Columbus Crew 3-1 NY Red Bulls

The Home Depot, CARSON, Calif.

Columbus Crew lifted the MLS Cup above their heads on Sunday for the first time in the club’s history. It was also very special for coach Sigi Schmid, “It’s a very emotional moment for me, winning this game here in L.A. in front of family and friends. And, to be quite honest, the town that I was fired in,” he said.

The match started with Columbus being favored to win the Cup, but the opening minutes showed a little different picture. The Red Bulls managed to outplay Columbus in the first half hour. But surprisingly it was the Crew who scored the first goal in the 31st minute by Alejandro Moreno.

The second half picked up where the first ended and the Red Bulls finally scored a goal in the 51st minute. It was Wolynec who tied the match on a pass from Richards. Less  than two minutes later Columbus answered back.  Chad Marshall slammed the ball into the net on Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s corner . Columbus dominated the match from then on and had several good chances. Once again it was Schelotto, this time with a nice lob over to Frankie Hejduk which put Crew up 3-1.

The 35-year-old Schelotto who assisted on all three goals won MVP of the match. That is on top of his regular season MVP trophy, he received last week. This is the second MLS cup for coach Schmid, but just as  happened to him before in LA, rumor has it that he may be out of a job once again, despite winning the Cup. Winning the title seems almost like a curse for him rather than an achievement. A well deserved win for Columbus and very good showing for underdog NY Red Bulls.

Columbus Crew — William Hesmer, Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O’Rourke, Gino Padula, Eddie Gaven (Steven Lenhart 93+), Brian Carroll, Brad Evans, Robbie Rogers, Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Andy Iro 91+), Alejandro Moreno

New York Red Bulls — Danny Cepero, Chris Leitch, Diego Jimenez, Carlos Mendes, Kevin Goldthwaite, Dane Richards, Luke Sassano (Jorge Rojas 78), Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Dave van den Bergh, Juan Pablo Angel, John Wolyniec (Macoumba Kandji 82)