It didn't come easy, but the Crew earned back-to-back wins to start a season for the first time in club history with the Black & Gold's 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. Bernardo Anor supplied two first-half goals for the Crew, while Leo Fernandes notched one back for the Union to force a nail-biter in the final minutes.
Solid play in the back helped the Black & Gold grind out the victory and move to 2-0-0 for the first time in the team's 19-year history.
"This win might've meant more to us than two weeks ago [against D.C. United] because the way we had to do it and the adversity that we were faced with, especially in the second half," Berhalter said after the match. "I'm proud of the guys. I'm proud they kept battling and hung in there."
Each of Anor's tallies were worthy of praise. The first coming on a snap-down header from a Federico Higuaín corner kick, while the second was a miraculous 35-yard rocket just before halftime to secure the three points.
"That's what the game is about, you've just got to try to shoot from everywhere and hope for something good to happen," Anor described his second strike. "That's what happened today. I'm just very happy we pulled it off."
The Black & Gold were helped by the 17,517 fans in attendance at Crew Stadium backing them, led by a sold-out Nordecke.
"The fans tonight, they were awesome," Wil Trapp said. "With us winning games for them, it's only going to get better.
"We battled for them and I think they respond well to us working hard and grinding out a tough game."
Next week, the Crew heads into hostile territory itself when it travels to Seattle. Berhalter expects his team to rise to the challenge of playing on the road against a strong Sounders FC side.
"Some of the grit we needed today, we're going to need next week," Berhalter explained. "It's going to be a good challenge for us, it's going to be a fun challenge.
"We're going to take it the right way and hopefully have a good result."
