MLS NEXT Pro: Flash Gordon downs the Crew
- Philip Farrell
- 5 hours ago
- 5 min read
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
CHATTANOOGA, Tn. — Keegan Ancelin and Alex McGrath got the goals that gave Chattanooga Football Club a deserved yet difficult 2-0 win on Saturday evening. With both sides playing with 10 men and the game agonizingly shy of goals, substitute Ashton Gordon made the difference after coming on to create both goals to the relief of the 3,000+ fans at Finley Stadium.
It was a little colder than expected as both teams took to the field just before 7pm. Chattanooga’s interim Head Coach Richard Dixon elected to start the same XI that started at Huntsville last week. He seems to have settled on his ideal setup of 4-3-3 with a midfield anchored by the Alex McGrath, Tate Robertson, and Isaiah Jones axis, and a three-man attack of Anthony García, Damien Barker John, and Alex Krehl. The likes of Nathan Koehler, Daniel Mangarov, and Keegan Ancelin, normally starters in 2025 are the ones currently missing out, but all would come on and all will have their chance to impress Dixon in Open Cup action this mid-week.
Columbus Crew’s Federico Higuaín was forced into rotating his squad after seeing a number of his best players get called up for international duty. Owen Presthus (USA U20), Chase Adams (USA U18), and Gianmarco Di Noto (USA U17) were all unavailable with Adams in particular the key missing link given his four goals in league action already this season. And things got even worse for Higuaín when goalkeeper Luke Pruter saw red within the first two minutes of play. A long ball from Chattanooga’s Barker John bounced awkwardly outside the box, with Pruter there ahead of CFC’s García. It hit Pruter’s torso and bounced back to García who’s shot hit the goalkeeper’s right-hand. Again, this was outside the box. Referee Erick Lezama immediately issued a red card. This surprised me as my understanding of the rules here is that if a keeper handles outside the box, it is only a straight red if the handball blocks a goalscoring opportunity, which I wouldn’t describe García’s shot as. Harsh for Pruter and for midfielder Oneal Taylor who’s game was cut-short as he made way for substitute keeper Keller Abbott.
Columbus being reduced to 10-men set the scene for the game which was mostly one-way traffic through endless CFC attacks, usually from the boot of Robertson as a deep-lying playmaker. Shots from García, Barker John, Krehl, and McGrath flew-in but were all dealt with by Abbott and his defenders, in particular Quinton Elliot and Isaac Heffess. Not that the Crew didn’t have chances of their own, the closest of them being a free-kick from Nicolás Rincón that beat Eldin Jakupović and smacked against the cross-bar. That was on the cusp of half-time and could have changed the game.
Half-time saw Keegan Ancelin replace García for Chattanooga to join in the chances for the home-side. Much as with the first, the second-half was a parade of shots from Barker John, Krehl, Robertson, McGrath, and Ancelin. At the back for the Crew, Elliot and Heffess were performing a superb job in keeping CFC at bay and for almost 90 minutes did so successfully. Had it not been for Ashton Gordon they may have sneaked a 0-0 draw and found luck on penalties. Had this happened, one of Elliot or Heffess would deservedly be man-of-the-match.
But it was Gordon who would ultimately write his name on this tie. Dixon took the bold choice of replacing center-back Mattias Hanchard with forward Gordon but it paid off. After Yves Tcheuyap was shown a second yellow card for body-checking Kevin Gbamble, the opportunity to take three points looked like it might have passed CFC by. But minutes later Gordon took a loose ball outside the Crew box, controlled brilliantly and played a one-two with Tate Robertson before sending a magnificent, deft pass from the outside of his left boot that sailed across the box and was met by the studs under Ancelin’s foot. "I was just trying to hang around the back post," said Ancelin after the game. "Ashton and I have been working on that in training, him whipping that ball to the back stick. I was ready for it. I saw the ball coming to him and I knew he was going to play it first time and I went in and it fell perfectly to me." It's always nice to see two substitutes combine, but the pass from Gordon is what lingers in the memory. Go look it up on YouTube, it's an absolute beauty.
