Columbus Crew advance to Champions Cup final following 3-1 ...

In their fifth appearance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the Crew have reached the tournament's championship game. In its previous attempts, Columbus had never advanced past the quarterfinals.

Going into the second leg with a 2-1 aggregate lead, the Crew quickly gave that lead away to CF Monterrey with the home team scoring in the first 15 minutes of the semifinal matchup.

Takeaways: Columbus Crew take crucial 2-1 advantage over CF Monterrey in Champions Cup

In fact, Monterrey controlled most of the first half – that is until Crew midfielder Aidan Morris scored a goal in stoppage time off a costly mistake from Monterrey goalkeeper Estaban Andrada. Columbus came out in the second half and less than five minutes in, Diego Rossi scored the Crew's second goal.

A third goal from Jacen Russell-Rowe secured the Crew's 5-2 aggregate victory and 3-1 match victory. Columbus will now face CF Pachuca on the road in the one-match final.

The Crew were given a chance to expand their lead by four goals in aggregate with a late-game penalty kick opportunity in the 97th minute following a Monterrey foul in their own box. Christian Ramirez took the attempt, but had it saved by goalkeeper Esteban Andrada.

Jacen Rusell-Rowe pushed the Crew into a comfortable 5-2 aggregate lead and 3-1 match lead with a goal four minutes after entering the game for Cucho Hernandez.

The play started with Derrick Jones taking the ball away from Monterrey on the other side of the field, and once the ball got to Russell-Rowe, he was able to make some dribbles to take his shot with ease as Monterrey's goal was left open by goalkeeper Estaban Andrada, who was playing high.

With less than 10 minutes left in regulation and a 4-2 aggregate goal lead, Crew coach Wilfried Nancy replaced Columbus' leading scorer Cucho Hernandez with Jacen Russell-Rowe.

Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte recorded his fifth save of the match off a close-range header shot from Jordi Cortizo. This matches his total from the first leg against Monterrey.

The Crew have made two more substitutions, Derrick Jones for Aidan Morris and Malte Amundsen for Yevhen Cheberko.

With its fourth substitution of the match, Monterrey replaced Maximiliano Meza, who is the only player from the team to score against Columbus in the series, with Rodrigo Aguirre.

Monterrey made two substitutions five minutes after the Crew's second goal, putting in Brandon Vazquez for Luis Romo and Jordi Cortizo for Jesus Gallardo.

Crew forward Diego Rossi found the back of the net for the third time in Champions Cup play, this instance off an assist from Alex Matan.

From outside Monterrey's box, Matan found Rossi within the center of the box. Rossi was quickly able to send the ball clearly past Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada to the left side of the goal to give Columbus a 4-2 aggregate lead.

With the Crew's first substitution of the match, coach Wilfried Nancy replaces forward Marino Hinestroza with Alex Matan.

Despite Monterrey heavily controlling the first half in shot attempts, taking 7 compared to Columbus' 3, and taking an early lead in the match, Crew midfielder Aidan Morris sent his team into halftime with the advantage 3-2 aggregate with a goal in stoppage time.

Monterrey now has to defeat the Crew by two goals this match to advance to the Champions Cup final in regulation or finish ahead 2-1 to force extra time and possibly penalty kicks. Columbus came into the match with a 2-1 aggregate lead and now has a tiebreaking away goal, if a tiebreaker is needed.

Aidan Morris scored a goal for Columbus in the 48th minute of the first half to send the Crew into the locker room tied 1-1 in the match and with a 3-2 aggregate lead.

The play started with the ball in the hands of Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada, who grabbed a shot attempt and was looking to make a throw out of the box to his teammate. Morris would intercept his throw and take a long shot from the top of Monterrey's box, which landed in the back left corner of the goal uncontested.

The fourth official on the sideline signaled for 4 minutes of additional time in the first half.

After trying to return to the match following an injury due to a collision with Monterrey goalkeeper Esteban Andrada, Monterrey center back Sebastian Vegas is substituted out of the match and is replaced by Hector Moreno.

Monterrey center back Sebastian Vegas was down for a few minutes following a collision with his own goalkeeper Esteban Andrada within Monterrey's box. The collision came as Andrada was trying to clear the ball and in doing so, hit into his teammate Vegas.

Vegas was able to get up on his own after medical attention and remains in the match.

Marino Hinestroza drew a foul, which was charged to Monterrey's Sebastian Vegas, near the top of Monterrey's box. Columbus was able to get the free kick into the box but was unable to find any scoring opportunity as Monterrey cleared the ball out. Vegas' foul was given a yellow card by officials.

