After losing to the New York Red Bulls in game one of their best-of-three series last Tuesday in Columbus, the Crew needed to win Sunday on the road to avoid elimination. The Black & Gold fell behind, 2-1, late in the second half, but Christian Ramirez scored an equalizer in stoppage time.

In the resultant penalty kick round, the Crew had a chance to win but keeper Carlos Coronel stopped three straight Columbus attempts. The match was decided on Daniel Edelman’s kick, giving the Red Bulls a 5-4 shootout win. The Crew’s attempt to defend their MLS title ends this season in the first round of the playoffs.

Columbus had a successful 2024, however, winning a Leagues Cup title, making it to the finals in the CONCACAF Champions Cup and Campeones Cup, and finishing in second-place in the MLS’s Eastern Conference behind Inter-Miami in the regular season.

In addition, five of the Crew’s organization are finalists for MLS post-season honors: Wilfried Nancy (Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year), Cucho Hernández (Landon Donovan MLS MVP), Steven Moreira (Defender of the Year), Patrick Schulte (Goalkeeper of the Year) and Darlington Nagbe (Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award).