Columbus Crew SC earn come from behind tie against LA Galaxy

What remained of a waterlogged sell-out crowd saw a tale of two halves as the LA Galaxy won the first half and Columbus Crew SC came back to win the second half with both teams taking a point after a one-one tie

The start of the game was delayed with severe weather in the area. A crowd of over 21,000 people huddled as torrential rain and lightning passed through the area. Kickoff would eventually be delayed two hours and fifteen minutes until the weather cleared and the teams could finish warming up.

The Galaxy were well prepared coming out of the locker room after the long delay. They pressed Crew SC into turnovers that short circuited the team's preferred possession based offense and stymied them into low percentage long passes.

The Galaxy nearly got a perfect start in the sixth minute off a Crew SC turnover. The quick Galaxy passing put Columbus off balance. Baggio Husidic centered to Stefan Ishizaki. Ishizaki then slipped a ball to Jose Villarreal. Villarreal poked the ball past Parkhurst and forced a save out of Steve Clark to keep the game tied.

The tactic paid off just minutes later as last minute starter Sebastian Lletget put the visitors ahead in the 14th minute. Robbie Rogers pushed forward into the offensive half, taking a page out of the Crew SC playbook, and fed Lletget with a pass that isolated him against Parkhurst. Lletget turned Parkhurst with a quick cut and blasted a low near post shot past a diving Clark.

Columbus almost found themselves in a deeper hole in the 19th minute. Ishizaki took a long pass over his shoulder and outmuscled Pogatetz as the defender turned. He finished off the move as the referee blew his whistle for a foul. It was a close call and may have been called differently on a different day.

With the lead, the Galaxy played compact and prodded Columbus to play much more direct than normal. The Crew SC attack didn't build out of the back as much as feature direct balls into Kamara, Meram, and Finlay. The Galaxy easily collapsed on these passes and forced turnover after turnover, stymying the offense.

With the Galaxy running rampant on the Crew SC right in the first half with Husidic and Rogers finding the seams and creating havoc on offense, it was a key goal to counter that in the second half. It wasn't a change in tactics or a sub, Crew SC took advantage of the loosening press and picked up their speed of play. Rogers influence started to wain.

The improved second half performance finally paid dividends in the 66th minute. Tony Tchani sent in a through ball that allowed Finlay to run onto it. He clipped the ball past Leonardo and zipped in a cut back cross that opened up the defense and allowed Higuain to run onto the pass and cooly finish to tie the game at one a piece.

Meram nearly found the winner off yet another solid combo in the 82nd minute. Higuain chipped a ball into Finlay. Finlay's deep cross met a rising Meram. His header forced an outstanding save from Jaime Penedo to keep the game tied.

Neither side would find the breakthrough in the remaining moments and would have to settle for a tie as a long Saturday wound down. Crew SC moved to 4-6-5 and 17 points to hang on to sixth place while Los Angeles also remain in sixth at 22 points with a 5-5-7 record. Both teams have Open Cup matches in midweek. The Galaxy are home on Wednesday against PSA Elite while Columbus must travel to Richmond on Tuesday.