COLUMBUS, OHIO – Artur scored in the 59th minute and the Columbus Crew advanced to the MLS Cup title game with a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution on Sunday in the Eastern Conference final.
The third-seeded Crew will face the winner of the Western Conference final Monday night between Minnesota United and defending champ Seattle.
The Crew will host the title game, set for Saturday.
Columbus beat upstart Nashville with two goals during extra time last Sunday to advance to the conference finals while the team struggled with positive coronavirus cases.
"We're one step away," Crew coach Caleb Porter said. "That's what I keep going back to. The job's not done. We started this tournament, we wanted to make four steps. We've made three of the four. I know the guys in that locker room, they're real happy to put the Eastern Conference championship trophy in the trophy case, and that's what it's about, but there's a much bigger trophy."
A limited number of fans were on hand at MAPFRE Stadium.
The eighth-seeded Revolution was the surprise of the playoffs, getting past Montreal in a play-in game before eliminating the top-seeded Philadelphia Union and No. 4 Orlando City.
"On the day, Columbus was the better team, I think," Revs coach Bruce Arena said. "I think they deserved to win the game. Give them credit for the goal they created, just better at anticipating plays than we were."
