The matchup between the Crew and the Philadelphia Union was ugly and physical, with the Crew barely walking away with a victory.
The Crew (10-3-7) took down MLS’ top team 1-0 at Lower.com Field on June 29. The victory included a nearly hour-long weather delay and 17 fouls from Philadelphia.
“I did not like the game – simple as that,” Crew coach Wilfried Nancy said. “It’s not easy to play against this team. They don’t quit, they run and they fight. We did well on that. After that, with the ball, we struggled to connect.”
The Union (12-4-4) set the tone of the game in the first minute when defender Alejandro Bedoya was charged with the first of their six yellow cards for a foul against midfielder Lassi Lappalainen.
With Philadelphia putting its focus on fighting for every possible loose ball or forcing Crew turnovers, neither team had many scoring opportunities.
Just seven shots were taken between the two teams in the first half, with the final shot from Crew midfielder Mo Farsi during stoppage time being the lone goal of the game.
The Union were even more aggressive in the second half, creating five shots compared to the Crew’s three.
“Second half, I think just the pressure that we knew was coming affected the way that we received balls,” Crew goalkeeper Evan Bush said. “We played a little bit too quick at certain times, and things that we typically do really well I think they took out of our game.”
A shot from Bedoya in the 67th minute was inches away from putting Philadelphia on the board, as the ball rolled along the Crew’s goal line, but never crossed over.
Philadelphia’s failure to capitalize on any scoring opportunity led to the Crew recording their first clean sheet since a scoreless draw against New York City FC on March 22.
Columbus Crew, Philadelphia Union lean into physicality throughout matchup
The Crew expected physicality from start to finish.
“They run down everything. Everything’s a battle,” Crew defender Sean Zawadzki said. “They’re going to be in every tackle, they’re going to continue to fight through everything. So, it’s if you’re timid in it it’s going to result in them winning (each battle), and that’s what we wanted to limit. And I think they had their moments of that, but I think at the end of the day we fought.”
During the 2-2 draw at Philadelphia in May, the Crew were fouled 13 time compared to the 10 they were charged with. While the Crew were fouled four more times in this meeting, they committed six more fouls as well.
Mo Farsi’s goal highlighted passing ability from Lassi Lappalainen
The loan goal of the game, which also marked Farsi’s first goal of the regular season, started with a cross from Lappalainen on the left side of the field.
Lappalainen found Farsi making a run inside the Union’s box, and after Farsi received the ball he took one touch to send his shot past goalkeeper Andre Blake.
“We knew that we could have this kind of situation,” Nancy said. “It was a really, really good goal. We tried to play a bit with the opposition, recognize the opening and good timing between the ball carrier (Lappalainen) and the guy getting the ball (Farsi).”
Since Lappalainen made his first start with the Crew in the 2-1 Vancouver Whitecaps victory on June 14, the 26-year-old has assisted on two of Columbus’ six goal in the past three games.
Columbus Crew’s momentum hurt vs. Philadelphia Union following weather delay
With Farsi’s goal coming in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, the momentum was high for the Crew going into halftime, until the game was hit with a weather delay.
Halftime lasted more than an hour rather than the standard 15 minutes due to lightning strikes in the area, and by the time play resumed Columbus’ mentality was impacted.
“It’s very hard to come back from a weather delay to be honest,” Farsi said. “You get cold, you know. So, it was hard to come back, but at least we were good defensively. We didn’t concede any goals so, proud of the guys.”
The Crew are riding a three-game winning streak going into a matchup at Seattle at 5 p.m. July 6.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew defeat MLS top team Philadelphia Union: Takeaways