CINCINNATI — The Columbus Crew kept their playoff hopes alive and silenced a sellout crowd at TQL Stadium on Sunday, beating FC Cincinnati 2-0 in the latest edition of the Hell is Real derby. Gonzalo Tapia scored one goal and set up the other, and goalkeeper Patrick Schulte turned away everything Cincinnati threw at him as Columbus won for the fourth time in five games and completed a season sweep of their Ohio rivals.
Tapia opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, rising unchecked at the back post to head in a corner kick from Brais Méndez. The goal rewarded a composed start from the visitors, who absorbed the noise from a home crowd that had unveiled a massive pre-match tifo and then gradually took control of the match in front of an announced sellout of 25,513.
The Crew doubled the lead nine minutes after halftime. Tapia turned provider in the 54th minute, feeding Taha Habroune, who finished with a first-touch shot to make it 2-0. It was the third straight game with a goal for Habroune, a 20-year-old homegrown player in his third MLS season, whose scoring run has arrived at exactly the moment Columbus needs it most.
From there, the night belonged to Schulte. Cincinnati pushed numbers forward and outshot Columbus by a wide margin, but Schulte finished with eight saves to record his sixth shutout of the season. Afterward, he framed the win as both proof and fuel. “This can be used as momentum, but I think it can also (show) that we can win in any way,” Schulte said, adding that hearing the traveling Crew supporters inside the rival stadium made the three points even sweeter.
The result tightened the Eastern Conference playoff race considerably. Columbus improved to 10-15-5 with 35 points, moving within one point of ninth-place Cincinnati for the conference’s final wild-card spot with four games remaining. Cincinnati, at 9-11-9, has now won just once in its last nine games and suddenly finds its postseason position under real threat from the team it least wanted chasing it.
The derby dominance also continued a striking trend in the rivalry. Columbus has won three straight meetings with Cincinnati, is unbeaten in five straight in the series, and now leads the regular-season Hell is Real matchup 9-3-6. For a Crew side that has spent much of the season looking up at the playoff line, Sunday’s win in the hardest road environment in the state offered the clearest sign yet that the chase is very much on.
Both clubs return to action quickly as the regular season winds down, with Columbus trying to ride its late surge into the final four matches and Cincinnati heading back to TQL Stadium on Wednesday against D.C. United still clinging to the last playoff place. After Sunday, though, the momentum — and the bragging rights in Ohio — belong to the Crew.