by day how it will get better. Maybe he will be ready for Crystal Palace, I don’t think so but we will see.” Guardiola cut a generally content figure after his team recovered from 1-0 down at the break to end a four-game Premier League winless run. Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish cancelled out Elijah Adebayo’s opener in first-half stoppage time. Guardiola, who branded this a “significant” win, revealed he challenged his players during the interval. “I said to them: ‘What do we want to do, feel sorry for ourselves? It is football, it is life, it happens. Even if they score a second goal, what do you want to do, complain again and say we are unlucky?’ “The big characters, the big teams like this one is, are defined in these situations. We can win 18 games in a row but that doesn’t define who you really are. You are defined now, in this moment, four games without winning and 1-0 in a tough stadium. They don’t need to prove to me what they are capable of because they are an extraordinary group but the competition demands you prove it again.” Rob Edwards, the Luton manager, said: “I am proud but disappointed. I felt like it was there for us today.” High-flying Girona reclaimed top spot in La Liga after beating champions Barcelona 4-2 away on Sunday, condemning Xavi Hernández’s side to their second league defeat of the season. Artem Dovbyk put Girona in front in the 12th minute with a shot that bounced in off the bottom of the post before Robert Lewandowski equalised seven minutes later, heading home following a corner. Miguel Gutiérrez restored Girona’s lead before half-time and Valery Fernández made it 3-1 in the 80th minute. Ilkay Gündogan pulled another goal back for Barça before Cristhian Stuani scored their fourth in stoppage time. Girona top the table with 41 points from 16 games. Barcelona are fourth on 34 points, level with third-placed Atletico Madrid. The La Liga game between Granada and Athletic Bilbao was abandoned after a supporter died having suffered a cardiac arrest in the stands, both clubs said. The game was initially suspended in the 17th minute as paramedics tried to resuscitate the fan and it was eventually abandoned an hour later. The date for the resumption of the match, in which Bilbao were leading 1-0 following a goal by Iñaki Williams in the sixth minute, will be announced soon, La Liga said. Atlético Madrid beat Almería 2-1 with first-half goals from Álvaro Morata and Ángel Correa, extending the bottom side’s winless league streak to 16 games. The victory moved Atlético to third, level with Barcelona on 34 points. Antoine Griezmann had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR but he helped his side take the lead in the 17th minute when he won the ball high up the pitch before he found Morata, who dribbled into the box and rounded the goalkeeper to score. Correa doubled the lead five minutes later when Marcos Llorente provided the cross from out wide for the forward to tap in from close range, another goalscoring move that was orchestrated by Griezmann. Almería halved the deficit through Léo Baptistão, who scored just after the hour-mark when the Brazilian forward pounced on a loose ball after Atlético’s Jan Oblak made a save. Almería, the only La Liga side yet to win a game this season, had their chances in the second half to steal a point, but Oblak stood firm to deny the visitors as Diego Simeone’s side returned to winning ways after losing to Barcelona last weekend. The Bundesliga leaders, Bayer Leverkusen, stumbled to a 1-1 draw at third-placed Stuttgart for their second draw in succession but still increased their lead at the top to four points. Xabi Alonso’s team, the last unbeaten team in the Bundesliga this season, move up to 36 points, with secondplaced Bayern Munich, who suffered a 5-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, on 32 with a game in hand. Stuttgart remain third on 31. It was Leverkusen’s 22nd consecutive game across all competitions without defeat this season. Stuttgart took the lead five minutes before the break when Chris Führich tapped in from close range. Leverkusen levelled two minutes after the restart with Granit Xhaka sending Victor Boniface down the left and his cutback was volleyed in by the Germany international Florian Wirtz. In Serie A, Roma drew 1-1 at home against Fiorentina on Sunday despite playing much of the second half with a reduced team after Nicola Zalewski and then Romelu Lukaku were sent off. Lukaku had opened the scoring after five minutes with a precise diving header from close range, courtesy of Paulo Dybala’s perfectly placed cross. In the 64th minute, midfielder Zalewski received his second yellow, only for Fiorentina to equalise two minutes later when Lucas Quarta headed in a cross. Three minutes before time, Lukaku flew into a sliding tackle on Fiorentina’s Christian Kouamé and was shown a straight red card. Roma are in fourth place with 25 points, trailing the league leaders, Internazionale, by 13. Fiorentina are in seventh with 24 points. Jeremie Boga scored the winner as Nice moved back up to second in Ligue 1 after a 2-1 home win over Reims. Nice had dropped to third in the standings after Monaco’s 2-1 win at Stade Rennes on Saturday, but are now on 32 points, two ahead of Monaco and four behind the leaders, Paris Saint-Germain. Lille were held to a 0-0 draw at Clermont, but had their goalkeeper, Lucas Chevalier, to thank for keeping the home side at bay. After weathering the early pressure from the visitors, Clermont created the best chances as Chevalier pulled off a string of fine saves, while Jim Allevinah hit the post from a difficult angle in the 50th minute. Euro roundup: Girona reclaim top spot in La Liga with win at Barcelona Reuters Girona's Cristhian Stuani scores their fourth goal to make sure of victory against Barcelona. