Yaw Yeboah picked a great time to end his drought

Many times in sports, it isn’t the superstars who decide the outcome of a championship game. Sometimes it is the role player who steps into the spotlight and has a big game or makes a key play. In the MLS Cup final, Cucho scored a goal, but the game-winner came off the foot of a guy who was having a long goal-scoring drought.

If You Say You Picked Him For The Game Winner, You’re Lying

Yaw Yeboah had not scored a goal in over five months. His last came on July 1st against Red Bulls. For the season, he had only scored three goals. In the sixteen games played by the Crew since returning from the Leagues Cup, the wingback had put just six shots on target and only one in their last eight games. I seriously doubt if anyone was expecting him to break his long drought in a game as big as the MLS Cup final.

Handling The Moment

When Yeboah found himself on the receiving end of The Pass from Malte Amundsen, the only thing that stood between he and a goal was LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, who had charged off his line to cut down the angle on any attempted shot. Considering how long it had been since Yeboah had scored, would he try to be too perfect? Would he miss a golden scoring opportunity? The native of Ghana didn’t just handle the moment, he seized it. Yeboah calmly used the outside of his left foot to put the ball past Crepeau and into the net. The goal gave the Crew a 2-0 lead and set off a wild celebration.

Yeboah now joins the likes of Oakland A’s catcher Gene Tenace and his four home runs in the 1972 World Series and Timmy Smith, who set a Super Bowl rushing record of 204 yards with the Washington Redskins in 1988. Role players who were largely unknown except to their home fans but came up big in championship situations.