Lucas Zelarayan scores in either half to give Colombus Crew their first MLS Cup victory since 2008; Seattle Sounders denied chance to be first team to win back-to-back cups since LA Galaxy in 2012
Sunday 13 December 2020 11:18, UK
Lucas Zelarayan's double helped Colombus Crew lift their second MLS Cup with a 3-0 win over defending champions Seattle Sounders.
Zelarayan, the MLS newcomer of the year, opened the scoring 25 minutes in after a fine pass from Harrison Afful to beat Stefan Frei on the volley.
Within six minutes, he turned provider to tee up Derrick Etienne Jr who doubled Colombus' lead.
Zelarayan completed the scoring with a powerful effort past Frei after half-time to seal victory and stave off holders Seattle's hopes of making their second-half pressure tell, to give Colombus their first MLS title since 2008.
The eventual winners were forced to start the game without midfielders Darlington Nagbe and Pedro Santos, who had both tested positive for Covid-19 earlier in the week.
But even in their absence, the Crew settled better with Zelarayan a livewire throughout, and opened the scoring after 25 minutes, finding space behind full-back Alex Roldan before beating Frei.
Six minutes later, he fed Etienne whose curling shot made it two.
After half-time, Seattle looked to mount a similar comeback to the late turnaround which had seen them score three goals in the final 15 minutes to beat Minnesota United and reach the cup, but had their hopes dashed when Zelarayan added a Colombus third with a rocket of an effort, to become the first double scorer in the MLS Cup since Alecko Eskandarian in 2004.
The Sounders did have numerous chances to reduce the deficit but saw Nicolas Lodeiro's shot trickle wide and Gustav Svensson's header from a corner miss the target.
Jordan Morris had the reigning champions' final chance 10 minutes from time, but Eloy Room's save ended any hopes of a late surprise as Colombus ran out big winners.