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters Álvaro Morata gets around Luís Maximiano to score Atlético’s opener. Photograph: Ángel Martínez/Getty Images Chelsea spent more than £430m on new recruits this summer, the biggest outlay in a transfer window in Premier League history, yet Mauricio Pochettino’s response to a seventh league defeat of the season was to suggest they must spend again in January. What they need is character, resilience and fight. What they need are the qualities Sean Dyche has ingrained in Everton. It is 23 days since Everton were docked 10 points for a breach of Premier League profit and sustainability rules. They have clawed back nine points already with a hat-trick of league wins – the club’s first since the days of Carlo Ancelotti in March 2021 – with Chelsea the latest to succumb to Dyche’s defiant team. The expensively assembled visitors dominated possession at Goodison Park but were again found wanting not merely in front of goal but in terms of character. Everton showed it in abundance with an outstanding defensive display, the latest goal from Abdoulaye Doucouré and the substitute Lewis Dobbin’s first for the club delivering a merited victory. Dyche’s team would be 10th, four points above Chelsea, but for the deduction that is now under appeal. In the meantime, as their manager would say, they simply crack on. “I felt the first marker this season was we had to improve,” Dyche said. “Can we improve individuals, the team and the output in terms of results? We have done all of that and then some people took some of that away and said: ‘You have to start again.’ So we did. If you get a group of players who give everything to win, it’s a powerful thing.” Chelsea started and finished on top as they sought to recover from defeat at Manchester United on Wednesday – Everton, with fewer resources, had played 24 hours later when beating Newcastle – but rarely threatened to turn possession into penetration. Raheem Sterling and Nicolas Jackson were dropped to the bench after the midweek loss. Reece James returned to make his first start since being sent off against Newcastle last month but it was shortlived. The Chelsea captain, who has struggled with hamstring and knee problems this year, departed with another hamstring injury early on. The England defender has not completed 90 minutes since April, a fact that will not be lost on the watching Gareth Southgate. Injuries and fatigue contributed to a scrappy first half. Ashley Young exited with a hamstring problem having been tasked with a second successive start in four days, at the age of 38. It was a big ask that backfired, with the veteran struggling against Mykhailo Mudryk before his departure. Mudryk and Marc Cucurella carried Chelsea’s biggest threat down the left but there was no end product from the visitors. Jackson’s replacement, Armando Broja, flicked over from a Mudryk cross and Cole Palmer brought a fine save out of Jordan Pickford with a 25-yard drive. The Everton goalkeeper was relatively untroubled otherwise. Jarrad Branthwaite’s battle with Broja and Doucouré and Dobbin strike to give Everton victory against Chelsea Andy Hunter at Goodison Park Abdoulaye Doucouré (right) celebrates after opening the scoring for Everton against Chelsea. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA Lewis Dobbin doubles Everton’s lead in stoppage time. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images Monday 11 December 2023 The Guardian Soccer 55 Continued from page 54 Continued on page 56
another excellent display from Vitalii Mykolenko were major factors in a commanding defensive display. The England manager will also have noted the blossoming of Branthwaite alongside James Tarkowski in the heart of Dyche’s defence. Everton threatened little before the interval but attacked with greater aggression and purpose in the second half. Dwight McNeil was central to the improvement. The in-form winger forced the first serious save from Robert Sánchez when drilling Jack Harrison’s pass towards the bottom corner. He created the opener with a surging run through the Chelsea half that ended with a piercing pass into Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s run behind Benoît Badiashile. Sánchez was quick off his line to smother the striker’s shot but the rebound fell to Doucouré. The midfielder drove an emphatic finish past the stranded keeper for his sixth league goal of the season. It was Doucouré’s 11th goal since Dyche became Everton manager. He had scored five in just over two years before the appointment and had been ostracised from the first-team setup by Frank Lampard. It took a tireless rearguard action for Everton to preserve their advantage. Palmer, booked in the first