Columbus Crew stay true to their identity to win 3rd MLS Cup - ESPN

COLUMBUS, Ohio — For Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy, the most important thing going into Saturday's MLS Cup was for the team to stick to its identity. If that were to happen, he believed, the rest would take care of itself.

He was right.

Columbus delivered a convincing 2-1 victory against LAFC on Saturday night, delivering the club's third MLS Cup and second since 2020.

«That's why we had the possibility and that's why we won,» Nancy said. «I'm really proud of that as a coach. Yes, we can talk about that tactics and talk about a lot of things, but the performance that we had tonight was spot on.»

As expected, the Crew were on the front foot to begin the game and after waves of consistent pressure, they were rewarded in the 30th minute.

That's when a touch from Diego Rossi in the top of the penalty area deflected off LAFC defender Diego Palacios' right shoulder area, then his outstretched hand and was called for hand ball. The decision held up on video assisted review, after which Cucho Hernández calmly slotted the opening goal to the lower left side, away from the diving Maxime Crépeau.

The already-electric atmosphere inside Lower.com Field reached a fever pitch and had not fully subsided before the Crew doubled their lead four minutes later. A brilliant through-ball from center-back Malte Amundsen put Yaw Yeboah in on goal and he finished with confidence.

It wasn't just a win for the Crew, but an emphatic display of Nancy's vision for long stretches against an LAFC side that was attempting to cement its status as the preeminent power in MLS.

In their first year under Nancy, the former CF Montréal manager, the Crew led MLS with 67 goals and finished the regular season in third place in the Eastern Conference