In his 153rd regular-season match, Federico Higuain became the first player to score 50 goals and 50 assists for Columbus Crew SC alone. The midfielder officially became the 19th member of Major League Soccer’s elite and exclusive 50-50 club.
In the 40th minute against D.C. United, Higuain assisted off a corner kick — with the Nordecke chanting his name — to Ricardo Clark for the eventual game-winning goal. With the goal, Pipa joins Black & Gold legends Brian McBride and Jeff Cunningham — but his predecessors in the 50/50 club achieved their status with multiple clubs.
Higuain scored his 50th goal in Crew SC's 2-1 win over Montreal Impact on March 10 in the 2018 season home opener. Following a corner kick that saw Lalas Abubakar fouled inside the box, the Argentine bested Montreal's Evan Bush from 12 yards away.
“Higuain’s ability to find those little gaps, no matter which team he’s playing against, is unmatched in this league,” MLSsoccer.com’s Matt Doyle said of Higuain ahead of his milestone assist. “He always seems to be in the perfect spot to send those runners forward (to eventually create a goal).”
Higuain is only the sixth player to do so with one team. With his second assist in the match — bringing his all-time total to 51 on a Pedro Santos icer — Higuain overtook Robert Warzycha as the Clubs all-time leader in regular-season game-winning assists with 17.