half for diving, stung Pickford’s palms with a low free-kick. Pochettino introduced Sterling and Jackson to intensify the pressure. The two almost combined to produce an equaliser late on but Jackson scuffed his close-range shot and the outstanding Tarkowski cleared. The Everton captain was instrumental in repelling Chelsea’s efforts and helping his goalkeeper to preserve a third successive clean sheet. Victory was secured in stoppage time. Djordje Petrovic, brought on to replace the injured Sánchez, punched James Garner’s corner to the edge of the Chelsea area under pressure from McNeil. His clearance dropped to the 20-year-old striker Dobbin, who opened his senior account with the sweetest of connections through a crowded box. “We were the better side but if you don’t score goals it’s difficult to win,” said Pochettino, stating the obvious. “We need to be more ruthless and after five months we need to check [on where improvement is needed]. That is something to analyse with the sporting director, to see what we can do to change the dynamic.” Something magical must have happened in this part of south-west London during last month’s international break. At that point – in what must feel like a different era for Fulham fans – Marco Silva’s side had scored just 10 goals in their opening 12 Premier League fixtures and were trying their hardest not to look worriedly down. Four games later they have turned the division’s goalscoring dud into a lethal marksman, bloodied the noses of some teams with lofty aspirations, and found the net a scarcely conceivable 16 times. After what Silva had described as one of the toughest pre-seasons of his career, Fulham have belatedly sprung to life in spectacular fashion. If the 5-0 on Wednesday carried the caveat that it came against lowly Nottingham Forest, this same remarkable scoreline four days later warranted no asterisk. It was, Silva said, “a much more complete performance” than that previous mauling. So much so that the staircases in the away end swelled after only an hour, filled with West Ham supporters making an early escape back across London, the joy from their 2-1 victory against Tottenham three days earlier painfully short-lived. David Moyes – completing his post-game media duties with the kind of ruthless haste lacking from his players – suggested his team’s exertions in that win had taken their toll. “We used up too much energy in midweek,” he said. “We weren’t able to get ourselves back. Another Thursday fixture, Fulham had a Wednesday fixture. No excuse for the result but it played a part in it. It is disappointing, but we’ve had two difficult away games this week – three points from the two games is not a bad return.” Although accustomed to ceding possession under Moyes, an all-toobrief bright West Ham start had faded rapidly to gloom as they were quickly outplayed in all areas. Fulham’s opener continued the unlikely resurgence of Raúl Jiménez, who has now consigned to history a run of 33 goalless Premier League games by scoring four in his past five matches. This one came courtesy of a powerful header to finish a lethal João Palhinha whipped cross. The hosts had two more before half-time. Palhinha was again the provider for Fulham’s second, fizzing the ball across the six-yard box where Willian calmly curled it into the bottom corner. Tosin Adarabioyo then added a thunderous headed third from Andreas Pereira’s corner. Fifteen minutes into the second half, the substitute Harry Wilson extinguished any West Ham comeback hopes when he curled the ball expertly into the top corner from range with a lethal mixture of precision and power that he will find hard to replicate. With daylight fading, the visitors saved their worst until last. Undone by nothing more than a straight long ball, the West Ham defence were entirely absent as Wilson bore down on Fabianski’s goal and knocked the ball to his fellow substitute Carlos Vinícius in support, who tapped into an empty net. “A brilliant performance from us,” was Silva’s verdict. “A great win at a very good level. No doubt we were the best team on the pitch, not just because we won 5-0 but the way we performed. The way we were solid as a team, to express ourselves, to create chances to score goals, the way we did it was an almost perfect afternoon for us. “We didn’t give almost nothing for them. We controlled it well. It’s not easy to control a team like West Ham, with the quality they have.” Asked what had prompted Fulham’s remarkable recent turnaround, he said: “Confidence builds confidence, the best example is Raúl. But we are not doing anything really different. The trust in our players was always there. The process is not something new or from the last four games – it’s from the day I joined this football club. We are always trying to improve things and we did it really well the last two games. We are growing as a team.” The win puts Fulham in the top half of the table for the first time this season, just one spot behind West Ham. The visitors had reaped all the benefits of Moyes’s cautious approach in the win at Spurs, defending stoutly and capitalising on their rare chances. But despite a run of six games without defeat before this, results have not been enough to prevent criticism of the drab style. This defeat will only add to the growing voices of dissent. When Saïd Benrahma almost cleared the Putney End stand late on with a wild blaze from range the visitors’ humiliation was complete on a day to forget. Raúl Jiménez kicks off five-star Fulham’s goal rush against West Ham Ben Bloom at Craven Cottage Raúl Jiménez celebrates his opener for Fulham against West Ham. Photograph: Javier García/Shutterstock Harry Wilson scores a brilliant fourth goal for Fulham. