After fumbling a 3-1 lead to lose 4-3 on the road to Orlando City last weekend, the Columbus Crew had a point to prove against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night. The team did just that in a 3-0 victory thanks to a Cucho Hernandez hat trick. 

The Black & Gold cruised to victory in their midweek matchup against the 10th-placed side in the MLS Eastern Conference. The win saw Columbus rise to third in the Eastern Conference and officially book a spot in the 2023 MLS Cup playoffs thanks to D.C. United’s 1-1 draw with Atlanta United. 

Hernandez opened the scoring early for the Crew, converting a penalty kick in the eighth minute. Following great build-up play from forward Diego Rossi and Hernandez, Rossi played a one-two pass with Hernandez, who found Rossi in the penalty box with a through ball. Fire goalkeeper Chris Brady challenged Rossi for the ball, clipping the back of his leg in the process. Brady received a yellow card for the challenge after VAR told the center official to check on the play and Hernandez slotted his penalty into the bottom left corner of the net. 

Minutes later, the referee blew his whistle again. 

The Black & Gold were on the counter attack in the 13th minute. A brilliantly-placed lobbed through ball from Hernandez met the run of wing back Yaw Yeboah, who stormed into the 18-yard box with pace. Just before he could find his footing and shoot, he was brought down by Chicago center back Arnaud Souquet. Souquet received a yellow card for the challenge, and once again, Hernandez stepped up to the penalty spot and slotted the ball home, this time into the bottom right corner of the net. 

Hernandez’s magic was not over. In the 23rd minute, the Colombian completed his hat trick. 

Wing back Julian Gressel lined up to take a corner kick, whipping in a cross that was met by the head of Hernandez. His header hit the ground before bouncing into the left corner of the net past Brady. 

Hernandez nearly got his fourth goal of the night in acrobatic fashion just before the stroke of halftime.

Midfielder Darlington Nagbe, who stood 30 yards out, played a low ball to Hernandez, who immediately tried dribbling past his defender. In the battle for possession, the ball was lifted into the air through an attempted clearance by Chicago, allowing Hernandez to strike the ball cleanly on the half-volley. His powerfully directed shot forced a diving save from Brady, who pushed the ball out for a Crew corner. 

In the 51st minute, Xherdan Shaqiri gave the Fire their best goal-scoring opportunity of the night, but to no avail. Shaqiri stole the ball from left center back Malte Amundsen outside of the box before attempting to chip Patrick Schulte, but the Columbus goalkeeper made an easy save. 

A skillful move from wing back substitute Mohamed Farsi created a great scoring chance for the Black & Gold in the 54th minute. Rossi came driving into the penalty box from the right side, playing a pass across toward Farsi. Rather than attempting a shot himself, Farsi dummied the ball, letting it glide through his legs and into the path of Hernandez, whose shot went just wide and hit the right side netting. 

One minute later, Rossi had a chance to score himself. Farsi laid the ball off to the forwrard but Rossi’s right-footed shot went wide of the left post. 

In the 59th minute, Chicago came close to once again but lacked the final product. Shaqiri broke down the left wing at the edge of the 18-yard box and played a pass across aiming to find a teammate, but no one was there to meet it and the ball was cleared. 

The night got even worse for the Crew in the 67th minute, as their star Designated Player was sent off. Shaqiri received his second yellow card of the night for an aggressive challenge in which he stepped on center back Rudy Camacho’s ankle. 

Unlike Saturday, the Black & Gold managed the rest of the match and were able to secrue all three points.

Cucho Magic

Hernandez’s hat trick against Chicago, which took him 22 minutes and 55 seconds, was the second-fastest from the start of a match in MLS history. Not only that, it was his second hat trick in his last three matches, bringing him to seven goals and 1 assist in his last three games. Hernandez is now tied as the second-top scorer in MLS with 13 goals, along with seven assists this season. 

Bouncing back from an embarrassing defeat

Following last weekend’s embarrassing late defeat to Orlando City, Wednesday’s game allowed the Black & Gold to make a statement and come back to Columbus with a defiant win. Giving up late goals has been an unfortunate theme this season, but it’s promising to see how the team bounces back from those moments.

Chicago fired up

A match that saw Chicago chasing the ball and trailing for almost the entire 90 minutes coincided with the referee having to discipline the visiting players fairly often. The Fire committed 14 fouls compared to the Crew’s six and received five yellow cards and one red card. 

What’s next

The Black & Gold play their next match away from home at FC Dallas on Saturday, Sept. 23. That match will kick off at 8:30 p.m. ET and air on MLS Season Pass on AppleTV.