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Meram’s late winner lifts Crew to vital victory vs. Chivas USA

CrewMeram (ISIPhotos.com)

The Columbus Crew have little margin for error if they want to remain in the Eastern Conference playoff race after a pair of recent losses, and on Wednesday night they needed almost every one of the 90 minutes to register a sorely-needed victory.

Second-half substitute Justin Meram converted a Jairo Arrieta pass into a game-winning goal in the 89th minute to help lift the Crew to a 1-0 victory at Crew Stadium.

Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum was the star on the night, posting the shutout and saving the three points with a crucial late save on an Oswaldo Minda chance in stoppage time.

The victory moved the Crew back into playoff position, jumping them a point ahead of D.C. United for the fifth and final playoff spot in the East.

Columbus will face a much tougher test on Saturday when they take on the streaking Chicago Fire.

Here are the match highlights:

 

What did you think of the match? See the Crew making the playoffs?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. I’m not sure whether the Crew will make the playoffs, but they sure are making it exciting. Hope Eddie is ok – I thought it was a very cheap challenge.

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  2. So which browser can you actually play these clips in? Firefox doesn’t work. So I switched to Chrome and it still won’t play. Don’t say IE, because I won’t go there.

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  3. No CCL running commentary tonight?

    Sounders 3 – Marathon and the Referee 2

    It really is astonishing just how biased and bad officiating in the CCL continues to be. It makes MLS refereeing look excellent.

    (And as I mention that, I have to give MLS credit recently for improving the quality of officiating. A few outliers removed, and it’s been pretty good in the last few months.)

    Reply
  4. Not only should we create a new award for “Assist of the week” for Arrieta’s header from flat on his back to assist on the game winner, but Justin Meram should win “Farmer Tan of the Year” for that goal celebration.

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  5. I was in Columbus to visit my girlfriends family, so we caught a Crew game. It looked like the Crew were going to pay for all the missed chances but everyone loves late drama. 🙂

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