Credit: LAFC
Columbus vs LAFC for the 2023 MLS Cup
Monday’s soccer news starts with the MLS playoffs, where Columbus advanced as the Eastern Conference representative at the 2023 MLS Cup with a 3-2 win after extra time at FC Cincinnati. Brandon Vazquez put Cincinnati up in the 14th with Luciano Acosta doubling the lead three minutes into stoppage time. An own-goal pulled a goal back for the Crew in the 75th and Diego Rossie equalized in the 86th to send the game to extra time. Christian Ramirez scored the Crew’s winner in the 115th minute.
In the Western Conference final, LAFC shutout Houston 2-0 at home. Ryan Hollingshead put LA up in the 44th and an 80th minute own-goal doubled the lead. LAFC goalkeeper Martin Crepeau kept the clean sheet with five saves.
“So, we played our game,” LAFC forward Denis Bouanga said. “We were really strong in defense. We know what to do – what we did in Seattle too – and we are going to do the same at Columbus. We know how to attack, and we know how to defend, and we showed it tonight.”
LAFC now faces a road game to try to become repeat champions, a rarity in a league that used to talk a lot about not wanting dynasties. Considering DC United’s run at the league’s beginning, that never quite worked out. Seattle was the last team to put in a shift, appearing in four out of five finals from 2016-20. Columbus deserves a nod of respect for relatively recent form as well, losing in 2015 and winning in 2020.
This time around, it’s LAFC on the road in an interesting situation. Bouanga’s 20 regular season goals won him the Golden Boot and certainly helped keep LAFC near the top of the Western Conference with the second-best goal difference at +15 to St Louis’s +17. The issue is what that goal difference looks like in the East, where Columbus finished with an MLS-best +21 while ending up in 3rd-place six points behind Orlando and a dozen back of Cincinnati.
It’s easy enough to add that to home-field advantage and see this as an Eastern Conference year in MLS, when the team that finished 1st in the West was 4th in the single table. Still, that might mean overlooking what made LAFC so dominant in their run through the Western Conference playoff field. 6-2 on aggregate over Vancouver in round one, beating the Sounders 1-0 at home, and advancing with that 2-0 win at Houston. What that suggests is the kind of defense that can keep LAFC in the final as long as it takes for their offense to show. Meanwhile, it’s worth considering something FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan said following their playoff exit to the Crew.
“Columbus is very good with the ball. They made us pay for that because they pinned us deep for the remainder of the half essentially. We survived that stretch and were able to find the goal. So, it was obviously a good score line going into the break, but I think we were fortunate with that 2-0 lead. Then in the next 20-25 minutes of the second-half, both sides having stretches of some good moments. I thought we had opportunities to certainly get the third, and then maybe that changes the complexion of the remainder of the half and we just couldn’t find it. Then they get the momentum with that goal, which kind of comes from not enough for me with just the cross into the box. Then we lost our legs at that point. Guys gave everything, but they just wore us down. The guys gave everything. I cannot fault them. There were things that I could have done better to manage that situation.”
Moving on, the National Soccer Hall of Fame announced that Tim Howard is part of the class of 2014 alongside Josh McKinney, Tisha Venturini-Hoch, and builder Francisco Marcos.
All links are provided as a courtesy. Neither US Soccer Players nor its authors are responsible for the content of third-party links or sites. For comments, questions, and concerns please contact us at editor@usnstpa.com.
