It was a night of celebration for the Columbus Crew and their hometown faithful Saturday at Lower.com Field. Not only did the Black & Gold beat the New York Red Bulls, 3-1, they had a chance to recognize their captain, Darlington Nagbe, as he prepares to retire at the end of this season. 

On Decision Day, the last day of the regular season when all of the MLS teams are in action at the same time, the match with the Red Bulls was important to Columbus’s playoff placement. In order to finish in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, and avoid a play-in round, they needed to win and get help in two other matches.

After giving up a goal to the Red Bulls in the 11th minute, the Crew rebounded with three straight scores to get the win they needed. The two outside matches also went their way when Orlando City SC lost to Toronto FC in Ontario and Chicago recorded a 2-2 draw at New England.

Andrés Herrera evened the score in the 16th minute, then two of the Crew recorded goals after coming off the bench. Daniel Gazdag entered the match at the beginning of the second half and scored in the 66th minute. Ibrahim Aliyu added the team’s final goal at the 84′ minute mark after reporting in two minutes earlier.

The Crew’s win and the other League action meant that they moved up to the  seventh spot and will play FC Cincinnati in a best-of-three first round series. The initial match will be played at Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium, with Lower.com Field hosting match two. If a third contest is needed, it will be played in the Queen City.

“Obviously, the emotion was huge,” said Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy about the team’s reaction to the win. “We played with personality. Tonight, we conceded a goal against the momentum. After that, we were strong and we scored. I really liked the way we managed the game.”

After Saturday’s important win over the Red Bulls, the entire stadium stayed to recognize Nagbe and his storied professional career.

Nagbe commented on the entire experience, “It was amazing, obviously, I’m just proud to be part of this Club, part of this team, the way they treated me, the way they welcomed me, the past couple years, you know, it’s been amazing.”

I couldn’t have dreamt of any better situation or to be a part of any better team. But yeah, overall, I’m just grateful.”

Of course, the fans of the Black & Gold hope that their captain has a good number of playoff matches left.