The Columbus Crew made its first appearance in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Wednesday night against the Houston Dynamo, who made it to the Round of 16 after defeating St. Louis CITY SC.

Columbus heavily rotated its starting lineup from last weekend’s matchup on the road against Minnesota United, seeing Marino Hinestroza get his first appearance and start for the Crew, while the Club also welcomed back Mo Farsi.

To start the game, Columbus looked like themselves. Possession proved a big factor for the Crew, making Houston play to their style. Hinestroza thought he gave Columbus an advantage by drawing a penalty kick in the third minute, but referee Armando Villarreal waved play on.

In the 16th minute, Diego Rossi had a shot on goal from just outside of the 18-yard box, but Steve Clark was there to make the fingertip, pushing the ball to the cross bar and out keeping the score knotted at 0-0.

Just three minutes later, Hinestroza found Rossi at the top of the penalty area. The Urauguayan found forward Jacen Russell-Rowe, who unleahed a shot on goal that ricocheted off of the post.

Houston had a sign of life in the 28th minute with an attack of their own, but the attempt would come up short for the home side.

Patrick Schulte came up with a huge save just seven minutes later, after a bad giveaway saw Houston almost capitalize on the mistake, but the shot from Gabriel Sagal was saved by the young Crew keeper.

Hinestroza came close to getting Columbus on the board first, when Farsi cleared the ball from his own penalty area to spring Hinestroza on the opposite wing. Clark would be quick to come off of his line, but Hinestroza would do well to get around him. The ensuing chip shot from distance would be wide left, keeping the score 0-0.

Both teams battled with chance after chance, but no goal would be had with both teams entering halftime level at 0-0.

The Crew started the second half strong, with two chances from second half substitute Cucho Hernandez but the attempts would be off target. Just minutes later, Hernandez would find a curling run from Rossi into the penalty box, but the shot from Rossi was easily saved by Clark.

Five minutes later, Cucho had two shots of his own, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

The Dynamo thought they had the icebreaker goal in the 60th minute from Ethan Bartlow, but was then disallowed after a lengthy check by the Video Assistant Referee for offside. After the review, Armando Villareal ruled Bartlow played the ball from an offside position, thus the goal was disallowed.

Columbus responded with what appeared to be its first goal of the contest. Aidan Morris found Christian Ramirez inside of the box, with Ramirez putting the ball into the back of the net. But yet again, following a check from the VAR, the goal was ruled offside.

The Crew came close to scoring yet again, when Hernandez served a cross into the back post towards Alex Matan, but the Romanian couldn’t connect the header with the ball.

Columbus were awarded a free kick in the dying embers of stoppage time just yards outside of the penalty area. The free kick was taken quickly to Matan, who had a shot on goal from the right hand side, getting through traffic and finding the back of the net, giving Columbus the lead and lifting the Black & Gold to the victory over the Dynamo.

Columbus hold the advantage on aggregate, with the away goals tiebreaker, heading into the second leg next Tuesday at Lower.com Field.

Alex Matan, the hero

An unlikely hero, Alex Matan scored the game winner in the dying moments of the match. With that goal, Columbus have one foot into the quarterfinals, but will need to take care of business next week on the return leg at home.

VAR spoils first leg

Both Houston and Columbus thought they had the go-ahead goal in the second half. But after lengthy VAR checks, both goals were ruled out for offside, by mere millimeters.

What’s next?

Columbus returns to MLS action Saturday against the Chicago Fire. Kickoff from Lower.com Field is set for 7:30 p.m. You can catch the match on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV