Brais Méndez Strikes in the 92nd as Columbus Crew Stun Chicago Fire 4-3 in a Thriller

Chicago Fire went up 3-2 right at the start of the second half and looked to have the game under control at SeatGeek Stadium. But Columbus Crew kept pushing, found the equalizer past the hour mark and, in the 92nd minute, delivered the final blow to escape with a 4-3 win that leaves the Fire empty-handed despite controlling much of the match.

The MLS clash opened with fireworks. Just six minutes in, a handball by Sékou Bangoura inside the box gave the Fire a penalty that Robert Lewandowski converted for the 1-0. The home side's joy did not last long: in the 15th minute, Gonzalo Tapia leveled for Columbus Crew with a low finish from the center of the box, assisted by Taha Habroune. The back and forth continued in that same first half: another Bangoura foul, this time inside the area on Philip Zinckernagel, led to a second penalty, which Lewandowski converted in the 21st minute to make it 2-1. Columbus answered barely a minute later, with Anass Zaroury making it 2-2 from the center of the box.

That is how it stood at halftime, but before the whistle the Fire still had time to strike again: right at the start of the second half, in the 48th minute, Maren Haile-Selassie finished from close range for the 3-2, after a Lewandowski shot had rattled the post seconds earlier.

Columbus Crew's response

Trailing on the scoreboard, Columbus Crew did not back down. In the 61st minute, Gonzalo Tapia notched his second goal of the afternoon with a left-footed finish from inside the box, set up by a through ball from Malte Amundsen, to make it 3-3. The match stayed wide open for the rest of the second half, with chances at both ends (Anzor Mekvabishvili and André Franco tried their luck for the Fire), but it was Columbus Crew who had the last word: deep into stoppage time, in the 92nd minute, Brais Méndez, who had come on at halftime, curled a left-footed finish into the top corner to seal the final 4-3.

The match stats reflect just how even the contest was, even with such a favorable final score for the visitors:

The Fire had more possession, more shots and more corners, and our own expected goals estimate based on the shots taken in the match gives them 3.77 against 2.03 for Columbus Crew. That is a wide gap that shows the offensive volume generated by the home side, but it ultimately proved insufficient against the visitors' efficiency in the decisive moments.

The result also stands in contrast to our pre-match projections: our preview gave Chicago Fire a 44% chance of winning, Columbus Crew 30% and a draw 26%, with combined expected goals of 3.24. The final scoreline, with seven goals between the two sides and a visiting comeback in stoppage time, ended up far exceeding that expectation of a tight match tilted toward the home side.

In the Eastern Conference standings, this result leaves Chicago Fire in fourth place with 55 points and Columbus Crew seventh with 47, with an 8-point gap between the two sides heading into this match. For the Fire, who dominated statistically and twice built a two-goal lead, the result leaves the feeling of an advantage they could not hold onto. For Columbus Crew, on the other hand, persistence paid off: they equalized twice and, just when the match seemed to be slipping away, Brais Méndez stepped off the bench to grab all three points.