The Columbus Crew are going straight into the first round of the Audi 2026 MLS Cup Playoffs — and they got there the hard way. Columbus rallied from behind three separate times on Saturday to beat Chicago Fire FC 4-3 on MLS Decision Day at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, with substitute Brais Méndez scoring the winner in stoppage time, according to The Columbus Dispatch, MLSSoccer.com and the Associated Press.
Chicago led 3-2 at halftime and looked in control for long stretches. Robert Lewandowski converted two penalty kicks in the 8th and 22nd minutes, both awarded after fouls by Crew midfielder Sekou Bangoura, and Maren Haile-Selassie added a third Chicago goal in first-half stoppage time, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Anass Zaroury had tied the match 2-2 in the first half for Columbus, but the Crew still went into the locker room chasing the game.
The second half belonged to the visitors. Gonzalo Tapia scored twice for Columbus, including the 62nd-minute equalizer that made it 3-3, and Taha Habroune assisted on two Crew goals, according to the Associated Press. Then came the finish: Méndez, who had entered at the start of the second half in his first appearance since the U.S. Open Cup Final after recovering from a thigh injury, scored in the 93rd minute to complete the comeback, MLSSoccer.com reported.
“We talk about being a team, and when you come back three times after conceding [goals] and equalize [the score] in the way and quality they showed, it shows we have a whole locker room believing in this adventure,” interim coach Laurent Courtois told The Columbus Dispatch.
The stakes could hardly have been higher. With a loss or a draw, Columbus would have opened the playoffs in the Wild Card round, on the road at FC Cincinnati in a Hell is Real rivalry match, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Instead, the win — combined with FC Cincinnati’s 2-0 loss to Nashville SC — lifted the Crew from ninth place to seventh in the Eastern Conference with 47 points, The Columbus Dispatch and the Associated Press reported. Columbus finished the regular season 14-15-5; Chicago ended 16-11-7.
The reward is a best-of-three first-round series against No. 2 seed Inter Miami CF and Lionel Messi, the reigning MLS Cup champions, according to MLSSoccer.com. “They’re incredible. But I like us a lot,” Courtois told MLSSoccer.com. Columbus has reason for confidence: the Crew won the regular-season series against Miami, drawing 2-2 in South Florida in August and winning 2-1 at home the following month, MLSSoccer.com reported.
The turnaround itself is the story of the Crew’s autumn. Columbus lost the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final to St. Louis on Oct. 21 and sat near the bottom of the East at that point, according to MLSSoccer.com and The Columbus Dispatch. The club surged under Courtois, who took over as interim coach after head coach Henrik Rydström departed in May. Captain Sean Zawadzki, who played every minute of the regular season — The Columbus Dispatch reported he is the only player in franchise history not to miss a single minute of MLS play in a season — pointed to the group’s belief. “It’s not going to faze us,” Zawadzki told MLSSoccer.com. “We have a team that has the belief. We have the confidence that we can keep going.”
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: Columbus finished seventh in the East on 47 points, avoided the Wild Card round, and will open the playoffs at Inter Miami, the Associated Press reported. Chicago, the No. 4 seed, will host No. 5 Charlotte FC in its first-round opener. What we’re still waiting on: the league’s official dates and kickoff times for the Crew–Miami series, which The Columbus Dispatch reported were expected to be released by 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 8.
Habroune, who set up two of the four goals, summed up the night to The Columbus Dispatch: “It was crazy … unbelievable. Obviously, the goal, but what stands out to me is the belief from every single one on the team, even on the bench.”
What happens next: the Crew travel to South Florida to open the best-of-three series against Messi and Inter Miami, with Game 1 details expected from the league on Sunday. A Columbus side that was near the bottom of the conference three weeks ago now gets the defending champions — and, by every account out of the locker room, exactly the test it wanted.
Photo: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA