It took less than five minutes for Alex Matan to make an impact in the second leg of the Columbus-CF Monterrey semifinals series, assisting on Diego Rossi’s goal after being substituted into the match at halftime.
The Rossi goal was the first of two assists in the second leg for Matan to help send the Crew to the Champions Cup final 5-2 in the aggregate.
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Matan was able to find success dribbling up field and finding his open teammate crashing past Monterrey’s backline, first Rossi and then Jacen Russell-Rowe, who scored the Crew’s third goal of the night in the 89th minute.
“I was really happy that I helped the team to qualify (for the final),” Matan said. “To be honest, to score that 2-1 goal early in the second half was a relief because we knew the away goal advantage and they would have to push hard.”
Before the second leg of the semifinals, Matan had yet to record a goal contribution in either Champions Cup or MLS regular-season play since returning from a muscle strain in his left quad on April 9 in the second leg of the quarterfinals against Tigres.
Matan had been unavailable for Columbus for a month up until the Tigres match, last appearing in the first leg of the Round of 16 against the Houston Dynamo before being sidelined. In the Crew’s first Champions Cup match this season, Matan scored the lone goal to give Columbus the 1-0 aggregate advantage.
It was a rocky start to the season for Matan, who was dealing with another thigh injury during training camp and during his time recovering from the muscle strain, worked through camel toe and some issues within his personal life regarding his family.
“I don’t think I’m at 100% yet, but I’m close and I think I’m moving there with the right steps,” Matan said. “Also, everything is good at home. So, I’m just happy right now.”
Crew coach Wilfried Nancy picked up on the mental toll the injury and the personal issues were having on Matan during this time. Prior to Columbus’ match against the New York Red Bulls, in which Matan was ruled out, Nancy commented on how injuries usually have a “connection with the mental part.”
“Preseason was difficult for him,” Nancy said on Wednesday. “He’s back to a normal state, and he showed that he was able to do his (job). He did it in the past, and he did it also this season. … Now, consistency. This is the most important, so we’ll see, it’s going to be the challenge for him.”
With the issues that have emerged for Matan this season, he has yet to play a full 90 minutes of action and in the two matches he’s recorded goal contributions, Matan did it as a substitution.
After the second leg of the Monterrey series in which Matan and Russell-Rowe played key roles offensively coming as substitutions, Nancy wanted to remind the team the importance of contributions from players coming off the bench.
“I love my job, but it is to put only 11 players on the pitch,” Nancy said. “Players coming from the bench are really important. We talk about Alex, but Derrick (Jones) also had a good game when he came in, Malte (Amundsen) also. And we won the game because of them.”
