San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
COLUMBUS WINS ITS SECOND MLS CROWN
Crew 3, Sounders 0
No matter the absences from the lineup or the opponent, Caleb Porter implored the Columbus Crew to impose themselves.
Porter’s players responded, putting aside the recent history of the defending champion Seattle Sounders and capping the most unpredictable of MLS seasons with one of the league’s original franchises raising a championship trophy.
“We were not going to let history in the past determine today,” Porter said. “This is our year. This is going to be our year, it was going to be our day, it was going to be our trophy. And that was my message before the game. I don’t care what they’ve done in the past, it’s going to be decided on today.”
Lucas Zelarayan scored midway through the first half and added the clincher in the 82nd minute and the Crew won their second MLS Cup title, beating the defending champion Seattle Sounders 3-0 on Saturday night.
Derrick Etienne Jr. also scored in the first 45 minutes for Columbus. The Crew withstood Seattle’s second-half pressure and finally celebrated after Zelarayan’s second goal.
Zelarayan, the MLS newcomer of the year and largest signing in franchise history, was the best player on the field on a night the Crew were playing short-handed. Columbus was without midfielders Darlington Nagbe and Pedro Santos after both tested positive for COVID-19.
Despite the absences, the Crew were the decidedly better side and Zelarayan was the instigator. Columbus claimed its first title since 2008 and denied Seattle a chance at being just the fourth back-to-back champions in league history. The Sounders, playing in their fourth final in five years, were trying to be the first repeat champions since the L.A. Galaxy in 2011-12.
“It’s a massive opportunity to go back to back, which happens very, very rarely. It happens very rarely that you find yourself in situations to win the big one. So who knows if we’ll ever make it back?” Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei said. “It’s a massive, squandered opportunity for us and all credit to them. They played a good game. They were hungry.”
It was the first appearance in the final for Columbus since 2015 when the Crew were denied a title by the Portland Timbers and current Columbus coach Porter. The franchise was nearly relocated just a few years ago, but efforts to keep the team in Columbus proved successful and now there is a championship to celebrate.
The loss of Nagbe and Santos seemed to be the biggest story entering the final. It was the first time this season Columbus played without either player in its lineup. But their teammates — namely Zelarayan — made their absences moot.
“This guy was unbelievable,” Porter said.
Zelarayan scored in the 25th minute off a perfect feed from Harrison Afful, getting behind Seattle fullback Alex Roldan and snaking his left-footed volley past goalkeeper Stefan Frei. Six minutes later, Zelarayan made the smart play finding Etienne and his curling shot gave Columbus a 2-0 lead. Etienne started in place of Santos.