Columbus Crew got help from other teams across the Eastern Conference to avoid a postseason play-in game, but first had to defeat New York Red Bulls.
Wilfried Nancy has never believed in luck at face value.
Entering the final day of the regular season, the Crew had one last chance to jump from ninth to seventh in the Eastern Conference standings and avoid a postseason play-in, depending on how two other games finished.
But no other result would have mattered without the Crew recording a 3-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Oct. 18.
"I'm really proud of my team," Nancy said. "Really good performance, knowing that it was not easy, emotionally, for D (Darlington Nagbe), and also regarding the fact that we (could) take care of us, but not everything. Like I told my players, I'm not a big fan of, and I don't believe in luck ... I believe that luck goes to the proactive people. Tonight, we were proactive."
Once the Crew secured their own victory, they stood in a huddle at the center of Lower.com Field, watching the final minutes of the Chicago Fire-New England Revolution matchup.
Already boosted to at least No. 8 when Orlando City SC fell to Toronto FC, the Crew needed Chicago to record a draw or loss to move into No. 7.
After 12 minutes of stoppage time in which two goals were scored, Chicago ended with a 2-2 tie.
The Crew will play a first-round best-of-three series with Cincinnati, the No. 2 seed. MLS has yet to announce the schedule for the first round, which is set to begin on Oct. 24 and run through Nov. 9.
"It was amazing," Crew defender Steven Moreira said. "We worked hard, and that's not luck that the results went for us. We won, scored goals. That was a good game. We played well, and I'm just happy."
The celebration of advancing to the MLS Cup playoffs first round flowed into the postgame ceremony honoring the Crew's captain, midfielder Nagbe, who is retiring at the end of the 2025 season.
Columbus Crew brought momentum from Orlando City draw into New York Red Bulls matchup
Nancy viewed the victory over the Red Bulls as a continuation of the Crew's performance from the previous matchup against Orlando on Oct. 4.
Though the Crew finished with a 1-1 tie on the road, they walked away with a sense of confidence that was missing during their games in August and September.
"I think against Orlando, we did a really good game," Moreira said. "For a long time, we didn't play like this. So, the confidence was very up, and when they (Red Bulls) scored the goal, honestly, we knew we would score. We stayed calm."
The Crew followed up the Red Bulls' goal from striker Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in the 11th minute with midfielder Andres Herrera scoring four minutes later, which sent the game into halftime tied 1-1.
Daniel Gazdag finds success coming of the bench, scores game-winner for Columbus Crew
Crew forward Daniel Gazdag was the only substitution made at halftime after he began his second consecutive game on the bench.
Since joining the Crew in April from the Philadelphia Union, Gazdag had been in the starting lineup, but struggled, scoring three goals, two off penalty kicks, in 23 games as a starter.
Gazdag entered the matchup against the Red Bulls determined to break the tie, and he took two shots on target in his first 20 minutes on the field.
In his 21st minute, Gazdag got an attempt past goalkeeper John McCarthy to score the game-winning goal.
"Every goal is important," Gazdag said. "But in this game ... it came at the best moment, right before the playoffs. So, it means a lot."
Columbus Crew boosted to victory by multiple second-half substitutions
Gazdag was just one Crew substitution that made an impact against the Red Bulls.
The Gazdag goal was assisted by midfielder Taha Habroune, who entered the game after Gazdag. At the 82-minute mark, forward Ibrahim Aliyu was added to the lineup and scored the Crew's final goal two minutes later.
"A game is played with 11 players, plus five subs, so it means 16 players," Nancy said. "Everybody is important. Daniel came in, and he did well. Lassi (Lappalainen), when he started, did well. This is not about who's going to start, this is how we're going to finish the game."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew reach MLS Cup playoffs first round, defeat NY Red Bulls
Category: General Sports