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/ Getty Images Stoke have sacked Alex Neil with the club 20th in the Championship. The Potters were beaten 1-0 at home by fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, which was a fourthstraight defeat in a six-match winless run. Neil was appointed at the end of August 2022 after leaving Sunderland, but the former Norwich and Preston manager was unable to mount a sustained promotion challenge, with Stoke finishing 16th last season. Martin Canning has also left his position as assistant manager, with Paul Gallagher installed as caretaker manager for the home game against Swansea on Tuesday night. The head coach of the team’s under-21s, Alex Morris, and the former Potters defender Ryan Shawcross are also part of the interim backroom team. The Stoke chairman, John Coates, said on the club’s website: “Alex is a man of absolute integrity who has given his all for Stoke City and we would like to thank him for his hard work during his time with the club. “We are grateful for the building blocks he has helped put in place in bringing together a group of players in whom we have a huge amount of faith regarding their ability to turn things around this season and who can help us achieve longer-term success. “However, with the way the results have been so far, we have made the difficult decision to seek a new direction for the team at this time. Nothing matters to me more than the success of our club and we are now working towards the appointment of Alex’s successor.” Stoke City sack Alex Neil after fourth straight Championship defeat PA Media Alex Neil leaves the club after 66 games in charge, overseeing 31 losses. Photograph: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images The Guardian Monday 11 December 2023 56 Soccer Continued from page 55
Bruno Fernandes has apologised for Manchester United’s display in their 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth on Saturday and called for greater consistency from his side before a daunting set of fixtures in the next week. United face Bayern Munich in a must-win Champions League game on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Liverpool in the league five days later. Erik ten Hag’s side appear unlikely to triumph in either fixture if their weekend display is any guide, with United booed off by their own fans after a seventh defeat in 16 league games. That the result came only three days after a 2-1 win against Chelsea only further highlighted the unpredictable nature of the Old Trafford side. “[I want] to apologise,” Fernandes said. “The performance was not acceptable, starting on me. I’m not talking about anyone else. “When we win a game, the next one we don’t perform in the same way we did before. I don’t know if it’s like a lack of concentration or focus or something else, but it’s something that we have to be aware [of] that after winning a game we have to get that consistency of winning games. [Against Bournemouth] it was underperforming on quality-wise, on effort-wise and not aggressive as we did it in the last game against Chelsea. We want to be more consistent.” Defeat against Bournemouth has increased the pressure on Ten Hag but his position is understood to be safe at present, with United’s ownership in a state of flux as Sir Jim Ratcliffe prepares to buy a stake in the club. That could all change, however, if United lose their next two games. Even victory against Bayern would not guarantee qualification to the knockout stages, with United requiring a draw in the other Group A fixture between Copenhagen and Galatasaray to progress to the last 16. Meanwhile they face a Liverpool side now top after beating Crystal Palace 2-1 on Saturday and who beat United 7-0 at Anfield last season. “We know that now the next game is going to be really tough,” Fernandes told MUTV. “We have to win and obviously waiting for a good result on the other game for us. But we have to do our job first of all, and thinking and understanding that it is going to be a tough game for us. But we are more than able to get the result.” United have yet to draw in the league this season, with nine wins and seven losses reflecting their lurches from one extreme to another. ‘Not acceptable’: Bruno Fernandes sorry for latest Manchester United slip Taha Hashim Bruno Fernandes said Manchester United underperformed in every area against Bournemouth. