The Columbus Crew had to overcome a 1-0 halftime defecit to beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 in the Eastern Conference final. The Fire looked pretty good throughout most of the first half. At halftime Alexi Lalas didn’t understand what was going on with the Crew. He had predicted them to win the game.
The second half was like a totally different game. The Crew looked like a championship team. Thanks to goals by defender of the year Chad Marshall and Eddie Gavin the Crew still have a chance to become that championship team.
This will be the first trip to the MLS Cup for the Columbus Crew. Their opponents will also be newcomers to the MLS Cup. The New York Red Bulls have been this far before but never won that conference final game. Real Salt Lake made the playoffs for the first time in their history this year.
I am going to go ahead and fully agree with Alexi Lalas that Real Salt Lake will play the Crew for the Cup and the Crew do become MLS champions. Lalas is going to shotgun some Red Bull if the Red Bulls are able to beat Real Salt Lake – that would be mildly interesting to see at least.
