Crew's season ends after falling to Red Bulls in dramatic MLS playoff penalty shootout

HARRISON, N.J. (WCMH) -- The Columbus Crew's 2024 season is over as the defending MLS Cup champions were knocked out of the playoffs by the New York Red Bulls, who completed a first round series sweep with a dramatic penalty shootout win after a 2-2 draw Sunday night.

After falling at Lower.com Field 1-0 in game one, Columbus was able to take the lead in game two at Red Bull Arena early in the second half through Max Arfsten. The Red Bulls took advantage of some slow Crew passing and were able to score an equalizer in the 65th minute followed by Emil Forsberg's game-winning penalty in the 80th minute.

Columbus striker Christian Ramirez scored a clutch header in stoppage time to tie the game and force a penalty shootout. The dramatic penalty shootout went to sudden death rounds as Red Bulls keeper Carlos Coronel saved three straight penalties before Daniel Edelman converted the winning spot kick for a 5-4 shootout victory to win the series.

In what was the Crew's 49th competitive game of the year, the two-seed in the Eastern Conference were victim to one of the biggest upsets in MLS playoffs history. The seven-seeded Red Bulls will advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals and play either FC Cincinnati or New York City FC.

The Crew's season ends with a Leagues Cup title, a CONCACAF Champions Cup and Campeones Cup runners-up finish, and a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference regular season standings to go along with a first round exit from the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Head coach Wilfried Nancy made multiple changes to his lineup but none were more significant then the return of winger Diego Rossi, who missed game one due to an injury. Dylan Chambost started alongside Rossi as an attacking midfielder while DeJuan Jones stepped into a wingback role for Max Arfsten.

The first dangerous chance of the game game early in the 5th minute. Cucho Hernandez was fouled just outside the corner of the box to give the Crew a free kick. Chambost teed up Cucho for a shot that curled just over the top of the net.

The Crew had two big shots at the end of the first half as Diego Rossi got a strike off from inside the box that hit the far post. Seconds later, the ball fell to Hernandez outside the box who shot and also hit that same post.

Two minutes later in the 42nd minute, Columbus has two more shots in quick succession with Rossi getting a shot again from inside the box which was saved by Coronel. The rebound from the save fell to Chambost whose shot was blocked. The Crew outshot the Red Bulls 9-2 in a scoreless first half.

The first highlight-reel play of the second half was in the 53rd minute as Mo Farsi had a chance to give the Crew the lead but New York's Daniel Edelman made a perfectly timed block to keep the game at 0-0.

Columbus finally got the goal they craved and it came from substitute Max Arfsten in the 55th minute. Within seconds of coming off the bench, Arfsten received a neat pass from Hernandez and with his first touch, Arfsten slotted home the opener from inside the box.

New York equalized to electrify the crowd in the 65th minute with a brilliant counter attack. The Red Bulls took advantage after Steven Moreira was boxing out Lewis Morgan thinking the ball was out of bounds. The ball was not and Morgan stole possession to begin the attack, passing to Emil Forsberg who fed Belgian Dante Vanzeir who shot one through the legs of Patrick Schulte.

Schulte had to get alert in the 74th minute as Morgan lashed on at the near post but the Crew keeper kept his hands strong for the save. Three minutes later, Forsberg was taken down in the box by Rudy Camacho to give New York a penalty. The Swedish star stepped up to take the penalty and comfortably converted it, giving the Red Bulls the 2-1 lead.

The Crew's season was able to go on a little longer as Christian Ramirez scored another clutch late playoff goal as he scored the equalizing header in the 90+6th minute to make it 2-2 and send the match to a penalty shootout.

Patrick Schulte was able to save the first penalty he faced as John Tolkin's shot stayed on the floor towards the middle of the net and hit Schulte's feet. As both teams kept scoring, Columbus defender Cheberko had a chance to win the shootout up 4-3 but had his penalty saved by Carlos Coronel.

Forsberg converted a must-make penalty to make it 4-4 and force sudden death. In the first sudden death round, both teams had their penalties saved to send the shootout to a seventh round. Alex Matan stepped up for the Crew and had his shot saved by Coronel, marking the Red Bull keeper's third straight save in the shootout. Edelman then stepped up to hit the series-winning penalty to complete the sweep.