COLUMBUS, Ohio – For the second time in 2014, the Columbus Crew notched a last-minute goal to change the game's outcome, this time on the back of Hector Jimenez, whose 90th-minute shot gave the Crew a 1-1 draw and a vital point at home.
The shot came after a brilliant individual effort from midfielder Wil Trapp, who found Jimenez in space with a booming pass. The winger took a few touches inside and gave the shorthanded Crew the breakthrough they needed.
"Wil was able to play a great ball to me, I was able to take a good touch inside, I saw a little gap and luckily I was able to bend it in there and get it past the goalie," Jimenez said after the game. "It was huge. What I liked is, our team didn't back down. Even though we were down a man we still kept going forward."
But despite Jimenez notching the goal, Trapp's play stole the applause. On tired legs after nearly 90 minutes of play, Trapp – who on Friday was called into Tab Ramos's US Under-21 national team camp – made a 40-yard defensive run to track down Fabián Espíndola, stole the ball from the D.C. forward, dribbled back to midfield and fired a long diagonal ball onto the foot of his teammate.
Crew coach Gregg Berhalter didn't seem surprised that Trapp had that moment in him.
"That was a real play," Berhalter said. "That's why he is who he is. That was amazing. First of all, he recovers on Espíndola, then he takes the ball from him, then he drives I don't know how long, then he makes a pass. That's a real play by a real player."
Trapp didn't take too much credit, and said he was just in the right place to make the play.
"We gave the ball away in a bad spot, and we were on a 3-v-2 counter," he said. "I just kind of guessed right on Espindola cutting back. I just saw Hector open and he did the rest. I think anyone else would've done the same, stepping up in a situation like that."
Even Jimenez was amazed at the play, and said that when he saw the team lose possession in the midfield, he would never have guessed that he could have received a pass like that from Trapp.
"That's an effort that Wil put in," he said. "And when you see one of your teammates do that, i feel like it just goes all around and everyone keeps hustling."
Trapp said the Crew Stadium crowd powered him through at a time when he might otherwise have been too tired to make the play.
"Honestly, the fans, I heard them start to roar a little bit after the tackle, and that got me excited," he said. "You get a little adrenaline rush when stuff like that happens, and you don't really notice the tiredness in your legs when something like that occurs."
