Ghanaian trio Harrison Afful, Jonathan Mensah and Lalas Abubakar played vital roles a s Columbus Crew beat New York Red Bulls in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semi-finals in the MLS.
American born Ghanaian Gyasi Zardes scored the only goal on the hour mark as the Black and Gold take the advantage to New York.
A striking three-pronged combination between Milton Venezuela, Fredrico Higuain and Gyasi Zardes marked the difference on the day.
A zero-zero stalemate after the opening 45 minutes morphed into a beautiful display of creativity for the final half following the 46th-minute substitution of HiguaÃn.
Crew SC, which recorded two shots on frame in the second half, broke through in the 61st minute on behalf of some tactical and technical magic from two of Columbus Argentinians.
Mensah and Afful, who both started provided steel in defence for Columbus Crew as they kept in clean at the back.
Lalas Abubakar joined in the second half when he replaced Justin Meram in the 87th minute.
Edward Opoku was an unused substitute.
Columbus Crew will travel to New York on Sunday for the second leg, with a place in the Eastern Conference final at stake.