The Columbus Crew breathed fresh life into their MLS Cup Playoff hopes with a 2-0 victory over rivals FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium on Sunday.
FC Cincinnati 0-2 Columbus Crew: Smash-and-grab win boosts visitors' playoff hopes
Gonzalo Tapia and Taha Habroune scored as the Columbus Crew overcame their rivals FC Cincinnati in MLS, moving within reach of the playoffs.
Gonzalo Tapia and Taha Habroune were on target in a win that lifted Laurent Courtois' team to within two places and one point of Cincinnati, who occupy the final wild-card place in the Eastern Conference.
The result came despite Cincinnati dominating for long periods, with Teenage Hadebe and David Doudera both going close before Tapia opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, heading Brais Mendez's deep corner home after being left unmarked at the back post.
Cincinnati continued to push after falling behind, with Patrick Schulte called into action by Tom Barlow and Evander, the latter via a deflected free-kick, but the Crew struck again nine minutes into the second half.
Tapia was released down the right-flank by Santiago Rodriguez, and when the Chilean cut the ball back for Habroune, the 20-year-old stroked first-time into the bottom-left corner.
Columbus captain Sean Zawadzki hit his own post and Kevin Denkey turned wide from close range, but that was as close as Cincinnati came to forcing a grandstand finish, as their own postseason ambitions took a major blow.
Columbus take their chances
A look at the underlying stats might have people questioning just how the Crew won this game.
They only managed three shots in total, with both of their attempts on target finding the net, and put up a mere 0.3 expected goals (xG). By comparison, Cincinnati had 23 shots (seven on target) and amassed 1.91 xG.
The Crew have now won five of their last six matches in all competitions (L1) after losing seven of their previous eight, going into Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup final versus St. Louis City.
Cincinnati, meanwhile, were found wanting defensively yet again. During this regular season, the Orange and Blue have seen a total of 130 goals scored in their games (68 for, 62 against), just six off the record of 136 set by Inter Miami in 2025 (81 for, 55 against in that instance), with four games left to play.
