a good shooting opportunity.

Columbus would enter extra time with a man advantage and with all of its substitutions to use for the additional 30 minutes. Striker Christian Ramirez came in and was able to finally break the deadlock in the 94th minute as an Aidan Morris cross went across the six-yard box and Ramirez slid across to poke it into the net.

Down 1-0, Orlando did whatever they could to send the game to a penalty shootout and keep its season alive. The Lions nearly equalized in the 100th minute as Kyle Smith got through on goal and had a point blank shot saved by Patrick Schulte’s foot.

Schulte continued to keep Columbus’ lead intact with two clutch saves at the start of the second half of extra time. The Crew iced the game as Hernandez took advantage of Orlando’s all out attack and slotted home the second from midfield as Gallese was well off his line in the 118th minute.

The Crew now will prepare for arguably its most anticipated playoff match since MLS Cup in 2020 when they face archrivals FC Cincinnati. This will be the 14th all-time meeting in the Hell is Real derby as Columbus leads the series with six wins, three losses, and four draws.

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