The Columbus Crew won their third MLS title with a masterclass in bold, proactive soccer.
They won it Saturday at home with two goals, the second of which epitomized their 2023 transformation.
They bossed and battered LAFC, the defending champ, with high pressure and exquisite passing, all of which rose to the surface as one in the 36th and 37th minutes of a fantastic final.
The Crew already led 1-0 on a somewhat fluky but deserved penalty. They then strung together 11 passes to double their lead and put one final stamp on a season that was, definitively, theirs.
Their revolution began 12 months ago, after a second consecutive season without playoffs. They hired French coach Wilfried Nancy away from CF Montreal, and handed him keys to a well-aligned club. Nancy, an ideologue in a sport often ruled by pragmatists, arrived with a bold vision for how the Crew would play, whether or not they won — he sometimes calls it “a way of life.”
That vision materialized over nine-plus months, and delivered a championship. It culminated Saturday in front of a boisterous crowd that has helped fuel the bravery and belief that Nancy’s “way of life” requires. And it culminated most of all late in the first half.
An aggressive press allowed homegrown midfielder Aidan Morris to cut out an LAFC pass in the attacking third. Patient possession then dragged all but two LAFC players to the far side of the field. A crisp pass into the feet of striker Cucho Hernandez pulled Jesús Murillo toward the ball, away from his position as LAFC’s right center back on the near side.
Two passes later, Malte Admundson picked out the gap that Murillo had vacated. He broke two lines with one ingenious through-ball. And Yaw Yeboah put the visitors to bed before they could even get to the locker room for halftime, wobbling and wounded.
LAFC awoke periodically throughout the second half. It weathered the Columbus storm, then pulled a goal back with 16-plus minutes remaining. And it nearly exposed one flaw in the Crew’s brash approach, which often left them susceptible to blown leads and heartbreak throughout the regular season.
But not here.
Even with Denis Bouanga bearing down on them, with rain intensifying, and with nerves spiking,…