Player ratings as Wilfried Nancy’s side reaches conference finals

Columbus Crew toppled Orlando City in extra time 2-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference finals of the MLS Cup playoffs.

The visitors hammered Orlando’s goal in the opening stage, forcing the veteran Pedro Gallese to action as he came up with several key saves to prevent Columbus from going ahead. The likes of Cucho Herandez and Aidan Morris tested Gallese and he met each shot with an impressive save.

Neither side were able to find a breakthrough in the first 45, as Columbus had the better chances in the contest with Orlando still feeling their way through the game.

Both teams traded blows throughout the second half, but the two sides lacked the quality and sharpness in front of goal. Things started to get interesting with roughly 15 minutes remaining in regulation, when Rodrigo Schlegel was shown a second yellow card for essentially clotheslining Diego Rossi as he was speeding past him and Robin Jansson toward Gallese’s goal.

Through 90 minutes played, the game remained in a deadlock at 0-0, meaning extra time and possibly penalty kicks would decided who moved on to the Eastern Conference finals.

However, Columbus went in front in the 93rd minute as substitute Christian Ramirez got on the end of a low-driven cross from Aidan Morris, as the pass skipped past the Orlando defense before taking a lucky bounce off the 32-year-old before finding the back of the net.

Then, substitute Kyle Smith found himself through on goal but his effort was almost straight at Patrick Schulte as the shot-stopper stuck out his left leg to prevent the equalizing strike. Schulte then again came up another close-range reaction save to keep the Black and Gold in front as the clock ticked on.

With time running out for the Lions, Gallese raced up near the halfway line to help out his team in attack, but Hernandez noticed how far he was off his line and sent in a strike toward an open goal to put Columbus in front with a commanding 2-0 lead, securing passage to the next round.

Columbus moves on to take on either FC Cincinnati or Philadelphia Union, where they could end up playing host to the Union at home or on the road vs the Orange and Blue.

GK: Pedro Gallese – 6/10 – Was busy in the first half making several key saves to keep his team in the fight.

RB: Dagur Dan Thorhallsson – 6/10 – Found himself in a lot of good positions out wide but couldn’t deliver quality crosses to the box.

CB: Rodrigo Schlegel – 4.5/10 – Put in a crunching…