Kamara, Meram score as Crew SC defeat Red Bulls in East final first leg

By foxsports
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- 

Nine seconds. Those two words will be engrained into every talk New York coach Jesse Marsch has with his team between now and the decisive second leg at Red Bull Arena next weekend.

It only took Columbus’ Justin Meram nine seconds to open the scoring in Crew SC's 2-0 victory over the Red Bulls in the first leg of the Eastern Conference championship Sunday.

Meram's early goal established the tone as Crew SC grasped control of the proceedings from the first few seconds. Off the kickoff, Crew SC start the game off the same way each game. A pass backward into their defensive third, a long ball toward the opposing penalty area and a hopeful look on goal.

So when a long ball was launched at Kei Kamara in the opening seconds of the game, the MAPFRE Stadium crowd could be forgiven for not expecting much. But when Kei Kamara flicked his header on for Ethan Finlay, who juggled it on his head once before being taken out in the penalty area and allowing Meram to slot home, the atmosphere was a mix between wild euphoria and stunned exuberance.

“That’s a play we work on. Just lucky enough the ball fell to me and I put it away,” Meram said. “I love the moments you wait for it in your life and I’m just blessed and thankful for my teammates and everyone who put me in that position to put that goal in."

WATCH: JUSTIN MERAM SCORES FASTEST GOAL IN MLS PLAYOFF HISTORY

The Red Bulls, who hadn’t given up a goal since a 2-1 win Oct. 25 against the Chicago Fire, looked stunned. The revamped backline subsequently struggled to deal with Kamara, Finlay, Federico Higuain and Meram for most of the afternoon.

Kamara finished off the game in the 85th minute, as substitute Cedrick Mabwati maneuvered past three Red Bull defenders and whipped a shot at Luis Robles, who saved well but left it for Kamara to tap into the back of the net.

Despite holding the advantage in possession, New York was restricted to trying to hit Columbus on the counterattack for much of the match. Bradley Wright-Phillips was held silent for much of the night, as Tyson Wahl, who came in to replace Gaston Sauro due to yellow card accumulation, and Michael Parkhurst were solid in front of Steve Clark.

There were only flickers from the Red Bulls for most of the night. Bradley Wright-Phillips collected and thrashed over the bar, but those forays were few and far between as Crew SC established control over the proceedings.

"I read that they (New York) haven’t been shutout in five months or something, so it was a fantastic team defensive performance,” Parkhurst said. “The entire back line played so well. … Tyson to come in, (who) hasn’t played in a while, I thought he was fantastic. He got some key blocks for us."

Kamara's second goal -- poked home at the back post after a dazzling run by Cedrick Mabwati -- confirmed Crew SC's superiority on the evening. The two-goal margin leaves the top-seeded Red Bulls with a lot of work left to do ahead of the second leg next weekend.

Red Bulls coach Jesse Marsch was insistent that his team can still make it to the MLS Cup finals.

“There’s still a lot to play for here,” Marsch said. “I know that we have so much more to give. ... (But) now we’ve dug ourselves a hole."