Monterrey midfielder Maximiliano Meza helped even up the aggregate score early in the second leg for Monterrey, nearly putting the ball into the back of the net himself, but it was determined that he forced Crew defender Yevhen Cheberko to record an own goal.

Running up near the center of Columbus' goal, Meza was found by teammate Jorge Rodriguez. Despite being contested by Cheberko and goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, Meza took control of the ball and sent the ball near the back of the net. The ball hit off Cheberko, which pushed the ball past the Crew's goal line.

The Crew captain Darlington Nagbe is given a yellow card near the top of Columbus' box following a handball violation. This set up a free kick for Monterrey a couple feet outside the Crew's box, but Columbus blocked the kick and regained control.

The Crew recorded their first shot attempt of the match when Cucho Hernandez took a contested shot from the top of Monterrey's box. The shot was too far right and went out of bounce.

Here are the officials for the Crew-Monterrey match:

• Referee: Juan Gabriel Calderon
• 1st assistant referee: Juan Carlos Mora
• 2nd assistant referee: William Arrieta
• 4th official: Walter Lopez
• VAR: Benjamin Pineda

With a 2-1 aggregate lead following the first leg, the Crew will advance to the final if they finish the second leg with a win or draw. The Crew will also advance if they lose to Monterrey by one-goal, as long as they score at least two goals.

If the match finishes and Monterrey has a two or more-goal victory or is ahead 1-0, it will be Monterrey that advances.

The only way the match goes into extra time with the possibility of penalty kicks is if at the regulation, Monterrey is up 2-1.

Here is the starting 11 for Monterrey vs Columbus in the second leg:

• GK: Esteban Andrada
• DF: Gerardo Arteaga
• DF: Victor Guzman
• DF: Stefan Medina
• DF: Sebastian Vegas
• MF: Jesus Gallardo
• MF: Maximiliano Meza
• MF: Jorge Rodriguez
• MF: Luis Romo
• FW: German Berterame
• FW: Sergio Canales

Here is the starting 11 for the Crew vs Monterrey in the second leg:

• GK: Patrick Schulte
• DF: Rudy Camacho
• DF: Yevhen Cheberko
• DF: Steven Moreira
• MF: Aidan Morris
• MF: Darlington Nagbe
• MF: Yaw Yeboah
• MF: Sean Zawadzki
• FW: Cucho Hernandez
• FW: Marino Hinestroza
• FW: Diego Rossi

The Crew picked up a 2-1 victory over CF Monterrey in the first leg, scoring a goal off the foot of Cucho Hernandez and another off a header from Jacen Russell-Rowe. With Columbus recording 12 shot attempts, eight on goal and four in the final 15 minutes of the match, coach Wilfried Nancy would have liked to walk away with at least one more goal, knowing the challenge ahead.

"We know that it’s going to be tough," Nancy said. "We're going to try to do a good game over there and recognize when it's good for us to attack and it's good for us to defend. ... I cannot tell my team to sit and to wait, this is not the way we do things."

According to Nancy, the second leg matchup between Columbus and Monterrey is going to be a "battle of power," and it's unlikely the Crew advance without putting another goal on the board in Monterrey.

Read more about what to expect from tonight's Crew-Monterrey second leg match here.

The Crew's injury report is currently "to be determined." Here's who is projected to be unavailable or questionable:

• Mo Farsi (groin)
• Evan Bush (arm)

More: What channel is Columbus Crew's second leg match on? Here's how to watch Crew-CF Monterrey

During the Crew's MLS regular-season match against CF Montreal on Saturday, Columbus midfielder Mo Farsi was taken off the field on a stretcher with what coach Wilfried Nancy said after the match was a groin injury.

Though Farsi was seen after the match walking on his own in the locker room, Nancy confirmed that Farsi will be unavailable for the second leg against Monterrey.

"He's going to be out," Nancy said. "But this is not something bad, just going to be out, he's going to be out for one week."

On Tuesday night, CF Pachuca secured a spot in the Champions Cup final, which is only one match instead of two, after defeating Club America in the second leg of the semifinals 2-1. In the first leg, the two Liga MX teams finished tied 1-1.

Pachuca's 3-2 aggregate-goal victory was led by a goal from Andres Micolta in the first leg and goals from Miguel Rodriguez and Nelson Deossa in the second leg.

It is impossible for the Crew to host the championship match following the result of the CF Pachuca-Club America match on Tuesday. The final is one game, unlike the previous series.

Pachuca, which advanced with a 3-2 aggregate-goal victory, now has 14 points in Champions Cup play. The Crew have only nine points with the max amount that could be earn tonight being three, putting them below Pachua in the standings, which determines the host for the final.

In the first leg, the Crew picked up a 2-1 victory over Monterrey at Lower.com Field.

