Caleb Porter may not have been singing from the technical area, but in the buildup to the latest Hell is Real Derby he echoed supporters' chants throughout the world of “All we are saying, is give us one goal.”
And once that goal came, through Pedro Santos in the 52nd minute, FC Cincinnati had no response as Columbus Crew SC rolled to a 3-0 victory Sunday night at MAPFRE Stadium.
“It was great that we found the first goal and then, with the way they play, pretty much their game plan is done,” Porter said after the game. “And obviously from there it was easier to get the second and the third.”
Those two final goals came from FC Cincinnati bogeyman Gyasi Zardes, who bagged his third brace against the Crew's rivals and now has seven goals in the battle for Ohio supremacy.
Further back, there was another standout showing in the midfield from Darlington Nagbe. While he usually dominates games from a deeper-lying role, on this occasion Nagbe excelled in the No. 10 role in place of Lucas Zelarayan, who took a knock during the week in training and was unavailable.
“We really felt, as tight as they play, that he was the right choice to play the 10 in this game," Porter said. "That allowed us to keep Pedro wide, where he is so dangerous floating in between the lines. I thought, like you said, he was excellent. I thought he gave them a lot of problems, he’s such a technical player, he can work in tight spaces. They had really no answer for him. That’s what we hoped he’d show and I thought he had a great game.”
