Columbus Crew SC appeared destined for a frustrating home draw with the Montreal Impact at MAPFRE Stadium on Saturday evening, only for Kekuta Manneh to play the supersub role with a goal and assist in a three-minute span just moments after entering the match.
With the match deadlocked at 1-1, the Gambian-born winger stroked home a pretty layoff from Ola Kamara to push Crew SC back into the lead, then returned the favor with a booming cross that Kamara volleyed into the right side netting 18 minutes from full time.
Federico Higuain banged home a late exclamation mark, his second of the match, to cap the victory that ends the Impact's four-game unbeaten run.
Goals
- 17' – CLB – Federico Higuain Watch
- 19' – MTL – Anthony Jackson-Hamel Watch
- 70' – CLB – Kekuta Manneh Watch
- 72' – CLB – Ola Kamara Watch
- 88' – CLB – Higuain Watch
Three Things
KEKUTA COMES GOOD
: A year that began with the excitement of a
US national team
call-up for Manneh had gotten sidetracked by injuries and the steep learning curve of his midseason trade from
Vancouver
to Columbus. Saturday marked his first goal for his new team, and his first of the season to boot. His joy and relief was palpable from the moment the ball hit the net.
PIPA PARTY
: Higuain remains pivotal to Crew SC, in every sense, as he showed by creating the game's first goal, then turning the ball over to set the stage for Montreal's response. But he has now scored five goals in his last four games, and with a variety of methods – his second of the night was a trademark piece of "Route 1" ball:
FT: Pipa completes the brace to help @ColumbusCrewSC cap off a big 4-1 win. #CLBvMTLhttps://t.co/fTFIKLhnaj
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 25, 2017
Next Up
- CLB: Saturday, July 1 vs. Atlanta (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE)
- MTL: Tuesday, June 29 at Toronto – Canadian Championship (7:30 pm ET | TSN, RDS in Canada)
