Given the magnitude of the result, the celebratory scenes for the Columbus Crew seemed somewhat subdued. The Black & Gold had just beaten FC Dallas, second in the Western Conference, 2-0, at Toyota Stadium.
But that’s because the Crew know they’ve got more work to do.
The club’s incredible league form continued Wednesday night, when they defeated Dallas deep in the heart of Texas. The Crew have six wins in their last seven MLS matches.
Most importantly, the win puts Columbus back into a postseason spot for the first time since May 10.
“The guys applied everything we talked about, and it came up really good tonight – a clean sheet, personality and grind,” interim head coach Laurent Courtois said. “Really happy for the guys.”
“They step up like men with a clear idea on how we wanted to perform on and off the ball, and they stick to the plan. For 99 percent of the time, I felt they were spot on. Let's see how we can recover for Saturday, but really impressed by the guys.”
The visitors scored first 18 minutes in, when Gonzalo Tapia tapped in a cross from Anass Zaroury. The goal came quickly – and was coast to coast! Tapia has three goals in three-straight league matches, while Zaroury registered his first MLS assist.
FC Dallas thought it leveled the match in the 61st minute through Shaq Moore, but the goal was overturned after a lengthy VAR decision. Ten minutes later, the Columbus lead doubled through Santi Rodríguez, who also scored his third MLS goal.
From there, the side secured the win and the clean sheet, as Patrick Schulte earned his seventh shutout of the season. With 27 career regular season shutouts, Schulte has registered the second-most most shutouts in Crew history.
“We're a team that's kind of starting to get into form,” the goalkeeper said. “After we got a lot of new guys in the summer and the adjustment period of learning the system, the chemistry between each other, those things, they take time. They don't just click overnight as much as we wish they did, and I think that we're starting to get there.
“We still have a long way to go, and playoffs and winning isn't the end goal. Playing December 18th is the end goal. So, we still got a long way to go, but right now I feel like we're connecting well and we're playing well together.”
With the win, Columbus has 41 points from 32 matches, putting the club ninth in the Eastern Conference standings. As of today, the Crew would face FC Cincinnati in a Hell is Real Derby play-in game. Red Bull New York is 10th with 39 points, while FCC has 43 points.
There are two matches remaining in the MLS regular season, including Saturday afternoon at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. The Black & Gold host D.C. United for Fan Appreciation Day. Come kick it with the Crew.
The match will be the club’s regular season home finale. Decision Day is Nov. 7 at Chicago Fire FC.
“There are two matches left and we need to keep going with that mentality,” Rodríguez said. “We have talked about that with Issa Tall and Laurent, we need to go game-by-game and not think about the playoffs. I think that would be an error on our end. We need to have that mentality, think about the next two matches that are left. First at home and then going to Chicago to win. That is the only thing we think about as a group.”