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA Philip Billing celebrates scoring Bournemouth’s second goal as his team shattered the Manchester United defence. Photograph: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Getty Images Matty Kennedy scored a late winner as Kilmarnock inflicted a second defeat on Celtic this season. The Hoops started in dominant fashion in Ayrshire as they looked to avenge their Viaplay Cup loss and Matt O’Riley gave them a 33rd-minute lead with his ninth goal of the season from close range. However, Killie came very close either side of the goal and they were eventually rewarded for their improvement when Nat Phillips turned Brad Lyons’ cross into his own net in the 75th minute. Danny Armstrong then slipped Kennedy through as Killie counterattacked down the right and the winger’s effort went in off Joe Hart. Brendan Rodgers had suffered his first domestic cup defeat as Celtic manager at Rugby Park in August and the latest loss on the artificial surface was the first Premiership defeat of his second spell in charge. It leaves Celtic five points ahead of Rangers but with one more game played. Phillips started after Cameron Carter-Vickers failed to shake off a hamstring concern, but Rodgers otherwise retained the team that began Wednesday’s 4-1 win against Hibernian. That meant starts for Tomoki Iwata, Mikey Johnston and Oh Hyeon-gyu. After the midweek game, Rodgers had told Johnston he had to “do more”. Johnston had a hand in the opening goal and could have had an assist but for Oh’s poor finishing, however the winger’s delivery was erratic during his 70 minutes on the park. Lyons and Liam Donnelly brushed off knocks to start for Killie, who were pinned into their defensive third for the first 10 minutes. O’Riley had two shots stopped, Callum McGregor’s low cross just evaded Johnston and Oh had a header saved. Celtic continued to create chances. Oh volleyed over after Liam Scales’ ball over the top and the South Korean should have converted Johnston’s low cross before Luis Palma hit a post from a tight angle. Killie should also have scored from their first chance. Lyons’ cross found Armstrong at the back post but the winger hit the junction of post and bar from six yards. Celtic were ahead within a minute. McGregor took three players out the game when he turned on to his right foot 20 yards out and forced Will Dennis down to his left with a shot. The goalkeeper could only parry and O’Riley was on hand to convert the rebound. The action continued as Celtic survived a double chance moments later. Hart got down well to deny Armstrong and Alistair Johnston threw himself at Corrie Ndaba’s follow-up to block what looked a certain goal. The opening stages of the second half were as one-sided as the first but this time in the home team’s favour. Hart denied Ndaba and Robbie Deas headed just wide amid sustained aerial pressure before the Celtic goalkeeper got down to clutch Armstrong’s curling effort. O’Riley and Palma threatened after Celtic counterattacks as the incessant rain got heavier and Kilmarnock appeared to have lost their cutting edge but they took a major lift from the equaliser. Stuart Findlay had an effort saved after another ball into the box and the substitute Marley Watkins scooped just over from a better chance, before Kennedy found the net in the 87th minute. Celtic brought on Kyogo Furuhashi and Dennis pulled off an excellent stop from the Japan striker 90 seconds after Kennedy’s goal. The home fans howled with derision when the fourth official signalled there would be eight minutes of stoppage time but Killie comfortably saw them out. Kennedy’s late winner seals second loss for Celtic against Kilmarnock PA Media Matty Kennedy enjoys his moment after scoring Kilmarnock’s winner against Celtic. Photograph: Jeff Holmes/Shutterstock Nat Phillips scores an own goal past Joe Hart. Photograph: Jeff Holmes/Shutterstock Diego Rossi, Julian Gressel, Malte Amundsen, Rudy Camacho and Christian Ramirez played their parts. But the key transfer for the Columbus Crew, the move that turned a team that missed the playoffs in the previous two years into the 2023 MLS champions, was the capture of the head coach. Whatever the Crew paid Montreal in compensation a year ago to hire Wilfried Nancy, it was worth it. First Nancy shaped Columbus into the league’s most effervescent team. Then he molded them into its biggest winners. The 46-year-old was a lower-league defender in France who became an academy coach for Montreal in 2011, rising to first-team assistant in 2016 then head coach in 2021 after the departure of Thierry Henry. He exceeded expectations by leading Montreal to the playoffs last year as Eastern Conference runners-up but reportedly fell out with the owner, Joey Saputo. Tim Bezbatchenko, the shrewd Crew general manager, pounced. Nancy quickly made Columbus the most gonzo outfit in MLS: fierce pressers, committed attackers, top scorers and the most possession in the regular season, but liable to squander winning positions, as if locking down represented a betrayal of ideological purity, a failure of nerve. They shrugged Wilfried Nancy’s gonzo Columbus Crew are deserving MLS champions Tom Dart Monday 11 December 2023 The Guardian Soccer 57 Continued on page 58
