The Goal That Won MLS Cup Was Planned…

Wilfried Nancy's Columbus Crew scored a goal that was perfectly... them. Let's break down what happened in the 2-1 Columbus Crew MLS Cup victory.
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[@ItsCalledSoccer]

I know on the first goal #9 is Cucho. Cucho and Matan switch a lot in the front 3 which adds to Hollingshead's headaches.

[@celebrim1]

I was analyzing this goal with a friend and he pointed out that the Crew scored almost the exact same goal off the exact same switch in the loss to Minneapolis in the Leagues Cup. So yeah, this is a designed play. This is something that the Crew practice as part of the standard attacking options.

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Yup, absolutely. And you can tell how comfortable the CB was in picking his head up and the weight of the pass.

[@ft3265]

Just watched that goal, thanks for pointing it out.

[@RhombusObstacle]

As an NYCFC supporter, I insist that we put some respect on the former NYCFC player's name. He's not "the CB," he's Malte Amundsen, and I'm still sad we let him go (but happy he's doing well with the Crew!).

[@davidstefano2709]

As a Crew supporter, I have been massively enjoying the Leeloo memes celebrating the Malte Pass.

[@drewmyself893]

Was at this game and I'll never forget that pass. I was on the south stands so far end from the goal but the pass made it look like Amundsen found a perfect tunnel through the lafc defense and I'm just thinking "who's on the end of that?" just as Yeboah came streaking in, taking that ball in perfect stride, and next thing I see is the ball in back of the net

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Must have been a thing of beauty in real life

[@aechevarria76]

Thanks for making this video. I couldn’t agree with you more. It was beautiful to watch in real time. Thanks for adding all of the extra context that goes into creating this moment.

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

You are so welcome!

[@ChordMelodyUke]

Well-explained, Jake!

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Cheerios Uke man!

[@davidbutler4475]

They goal was much more than the 1 pass, the 8-10 passes before allowed the crew to manipulate the spaces, chess not checkers.. needs a deeper look that goal imho ..

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

For sure, but I don't have the tactical cam footage to show it. Essentially the Crew all season looked to pull the defense to one side of the pitch and then with a switch open the space on the opposite end. That, coupled with Hollingshead needing to track three different attackers at any given point led to this goal.

[@davidbutler4475]

@@ItsCalledSoccer fair enough… it’s a great team goal, either way

[@Boys-R-Boys-and-Girls-R-Girls]

That was possibly the best MLS Cup goal in a very long time. Was even better seeing that goal live. I will never forget that moment. I was blessed with getting tickets for this game and not having to spend an arm and a leg to get them.

[@soldierboymedia]

Switching wingers up top from right to left vis-a-vis is nothing new. Most MLS coaches need to learn about these tactics. It's true. Doing homework as a coach with scouting your opponents, going after the slowest defender, and using your top winger striker speed is what Columbus does well. A good coach and great players execute these simple tactics to create space. Please keep doing these videos to help American youth coaches teach tactics to our youth players early in their development.

[@soldierboymedia]

One-touch football wins championships! The best clubs in the world play fast one-touch passing and win championships. One-touch shots on goals. Columbus is the best at one touch, passing really quickly! When I analyzed who would win the MLS Cup, I picked Columbus Crew 2-1 because of how fast the players play one-touch ball combined with how fast speed each player had.

[@yossarian66]

Nice breakdown. I completely missed the fact Yeboah set up the handball. He was making runs from the beginning of the game but having trouble in and around the box. A combo of heavy touches, good d, and some bad luck. But he did win atleast 1 corner in the first half, had the pass on the handball, and finished that beautiful sequence.

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Cheers thank you. And yup Hollingshead had a nightmare time covering the spaces

[@ClauneckGames]

The Crew played a great game. LA had no chance

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

No. The score did not do the game justice. Crew outplayed them handily.

[@ryanmiller740]

What a great breakdown! Thank you!

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@larsporsena9529]

Great video as always man

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Appreciate it!

[@RotoTomDrums]

Excellent analysis Jake

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Cheers Tom

[@alphonse8144]

great video. exciting final

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Thanks for the watch!

[@maumor2]

This is not "planned" this is the result of a possession-oriented team. Columbus moved the ball over and over for minutes until the LAFC formation was in disarray. Is Palacios on the other side the one that kills the offside line and that was the last hope of Hollinghead

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Planned in the sense that they had been setting it up and it was a play they practiced? Yes.

[@MURD3R3D]

Better put some respect on amundsen's name lol jk he scored an absolute banger earlier in the playoffs.

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

That goal was siiiiiick

[@tykobes4132]

Nancy for world cup USMNT manager 2026⭐️🏆👏

[@celebrim1]

I'd be up for that. As with Berhalter, I don't want to lose this coach for anything less than the USMNT. He does have some of the same problems as Berhalter - in fact he reminds me a whole lot of Berhalter - but he's French so the Europhiles wouldn't be quite as toxic about it.

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

I think we're pretty much sticking with GGG from here on out unless something crazy happens.

[@celebrim1]

@@ItsCalledSoccer Part of me just wants the GGG haters to deal with Nancy insane and often questionable game management strategies with no subs at all until the 85th minute and like 50% of the time during the season the wrong sub, or Nancy's willingness to trust a player let a player he believes in go out there and make mistakes so that they can be a better player. I mean in some ways the two coaches feel like twins separated at birth to me. I have no doubt Berhalter would have won an MLS cup were it not for the fact that he had ownership with no commitment to the team, we were spending in the bottom three in the league most years, and the only reason we were spending above that when we were spending was Berhalter would buy players and resale them to fund the team. When Haslem brought in Zelarayan, that was a bigger spend for one player than Berhalter was given for a player budget. But I'm a happy Crew fan again. Sigi Schmid, Berhalter, and now Nancy - the club is back in good hands, the ownership loves the team, and the youth talent pipeline is strong.

[@BETAFOOL101]

Ligue 1 is calling

[@davinalopez-oz1ez]

ahahahahahahahahahahahahah

[@soldierboymedia]

Do you know a good coach will have a play set up for the opening kick-off to strike first kick, strike first goal.

[@CB-cl7ru]

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

❤️

[@jrregaladovision]

I don’t know about all that analysis. Having watched Ryan hollinghead all season, this game he looked really sluggish. Wouldn’t be surprised he if he played hurt, injured or sick. His worst performance all season. He could have even been considered for national team in every game except this one.

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

And still held Crew to only 2 goals

[@timothymattackal2025]

There are no pre planned plays from open play in football. It’s not NFL lol. There are attacking patterns and rotations, but that isn’t even what’s going on here. Both teams did not have any coherent structure leading up to the goal. And Yeboah is holding the width the whole time. He isn’t rotating with the winger or whatever. You could have replaced the first 3 minutes of the vid with just saying they had an overload in the last line

[@ItsCalledSoccer]

Thanks for your expert analysis Timothy

[@eboethrasher]

If you paid any attention to any of the coverage of the match, you would see that they had identified and tactically decided to go at the LAFC player, and they had executed passes like this to Yeboah multiple other times in the season. Hell, the pass to him from Aiden Morris that ended up setting up the PK was a similar splitting pass. It was clearly a tactic that has been practiced on the training ground, to break teams down that are susceptible to it. Crew STM here, I watch all of the matches either in person or on TV.