On a rainy night in Columbus, Ohio, the gates of hell have opened up as the Columbus Crew hosted an in-state rival FC Cincinnati for the title of king of Ohio.
Early on in the match Cincinnati has put some pressure on Eloy Room who came up with a couple big saves to keep the game 0-0.
In the first 15 minutes of the game the newly signed Cucho Hernandez had three opportunities to score, but on his fourth shot found the back of the net off his head from a free kick that Lucas Zelarayan sent into the box. with that goal, that is Cucho's 4th goal in three games and put the Black & Gold up 1-0.
As the game progressed you could see that there is no love lost between the teams as it got chippy in the first half. Cincinnati was playing a little too aggressive by committing 11 fouls.
At the half Columbus goes into the locker room leading 1-0.
Second half started right where the Crew left off at. They started aggressive but also methodical. Columbus began to press through the middle of the field where FCC got overly aggressive and picked up their 12th foul of the game and the first yellow card.
65th minute, to a standing ovation, Cucho leaves the game for a well- deserved rest as Erik Hurtado replaced the Colombian native.
As the game progressed late in the 75th minute and beyond the frustration on FCC has finally set in; Careless fouls and overly aggressive ball play.
85th minute FCC's second yellow card of the match came out for a hand ball inside of the penalty box which awarded the Crew a penalty kick. Who else better to take the penalty kick than Lucas Zelarayan. On the ensuing kick Zelarayan fooled Cincinnati netminder Roman Celentano with a stutter step before a low shot into the bottom right hand corner to make it 2-0 for Columbus.
In the 89th minute Zelarayan came out of the game for a well-deserved rest, and Milos Degenek came in the game.
At full time, the Crew stood tall and victorious with a 2-0 win over
