By Brad Friedman / ColumbusCrewSC.com
For the second time in five days Columbus defeated the Chicago Fire, and a trio of Crew SC attackers had a huge impact on the Black & Gold's 3-1 victory.
Federico Higuaín, Kei Kamara and Ethan Finlay each found the back of the net against a Chicago side that played a man down after Fire forward Jason Johnson saw his second yellow in the 50th minute.
The Black & Gold made several promising runs, testing Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson on numerous occasions.
You can catch the full recap of Sunday’s match here, but the box score tells a story too.
13
Finlay etched his named into the MLS record books by earning the earliest penalty kick in League history, just 13 seconds into the match. The midfielder went tumbling to the ground after Sean Johnson clipped his leg during a chip attempt. Higuain stepped up to the spot and drove home Crew SC’s first penalty kick of the season.
17
Higuaín’s penalty kick set off a frenzied start to the match. Just seven minutes after the opening goal, Chicago’s David Accam went top-shelf on a free kick after a fortuitous bounce off the Crew SC wall. Just eight minutes later Crew SC fired back. Waylon Francis maneuvered his way along the edge of the box and delivered a perfect chip for a soaring Kamara, who strongly finished his header towards the upper 90. For those keeping track, that's three goals in just 17 minutes.
61.6
Crew SC’s possession advantage helped the home side control the pace of the game. The Black & Gold showed patience, especially in the final third, making extra passes to open up better looks against the 10-man visitors. One example: In the 77th minute Kamara settled down a cross on the right side of the box and had space to shoot, but he instead worked back in the hopes of finding a better opportunity. A few passes later, Wil Trapp found even more space and fired off a shot from just outside the box which narrowly missed the post.
