Columbus Crew hold on with 10 men to beat Toronto FC 4-2 after racing out to a 4-0 lead

Columbus Crew built a 4-0 lead before the hour mark, then had to survive a late Toronto FC surge that cut into the margin but came up short in the end. The final score was 4-2 at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field, with four different scorers for the home side before Dániel Sallói and Josh Sargent pulled goals back for the Canadians late on.

The game broke open early. In the 15th minute, Gonzalo Tapia curled a right-footed finish from the center of the box into the top left corner, set up by Mohamed Farsi. Five minutes later came the second: Malte Amundsen rose up for a close-range header off a Dylan Chambost corner kick, a goal that needed a VAR review before it stood. Columbus Crew went into halftime up 2-0, a scoreline that fairly reflected their control of the first half.

A second half that settled it

If the start of the match had been good for Columbus Crew, the start of the second half was devastating. Two minutes in, in the 47th minute, Amundsen struck again, this time with his left foot, completing his brace to make it 3-0, once more off a Chambost corner. Before the hour mark, in the 58th minute, Brooks Lennon made it four with a right-footed strike into the top left corner, also assisted by Chambost, who closed out the night as the main architect of the home attack.

With the score at 4-0, Toronto FC found a response, late but real. In the 68th minute, Dániel Sallói headed home from close range off a Theo Corbeanu cross to make it 4-1. Barely a minute later, Columbus Crew were down to 10 men: Sékou Bangoura picked up a second yellow card for dangerous play, leaving his side a man short for the remainder of the match. Toronto made the most of the extra man and kept pushing, and in the 80th minute Josh Sargent pulled one back with a low shot from outside the box that found the left post for the final 4-2. The Crew held on for what was left, but the scare had already set in.

What the numbers say

The stats show a match that was even in terms of possession but lopsided in the final third for long stretches. Toronto had more of the ball and generated more shots, though Columbus Crew was sharper in the clear-cut chances.

The estimated xG from the match's shots came out close, at 2.48 for Columbus Crew and 2.78 for Toronto FC, a number that contrasts sharply with how decisive the scoreline was: the Crew converted far more than that figure would have suggested, while Toronto racked up volume and shots without turning it into goals until well into the second half.

Pre-match projections had given Columbus Crew a 51% chance of winning, with a 26% chance of a draw and 23% for Toronto FC, with expected goals of 1.75 for the home side and 1.13 for the visitors, a combined total of 2.89. The final result, with six goals shared between the two sides and a four-goal lead that was later trimmed to two, blew well past that forecast of a tight, low-scoring game.

In the Eastern Conference standings, Columbus Crew sit 10th with 38 points and Toronto FC are 11th with 36, a gap of just 2 points between them. Neither side is in good form in the table, but tonight the Crew found in Amundsen, Tapia and Lennon the kind of scoring punch that doesn't always show up, while Toronto is left with the feeling of having reacted too late despite playing a man up for a good stretch of the match.