The Columbus Crew will play in its second international final this summer after obtaining a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Union in the Leagues Cup semifinals on Wednesday at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio.
The Crew will play for the trophy on Sunday as the host. The victory also sealed the club’s qualification for the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup where the Black and Gold will hope to build on a runners-up finish last June.
“This is about a winning team,” said Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy. “This is the mentality that we have, so hopefully it's going to keep going, but really proud of what we are doing here.”
Diego Rossi opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a header inside the box. Cucho Hernández struck from outside the box as Andre Blake put his hands up to block the attempt, but Rossi pounced on the second-chance opportunity to place the home side in front.
Dániel Gazdag answered for the Union in the 32nd minute by picking up the ball at the top of the box, driving inward, and striking towards the bottom left corner to beat Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.
Rossi restored the lead for Columbus in the 43rd minute with a right-footed strike from the right side of the penalty area. Christian Ramírez recorded the assist with a lob over the top to set up the match-winning goal.
The brace marks a third for Rossi in the 2024 Leagues Cup and a third in the last four encounters. The Uruguayan scored twice in the Round of 32 against Sporting Kansas City and repeated the feat in the Round of 16 against Inter Miami CF.
Cucho Hernández extended the lead for the reigning MLS Cup champions in the 53rd minute by pouncing on a second-chance of his own after denied by Blake on a header in the box. Rossi helped in the build up along with Mohamed Farsi and Steven Moreira.
With the victory, Columbus returns to a third final since lifting the MLS Cup last December. It also marks a third international final for the Crew this year, playing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in June and scheduled to play the 2024 Campeones Cup against Club América next month.
Philadelphia Union bows out in the semifinals for a second consecutive edition. There is plenty to still play for with the winner of the bronze medal match qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Union will seek to secure third place in Leagues Cup once again after doing so in the 2023 tournament.
“We knew tonight we would have to be almost perfect,” said Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin. “We knew we couldn't make any mistakes. There were stretches where we did a good job against the key guys, but obviously Cucho and Rossi have the quality that they can make the difference, and tonight they did.”
