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Holding a precarious lead, Columbus looks for 'simple' finish vs. Red Bulls

Reuters

The Columbus Crew head into Red Bull Arena on Sunday with one job: Don't break anything.

Columbus holds a 2-0 lead over the New York Red Bulls, procured from the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship at MAPFRE Stadium. It's a precarious lead. It's one that puts the Crew in a great position to advance. As long as the Crew don't mess it up, they're heading to the MLS Cup Final.

As such, Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter is urging all his players to keep calm and complete the job against New York.

"I think our objective is simple, and I don't think it's a difficult objective," Berhalter told reporters. "It's a proactive objective: We want to score a goal. It's as simple as that. And if you say you want to score a goal, you can't sit back. It's counter-intuitive.

"We want to score a goal, and we want to put ourselves in position to advance. I don't believe we can do it by being passive."

Related: 3 things to watch for in the 2nd leg of the MLS Conference Championships

For Columbus, defeating New York will come down to out-thinking the opposition, staving off an offense that, at this point, has nothing to lose. Crew forward Kei Kamara described this particular matchup as "a really good chess match." His teammate, Wil Trapp, agrees, and pointed to his side's ability to read New York as the advantage needed to advance into the MLS Cup Final.

"I wouldn't say we were extremely happy with the back and forth of the (first) game," Trapp said. "But at the same time, we took what they were giving us. We really pounced upon what is their strength and used it against them. I think we did a good job of breaking their pressure and creating counterattacks.

"That's not typical of us, but what they give, you take. That’s just smart soccer."

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