It may be the night watchman or whatever they want to say, but the reality is that the Rayados de Monterrey got their wires crossed at the worst moment of the Concachampions and that was taken advantage of by a rival like the Columbus Crew who in this competition always adopted the role of sheep in wolf’s clothing and that tactic worked tonight to surprise and eliminate the Mexican team at home with a score of 1-3 (5-2) global and thus become an adversary of the Tuzos del Pachuca.
Simply put, the team from the Ohio stadium took what the eleven led by the Argentine Fernando Ortiz left them, who, despite getting ahead on the scoreboard with a goal from Argentine Maximiliano Meza, never thought about inoculating himself against imponderables like the one committed by Argentine goalkeeper Esteban Andrade to open the way to victory for a North American team with a long and twisted fang.
The key to Columbus Crew’s victory was playing by the book, without getting nervous after being down on the scoreboard and with a cautious style, they opted for speed in the counterattack, taking advantage of the ability of the Colombian Juan Camilo Hernández, the Uruguayan Diego Rosi and the Colombian Marino Hinestroza, supported by the African Yaw Yeboah, Aidan Morris, the Liberian Darlington Nagbe and Sean Sawadzki, to generate a double block that complicated the night for the home team.
In this way, it was of little use to Monterrey to get ahead on the scoreboard with an own goal by defender Yewen Cheberko in the 11th minute. Well, despite the fact that in the remaining 30 minutes the game sailed through calm waters until in the 45th minute+4, Aidan Morris took advantage of the hesitation of Argentine goalkeeper Esteban Andrada to achieve a 1-1 draw and advance the overall score to 2-3.
The keys
By the start of the second half the damage had been done against Monterrey, because in the following four minutes Uruguayan Diego Rossi put things 1-2 and increased the overall score 2-4 and with that put the Rayados against the wall, who suddenly showed that their offensive ideas had run out.
Monterrey began to do desperate things when Argentine coach Fernando Ortiz sent Jordi Cortizo and Brandon Vázquez onto the field in the 53rd minuteas well as the Uruguayan Diego Aguirre, with which the Rayados had a small recovery with the arrivals of the Mexican-American Brandon Vázquez and Jordi Cortizo himself, who almost managed to cut the score.
But that was all. Suddenly, Columbus Crew closed the game in the 8th minute when Jacen Russell-Rowe grabbed the Monterrey goalkeeper outside the area, Esteban Andrada and from the left, almost reaching the boundaries, crossed his shot for the final 1-3and 5-2 overall.
Even Columbus Crew was able to increase the score with one more goal when Esteban Andrada committed a child penalty that Christian Ramírez took and the goalkeeper stopped the shot to wash his honor a little, although the damage had already been done
For now, Monterrey, despite the defeat, maintained its place for the next Club World Cup as one of the representatives of Mexican soccer that could come out if Pachuca is able to beat the Columbus Crew in the grand finale.
The fifth semifinal lost by Fernando Ortiz
Meanwhile, Fernando Ortiz, registered the fifth semifinal that he lost in his career with Columbus Crew’s 5-2 overall, where going back in time, the first happened in the semifinals of the Clausura 2022 tournament when after relieving his countryman Santiago Solari fell with Pachuca by an aggregate score of 4-1.
Then came the second in the Apertura 2022 tournament when Toluca left them out 3-2 on aggregate. The same thing happened in the tournament Clausura 2023, when Chivas let them go 3-2 on aggregate in a humiliation that the Águilas board judged as something definitive to thank him for.
The fourth occasion He led Monterrey in the semi-finals of the Leagues Cup when they fell 2-0 with Nashville from the MLS and the last one, tonight against the Columbus Crew in the run-up to the Concachampions, 1-3 (average 5-2).
Keep reading:
– Rayados de Monterrey failed their fans at the Steel Giant
– Columbus Crew took a key advantage for the second leg of the Concanchampions semifinal
– Liga MX continues to have an advantage over MLS in key Concachampions duels