COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a demoralizing 4-2 loss to the New England Revolution to open their first playoff series since 2011, the Columbus Crew have their work cut out for them.
Short of a 5-3 scoreline or more, the Crew will need to win by three goals next Sunday when they travel to Foxboro in the second leg of the home-and-home series (5 pm ET, ESPN2/ESPN Deportes). That begs the question of how they move on from here.
"You just have to," Ethan Finlay said after the loss. "Three goals, 3-0. That's the goal. Nothing else is acceptable. We won't be thinking about anything else. We know the task at hand, and they do too."
As tough as things might appear, all hope isn't lost for Columbus. The Crew have scored at least three goals in seven matches this season, and have beaten the Revolution twice in 2014.
"Looking ahead, there's obviously a chance to win," defender Tyson Wahl said. "We've scored three goals before, and we know we can beat this team. We just have to be better than we were tonight."
Added Justin Meram: "We still have faith. We can put three goals [in]. We've just got to look and be really offensive next week."
Head coach Gregg Berhalter agreed that an offensive emphasis is necessary, but noted that when the game opened up Saturday, it played into the hands of the Revolution.
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"It's an elimination game, and you need to be aggressive early and you need to try to get a goal early," he said. "Having said that, you have 90 minutes to score three goals and prevent the other team from scoring one. It's possible. It's not an easy task, but it's certainly possible."
One certainty is that the late goal from Federico Higuain – who declined to talk to reporters after the game – kept the Crew from needing a four-goal win, and may have kept their hopes alive.
"Getting two goals, maybe that gave us some slight chance," Meram said. "I still believe, and we still believe, that we can go there and get a win."
