Crew Rd 24, Compendious Victory

The Crew never looked like they would lose this one. Toronto never looked like they could win.

1ST HALF
The pace of this game was enjoyable. Not too fast, not too slow and the Crew were creating good chances.

One such chance ended in a goal off a Chad Barson cross and Bernardo Anor shot that rebounded for Federico Higuain in the 18th minute.

Columbus kept the pressure up on Toronto from there and were successful at breaking up anything they were trying to build in the midfield.

2ND HALF
It became clear the Toronto were trying to get something going by controlling the match through possession. In fact it seemed as if they were more interesting in that then trying to create the off chance on goal through some Crew mistake.

Because of that, the game remained more fluid and enjoyable. It also finally allowed for players with superior footballing talents to shine a bit more brightly. Case in point was Federico Higuain.

Higuain was able to find yards of space around the box all evening and in the 67th minute dropped a sinker over the reach of the Toronto GK Joe Bendik.

With Danny O'Rourke having come on the the minute before, Higuain's goal sealed it for the Crew. Toronto played as a beaten team and only got off two shots from there.

GAME OVER, THOUGHTS
• That wasn't your typical Toronto team out there last night. They tried to maintain possession and they were not hacking players down every other pass (Toronto is not alone in this tactic).

• It was Columbus that was doing all the fouling (17 Crew, 7 TFC).

• Higuain has three open play goals in two games. It has been a long time since any Crew player has done that.

• With Arrieta up top and Anor in the middle, Higuain is playing more like the player Crew fans expect and more to his talent level, frankly.

• This was the most watchable Columbus Crew game of the year for me.