off the midseason departure of their talismanic midfielder, Lucas Zelarayán, and believed in Patrick Schulte, a rookie 22-year-old goalkeeper. Against Los Angeles FC in Saturday’s MLS Cup final, the Crew played as they looked in their black-and-gold kit: swarming like wasps over lemonade. It was the kind of swift, aggressive, multifarious and irresistible attacking display that a former Crew coach, Gregg Berhalter, would love to deliver in a major tournament with his US men’s national team. Overwhelmed in the first half at Lower.com Field, LAFC failed in their bid to retain the trophy, losing their third final of the year following defeat in the Concacaf Champions League and the Campeones Cup. “The performance that we had tonight was spot on,” Nancy told reporters. In the league’s 28th season he became the first Black coach to win MLS Cup. “I’m so proud of that because there is a lot of work behind that,” he said. “There was a lot of courageousness behind that. But I’m not happy at the same time because it’s not normal. Simple as that.” As the MLS founder members won their second title in the past four seasons and third overall in front of a raucous sell-out crowd at their smart new stadium, it is worth recalling that it is only five years since fans successfully rallied to save them. The team’s previous owner, Anthony Precourt, plotted to relocate the franchise to Austin, Texas, where it is easier to sell corporate sponsorships to tech companies and the booming local economy means more fans can afford to pay $14 for a beer. “Crew SC is near the bottom of the league in all business metrics,” the MLS commissioner, Don Garber, tut-tutted in 2017. Fan-shaming, though, was misdirection to deflect from deficient ownership. Having essentially green-lit a move to Austin before the Crew were acquired by the owners of the Cleveland Browns in 2019, with Precourt getting a team in Texas anyway, Garber was, as usual, keen to accentuate the positives in a half-time interview on the Fox broadcast on Saturday. “Columbus is a great story,” he declared. “Out of challenge comes opportunity, a lot of courage and vision that built what we have here, this incredible fan base and a team that’s performing so well on the field. Everybody’s got to pick their path.” Not everyone is persuaded that the sporting equivalent of attempted murder was really a valuable learning experience, when you think about it. Garber was booed by the incredible fan base before the trophy was handed to the captain and four-time champion Darlington Nagbe on a rainy night in the Ohio state capital. At least there was little else for them to complain about. After an interminable and unfathomable playoff format that saw 18 teams play 28 games over 46 days, two from the middle of the league’s payroll pack had reached the showpiece. For all their ability, the Crew perhaps owed their place to the irresponsibly effusive personality of the Cincinnati defender, New Jersey native and former New York Red Bulls player Matt Miazga, who was suspended for the Ohio-on-Ohio Eastern Conference final. Miazga entered the referee’s room amid a brouhaha in an earlier round that followed his second yellow card for blowing kisses and making a heartshaped hand gesture at livid Red Bulls fans after scoring in a penalty shootout. Without the MLS defender of the year against Columbus, a makeshift Cincinnati defense blew a 2-0 lead late on and conceded late in extra time to lose 3-2. Love hurts. The predictable pattern of play on Saturday was a contrast from last year’s sensational final, a penalty shootout victory for LAFC over the Philadelphia Union following a 3-3 draw that added layer upon layer of ever more absurd plot twists. This time the rope-a-dope tactics that saw a pragmatic LAFC past a wasteful Seattle Sounders and a toothless Houston Dynamo in the previous two rounds were ineffective and made Steve Cherundolo’s side look strained and straitened against inventive and buoyant opponents. LAFC had 31% of possession away to Seattle and 30% at home to Houston, so holding the ball 38% of the time against Columbus was an improvement. Still, so battered and befuddled were the visitors, so outmatched in midfield, that they were unable to switch out of counter-attack mode and take the initiative after going two goals down. Cucho Hernández, signed for $10m from Watford in 2022, scored a 33rdminute opener from the penalty spot after a Diego Palacios handball. A handsome pass from Amundsen four minutes later set Yaw Yeboah clear to double the lead. Denis Bouanga replied in the 74th minute but the climax was relatively serene for Nancy’s side. Bouanga and Carlos Vela, in probably his farewell game for the club, rarely threatened up front for LAFC. The 39- year-old Giorgio Chiellini valiantly tried to hold the defense together in potentially his last game before retirement. “Did Columbus deserve to win tonight? Yes, they did,” Cherundolo, the LAFC coach, told reporters. “They played a fantastic game. Do I think they’re better than us? No, I think they were better than us tonight and we made a couple of errors defensively that led to their two goals. And that’s pretty much it. And that’s how these games are decided.” That assessment does the Columbus coach a disservice by ignoring the context. Cherundolo set up his side to snatch a goal. Nancy built his team to seize the day. Alexandru Măţan of the Columbus Crew celebrates winning the 2023 MLS Cup against the Los Angeles FC at Lower.com Field on Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy celebrates after winning the MLS Cup final on Saturday afternoon. Photograph: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images The Guardian Monday 11 December 2023 58 Soccer Continued from page 57 *