Because the Columbus Crew were in familiar territory, trailing Chicago at halftime of the Eastern Conference Championship, they were able to record another stirring comeback to send the club to a place it has never been before.
Goals by Chad Marshall in the 49th minute and Eddie Gaven six minutes later countered a first-half strike by ex-Crew striker Brian McBride for a 2-1 win before a roaring crowd at Crew Stadium.
The Crew had been one of three original clubs to have never played for the MLS Cup. They now face the winner of Saturday's Western Conference Championship between Real Salt Lake and the New York Red Bulls for the title Nov. 23 in Carson, Calif.
"It's been six years coming," for me, said defender Frankie Hejduk, the second-longest tenured Crew player. "Six years of a lot of hard work and a lot of ups and downs. This city deserves a championship. They really stepped it up in terms of our fans and being behind us.
"This team has been fighting all year and we've come back from any deficit. We've got confidence going into the final."
Giving up the first goal is nothing new for the Crew. They have done it 18 times in league and cup play this season, and on 11 occasions they have won or tied.
"Ask most soccer coaches around the world and they'd say the death of any team is giving up consistent early goals. For us it hasn't been a problem," goalkeeper William Hesmer said. "I don't personally don't like it too much. If the guys are going to start scoring goals and that's what it takes, so be it."
The coolness under pressure starts with head coach Sigi Schmid. He sensed a tightness in the team from the onset but showed little concern to the team about the first-half deficit.
"I tried to be calmer than normal. In fact, we were done with our halftime talk with like four minutes left," he said. "I didn't want to burden them a bunch of stuff because sometimes you talk too much at halftime."
There was little surprise but a lot of elation when the Crew tied the match.
"It's something we've done all season. It's been a very, very resilient team," Schmid said. "They believe in themselves and they want to take it to one more game."
The Crew had come close to equaling the match before the break so there was no panic. After all, they trailed the visiting Fire by two goals on July 5 and forged a 2-2 tie. They were down a goal at Kansas City in the first game of the conference semifinal series and got the crucial equalizer in stoppage time and went on to win the series on aggregate with a 2-0 home win.
"We knew we had to come in and do something in the second half. We had 45 minutes. We knew it was our season," Marshall said. "We wanted to come out and put some pressure on them. Guillermo served that good ball and I was able to get on the end of it."
Said Hejduk: "This team has been fighting all year and we've come back from any deficit. We've got confidence going into the final. At halftime, there's this aura about this team that we were going to come back. There's a lot of positive energy in this room. Sigi knew it. The players knew it."
Marshall headed home a Schelotto free kick to tie the match, then Schelotto and Moreno set up Gaven for the winner.
"It feels great. This team has battled the whole year," Gaven said. "We've been fighting, working for the whole 90 minutes. We showed that again tonight. Ollie (Moreno) made a great header. The ball just popped down to my foot and I just kicked it in."
The team praised the fans for giving it the home-field advantage it earned over the course of a long season.
"It's something that's great for this city," Schmid said. "It's great for this franchise to get over this hurdle. Now we've got the opportunity to take one more step. It's the only piece of hardware we haven't gotten this year.
"I believe we were going to win it anyway but certainly the energy -- it goes hand-in-hand. The energy the fans have gives the energy to the team. In the second half we came out with good energy and that inspired the fans. Then when they (Chicago) were starting to pound on us, obviously their energy kept us going."
While the match did not sell out, Hejduk said the fan support was the difference.
"The atmosphere was second-to-none. They been behind us the whole year. We really challenged Columbus to come out. I would have liked to have seen more but it was loud. It was crazy," he said.
The place erupted at the final whistle as did the players.
"I'm speechless," said midfielder Danny O'Rourke, a Columbus native. "I'm so proud to be a part of this and representing our city in the MLS Cup."
Marshall, the MLS Defender of the Year, was ecstatic afterward.
"I was the happiest I've ever been. I just told somebody that," he said. "I just started running. I don't know why. It was awesome. It's been fun for me."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
