OBETZ, Ohio – After Toronto FC successfully entered MAPFRE Stadium and defended their way to the 0-0 scoreline in Leg 1, many believe the Reds hold the advantage over Columbus Crew SC as they head back to Toronto for the second leg of the Eastern Conference Championship.
But in Columbus, there is no sense that the 0-0 scoreline was good for Toronto. In fact, for a team that loves to attack, knowing that they only need one goal to force Toronto to score two has empowered a quietly confident Crew SC team in the days leading up to Wednesday’s decisive match at BMO Field (7:30 pm ET | FS1 in US, TSN 1/4/5, TVAS in Canada).
"We feel really good,” striker Ola Kamara said at Crew SC training Monday. “It’s hard for teams to play at home when you have that away-goal rule. It’s really tough. So I know that we’re in a good position. But we also know that it’s hard to go into Toronto and actually win. But I feel really good about it.”
Head coach Gregg Berhalter said he’s happy with the way his team played in the 0-0 stalemate, though he said they “could have been a little more aggressive.”
And while he said he would have liked to score a goal to have a lead, he said preferences on a scoreline are irrelevant now.
“Regardless of what I feel about it, that’s what the position is,” he said. “It’s dealing with it and managing it. I told the guys we had a very similar situation against Atlanta, except now if we score a goal it means even more than it would have against Atlanta.”
That match, where Columbus defeated Atlanta United in a penalty-kick shootout after 120 scoreless minutes in front of 70,000 fans, was a massive moment for the club, and one that multiple players have pointed to over the course of the playoffs.
Defender Josh Williams said that match goes a long way toward proving that Columbus can get a difficult result on the road in front of a raucous crowd.
“I think that was huge for us,” he said. “Obviously, it was the first step to getting here. To go in there and pull together like we did and go into extra time and still not give up a goal, I think that did a lot for the spirit of the team. It was just a stepping stone, a confidence builder for us. I think that kind of proved that we have something special here.”
Now, with a goal more important than ever, Columbus players know what they have to do. And for Kamara, knowing a goal will drastically change the match is a welcome challenge.
“We’re going to attack and we’re going to get a goal,” he said with a smile. “So we’ll see.”
