For the second year in a row, Zack Steffen made a pair of saves in a knockout-round penalty shootout to sent the Columbus Crew through to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
This time around, the Crew won a shootout over D.C. United at Audi Field to set up a two-legged clash with the New York Red Bulls.
The Crew had to fight back from down a goal in the first half, and thanks to two goals from Federico Higuain, they eventually took the lead in extra time.
Nick DeLeon scored an impressive equalizer in the final minutes of the bonus frames to send the match to penalties, where Steffen rose to the occasion for the second year in a row.
The 23-year-old Pennsylvania native stopped Wayne Rooney after Higuain scored to open the shootout, and he also stopped Luciano Acosta before DeLeon sent the final shot skying over the bar to give the Crew the victory.
Things didn’t look great for Columbus early on, however. Frederic Brillant scored thanks to an ambitious header on the doorstep off an Acosta cross in the 21st minute for D.C. Higuain scored his first of the match ten minutes later to level the score at the break.
Both teams produced chances in the second half, but it wasn’t until extra time that anyone saw a breakthrough. Higuain put Columbus in front in the 96th minute with a slight header that sent the ball past Bill Hamid and inside the far post.
United kept pressing on and got its equalizer when DeLeon smashed home a shot on the half-volley from about 20 yards out in the 116th, which set up the shootout.
The loss ended D.C. United’s season despite a late season surge that sent it to the playoffs. The Crew, meanwhile, advance to take on the New York Red Bulls in the two legged Eastern Conference Semifinals. The first leg will be on Sunday at MAPFRE Stadium.
Man of the Match
Federico Higuain scored both Columbus goals and started the shootout off with a confident shot before Steffen did his thing.
Moment of the Match
Nick DeLeon had the power to send the shootout into a sixth round, but he put his shot well over the bar to end the match in disappointment.
Match to Forget
Joseph Mora struggled with the Columbus attack for most of the game and failed to clear the loose ball to set up Higuain’s first of the night.
Of the 11 Playoff PK’s that Steffen has faced in his career with the Crew
– Only 4 have made their way past him –
Massive!!!
My team, DC United, is finally knocked out after a Cinderella season, Nick DeLeon the “hero and villian….maker and breaker” and Zack Steffen shows why he is USMNT no.1 by saving the shots of the two best players on the United team.
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Good season, I guess all we have to wait for now is Bastian Schweinsteiger leaving Chicago (I mean maybe something negative is brewing in Chicago as Vincent suddenly retires at 24, Defender Christian Dean retires at 25) and pick up:
GK: Petr Cech (36)
Right Back: Dani Alves (34)
Centre Back: Giorgio Chiellini (33)
Central Midfielder: Andres Iniesta (33)
Winger: Arjen Robben (34)
Winger: Franck Ribéry (35)
hmmmm…..still haven’t figured out how we are going to pay for all of them lol ??
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Hats off to Rooney, Acosta, Ben Olsen and the team tho
You hate to see a shootout decide an important match, but it was exciting to watch. Wow, Steffen was awesome in the shootout. He coughed up the cross that led to DCs first goal, but totally redeemed himself and then some. He’s not perfect, but I do think he is the US best GK right now. Need to mention Hamid did well in this game also, don’t think he could’ve done anything on the Crew goals, and he made at least one acrobatic save I can think of to keep DC in it. That was the first I’ve seen of Canouse, and thought he looked intriguing. Trapp gets a lot of hate, but I thought he looked good. Columbus plays the kind of possession and passing that US fans want to see out of the USMNT, so if it is Berhalter then there is that I guess. Whether we have the players to pull that off at the international level, I’m less optimistic, but I want us to try.
Happy for Columbus given what has been going on with the club. Great job by Berhalter. That said, was hoping for Northeast Corridor clash between Red Bull’s v. DCU. Disappointed.
that was the worst i’ve seen dcu play since the first half of the season. absolutely abysmal; no one showed up. they’re lucky columbus wasn’t that great, either, or it could’ve been a lot worse.
also, anyone watching on tv have opinions on the ref? from the stadium, he seemed awful. and i’m not saying that as a dcu homer, either. i thought acosta could’ve been easily sent off, and rooney should’ve see yellow as well. just so many non-calls (or non-cards) that really let the game get out of hand.
He seemed to be taking the I’m not going to influence the game with a call mentality so he pretty much let most things go.
There were a ton of fouls that weren’t called. I didn’t feel like it favored one side over the other, but I was worried about one of the players being injured. MLS isn’t as thuggish as it used to be, and the soccer is much better, but letting all those fouls go is holding the league back from being more technical and fun to watch.
Steffen! Keep it coming, brother. Hard not to like this kid (though Hamid deserves a mention, as well, for a good game). Very entertaining game. Strange to see the three highest goal scorers on the field (Rooney, Acosta, Zardes) take the three most uninspired, predictable, and easily saved penalties.