With the latest game-winning goal in Major League Soccer history, Mohamed Farsi lifted the Columbus Crew to a 2-1 victory at the death on Saturday at home against the Chicago Fire. The victory helped the Crew gain three more valuable points in early season MLS play as they balance the start of the MLS campaign with their CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC) run. The Crew has a quick turnaround as they get ready for the 2nd leg of the CCC tie with the Houston Dynamo. The Crew holds a 1-0 lead thanks to Alex Matan’s late game heroics last Wednesday in Houston. Despite their 1-0 and away goals (away goals are a tiebreaker in the CCC) advantages, the upcoming 2nd leg presents a difficult challenge for the Black & Gold.

The second leg in Columbus is the Crew’s third match in seven days, and second against Houston. Conversely, Houston did not have an MLS match this past weekend, so they have been entirely focused on Columbus and could rest their key players a bit more. The Crew also saw key players play the full 100-plus minutes on Saturday including Cucho Hernandez, Diego Rossi, Aidan Morris, Malte Amundsen, and Sean Zawadski. Morris and Zawadski also played the full match last Wednesday in Houston. Thus, I think it is fair to speculate about the involvement of these players on Tuesday with such little time to rest.

Despite the challenges the Crew are facing in match two against Houston, there are some key lessons to be learned from the first leg, and some things the Crew can do better, to ensure that they advance to the quarterfinals for the fourth time in club history. 

Houston Dynamo at a Glance:

CONCACAF Champions Cup Record: 1-2-0 (Advanced vs. STL on away goals)

Recent Form (All Comps): L-L-W-D-L

Leading Scorer: Gabriel Segal, Ibrahim Aliyu, Erik Sviatchenko, Sebastian Kowalczyk (1)

Assist Leader: Ibrahim Aliyu (2)

Player to Watch: Ibrahim Aliyu 

Aliyu was the most dangerous player for Houston in the first leg, and all signs point to him being dangerous again on Tuesday. The 22-year-old Nigerian has already tallied one goal and two assists so far in 2024 and can increase that tally against a team like Columbus. Aliyu immediately sticks out when he hits his top speed, usually because he is leaving opponents in his dust. He excels when able to run in behind backlines with space in front of goal. Aliyu has also progressed as a player in possession since joining the Dynamo last year. The 22-year-old’s speed makes him a dangerous player without the ball as well as his speed allows him to quickly close down opponents and force turnovers in attacking areas. His attributes make him a very dangerous player for Houston against the Black & Gold as he will have the space to run in behind the Crew’s backline, especially in transition. He will also have plenty of opportunities to win the ball back with his speed thanks to the Crew’s willingness to keep possession and play out from the back. The Black & Gold need to keep Aliyu under wraps to strengthen their chances of progressing to the quarterfinals on Tuesday. 

How Houston plays: 

Ben Olsen’s Houston side is quickly ascending my personal rankings of the most enjoyable teams to watch in the MLS. The Dynamo are very similar to the Black & Gold in terms of principles of play and their attacking shape but get to that shape differently. Olsen’s Dynamo usually operates out of a 4-2-3-1 formation and looks to maintain possession, move the ball quickly from side to side, and move their opponents to one area of the field, before striking in another part of the field.

As mentioned, the Dynamo typically operates out of a 4-2-3-1 formation. However, when the Dynamo establish possession, this shape shifts into a very similar shape to the Crew. Typically, Houston looks to push their outside right back (usually Griffin Dorsey) high up the field on the right side, while their right winger (usually Coco Carrasquilla) into more central areas of the field. On the left side, their left winger will stay high and wide while their left back stays a little bit deeper to be connected with the rest of the back line. When all of this moving and shaking is done, you get a very similar 3-4-2-1 shape that we see Wilfried Nancy’s Black & Gold utilize week in and week out. From there, Houston looks to move the ball quickly from side to side and utilize big switches in play to get their attackers in 1v1 situations out wide.

Defensively, Houston is a bit different than the Crew, but we could see a change in this match. The Dynamo often utilize a 4-4-2 shape in defense as their central attacking midfielder moves up next to the striker to help create the two-player defensive line up top. When in this shape, Houston doesn’t normally extend pressure all the way up the field, preferring to stay a bit closer to goal to stay more compact.

However, due to the circumstances of this match and the Crew’s one-goal advantage, we could see any number of different things from Houston that will reflect more urgency to get on level terms in the tie. The two most likely options will be; 1. Houston extends its pressure higher up the field in an attempt to put pressure on the Crew and force turnovers in the Houston attacking third. Or 2. Houston changes its defensive shape to a 4-3-3 to have an extra player higher up the field to exert pressure on the Crew. While these are possible changes Houston can make due to the circumstances of the match, I think we will see them in their usual 4-4-2 mid-block to start this match. 

How the Crew can win:

1. Score the First Goal: The first goal is bigger in this format than one-off games. Thanks to the Crew’s 96th minute winner last week, they already have a one-goal lead as play kicks off on Tuesday. If the Crew can get the first goal and extend their lead to two goals on Tuesday, it will force Houston to change some things, or many things for them to try and advance. No matter what the changes are, there are very few teams in this competition who can keep up with the Crew in an open-ended attacking match. If the Crew already have a 2 goal advantage, it will be even more difficult for Houston to equalize the score while still staying compact at the back. 
2. Rest Defense: This has long been the secret to success for Columbus, but will be especially important in this match given the speed Houston has up top. The Crew will need to be well-positioned to defend when they have the ball on Wednesday. If they do this, it will allow them to thwart Houston attacks while applying pressure in the attacking half. In the first leg, there were a few moments where Houston was able to threaten space in behind when in transition. While nothing came of these opportunities, Houston will no doubt have a plan to threaten the Crew backline once again in transition.

Limit Houston’s Ability to Switch the Ball: All of Houston’s most dangerous chances last Wednesday came from them switching the point of attack in possession. Whether it was a simple square ball from one side to the other in the midfield or a big diagonal ball played in behind the Crew backline, Houston was a constant threat when they were able to switch the ball last Wednesday. If the Crew can keep Houston from switching the ball and force Houston to beat them on one side of the field, Houston will find it much harder to threaten the Crew goal.