Cucho Hernandez scored in the first half for Columbus, but Monterrey evened the match in the 58th minute with a shot from Maximilano Meza that beat Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.

Off a corner kick, Jacen Russell-Rowe scored in the 73rd minute, giving Columbus a 2-1 lead.

The Crew have faced Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions Cup once, back in 2021. Darlington Nagbe, Alex Matan and Evan Bush were the only active Columbus players from that series still with the team. Aidan Morris was with the team but was out with a season-ending ACL injury.

In that series, Monterrey and Columbus walked away from the first leg at the Historic Crew Stadium tied 2-2. Once the teams met in Monterrey for the second leg, the home team scored 3 goals and shut out the Crew to knock them out of the tournament.

The Crew are hosting a watch party at Chase Plaza and the Condado Tacos at Lower.com Field for free at Lower.com Field starting at 9:15 p.m. Though the event is free, tickets are still required, which are available here.

The broadcast of the match will be available on 105.7 FM. Chris Doran will be on the radio call. The Spanish radio broadcast will be available via 102.5 FM La Grande.

The match will be on FS1. Streaming is available via the Fox Sports app. The Spanish broadcast will be on TUDN.

Fox Sports' broadcast team will feature John Strong (play-by-play) and Stu Holden (analyst) for the second leg of the Crew-Monterrey Champions Cup semifinal series on FS1. The duo of Strong and Holden called the first-leg matchup between Columbus and Monterrey, as well as the Club America-CF Pachuca semifinal matches.

Kickoff is set for 10:15 p.m. at Estadio BX in Monterrey, Mexico.

After receiving a bye into the Round of 16 due to being MLS Cup champions, the Crew started their CONCACAF Champions Cup journey against Houston Dynamo.

With the first leg taking place on the road March 6, Columbus took a 1-0 aggregate-goal advantage when forward Alex Matan scored in the 96th minute. Matan has been sidelined with a thigh injury since that game.

The Crew returned to Lower.com Field on March 12 for the second leg and took an early 1-0 lead over Houston off a Hernandez goal. Holding onto the lead for most of the match, Columbus would allow the Dynamo to score a penalty kick goal to tie things up 1-1, but the Crew still advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 win on aggregate.

In the first leg of the semifinals, the Crew faced off against Tigres at Lower.com Field on April 3. Before the match could kick off, the teams had to wait out a two-hour rain delay. Without Hernandez for the second match in a row, the Crew relied on attacker Diego Rossi to lead Columbus to a 1-1 tie with his first goal of 2024.

At Estadio Universitario in Mexico for the second leg on April 9, the Crew had to get at least one goal to avoid elimination, as road goals are tie breakers in Champions Cup play. It was Rossi once again who scored for Columbus, but with striker Andre-Pierre Gignac netting one for Tigres with his second goal of the series, the teams finished regulation tied 1-1.

The teams played two 15-minute extra-time periods. After 120 overall minutes of play and the series still tied 2-2 on aggregate, Columbus and Tigres went to a penalty shootout.

Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte saved Tigres' first two penalty kicks, and with every player besides Hernandez hitting their attempts for Columbus, the club advanced to its first Champions Cup semifinals. The Crew also made tournament history by becoming the first MLS team to defeat a Liga MX team after failing to win its home leg.

Monterrey started Champions Cup play on a tear, defeating the Comunicaciones of Guatemala 7-1 on aggregate in the opening round.

In the round of 16, Monterrey was faced with the challenge of defeating the Crew's Hell is Real rival, FC Cincinnati. After holding Cincinnati scoreless in an 1-0 first leg victory at TQL Stadium, former Cincinnati forward Brandon Vazquez led Monterrey to a second leg 2-1 victory. That advanced the team to the quarterfinals against Inter Miami.

Despite Miami's star forward Lionel Messi returning to action in the second leg following a hamstring injury that had sidelined him for nearly a month, Monterrey defeated Miami in both legs, finishing with an 5-2 aggregate.

• 2003: Lost to Atletico Morelia 6-2 aggregate in the quarterfinals
• 2010: Lost to Toluca Futbol Club 5-4 aggregate in the quarterfinals
• 2011: Lost to Real Salt Lake 4-1 aggregate in the quarterfinals
• 2021: Lost to CF Monterrey 5-2 aggregate in the quarterfinals

The Champions Cup is an annual competition run by CONCACAF, the regional governing body in soccer for North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament includes 27 teams from 10 countries.

Each round, up until the final, will include two legs (two games) and the winner will be determined by the aggregate score (the combined number of goals scored by the two teams).

The final will consist of one match, with the winner qualifying for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

bmackay@dispatch.com

@brimackay15

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