Three points seemed in the bag, but we weren’t done yet. Columbus had a free kick in the 95th minute that was cut out by substitute Ameziane Sid Mohand. The ball flew back out into no-man's land where Gordon was there to collect. Running at goal along with Ancelin and McGrath, it was 3-on-1 with Gordon poised to score past a helpless lone Abbott. However, he decided to pass laterally inside the box to his captain, McGrath, who only needed one touch to poke it in and end the game.
"It was a very stressful and anxious game of football," said Dixon. "Being a man up for the majority of the game and not being able to put them away was a bit frustrating, but that's football. We had to be creative to break them down, especially a team that's already disciplined. The red card forced them to be more compact and conservative. I'm super relieved for the guys who came on and changed the game. Ashton and Keegan added a little spark and energy to the attack."
It was a deserved win for the home side who outgunned their opponents in shots (17-5) and shots on target (5-2) and dominated in possession (68%-32%), passing (445-285) and pass accuracy (80.5%-70.2%). CFC next welcomes Tennessee Tempo to Finley Stadium this coming Wednesday in the US Open Cup Second Round. For Crew 2 they travel northeast next Saturday to face league newcomers CT United.
Box Score
Chattanooga FC v Columbus Crew 2
MLS Next Pro
Venue: Finley Stadium | Chattanooga, TN
Attendance: 3,069
Final Score: Chattanooga 2-0 Columbus
Referee: Erick Lezama
Scoring summary:
87’: K. Ancelin (CFC)
90+5’: A. McGrath (CFC)
Discipline:
2’: L. Pruter (COL) - red card, sent-off
39’: M. Nyeman (COL) - red card
43’: Y. Tcheuyap (CFC) - yellow card
76’: I. Jones (CFC) - yellow card
84’: Y. Tcheuyap (CFC) - second yellow card, sent off
90+2’: A. McGrath (CFC) - yellow card
Man of the Match: Ashton Gordon (CFC) - He may have only played 25 or so minutes but the young Jamaican, on-loan from Atlanta, helped change the game and created both of CFC’s goals. Showed how fast he is and how clever he is with both contributions and unselfishly fed the ball to Alex McGrath to make it 2-0 when he could have gone for goal himself.
Line-ups:
Chattanooga FC (4-3-3): Eldin Jakupović; Anthony Sorenson, Farid Sar-Sar, Mattias Hanchard (Ashton Gordon 69'), Yves Tcheuyap; Isaiah Jones, Tate Robertson (Nathan Koehler 89'), Alex McGrath; Anthony García (Keegan Ancelin 46'), Alex Krehl (Daniel Mangarov 69'), Damien Barker John (Ameziane Sid Mohand 83')
Substitutes not used: Griffin Huff, Steeve Louis Jean, Darwin Ortiz, Colin Thomas
Head Coach: Richard Dixon
Columbus Crew 2 (5-4-1): Luke Pruter; Alex Gimple, Zach Lloyd, Quinton Elliot, Isaac Heffess (Christopher Rogers 77'), Brent Adu Gyamfi; Oneal Taylor (Keller Abbott 4'), Nicolás Rincón, Moses Nyeman (Eli Granda 77'), Anthony Alaouieh (Johann Chirinos 61'); Zach Zengue (Kevin Gbamble 61')
Substitutes not used: Immanuel Ewing, Jackson Bonos
Head Coach: Federico Higuaín
Next Games
• Wednesday 1st April, 18:00 (ET): Chattanooga FC v Tennessee Tempo FC, Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, TN (US Open Cup)
• Saturday 11th April, 17:00 (ET): CT United FC v Columbus Crew 2, Morrone Stadium Storrs, CT (MLS Next Pro)
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