This might be the first month of a new season, but Saturday night felt like a continuation of last season’s MLS Cup-winning campaign. Not just the final the score and the win, but how the Crew won and the quality of opponent they dismantled.
The Columbus Crew’s unbeaten start to 2024 continued on Saturday night when the Black & Gold beat New York Red Bulls, 3-0, in convincing fashion inside a sold-out Lower.com Field.
“I'm really proud,” head coach Wilfried Nancy said after the match. “It's not easy to play against New York Red Bulls after many games in a row that we did like this. When I was in the locker room, I wanted to step back a bit and just to think about how we did it. Again, the way they played tonight, yes, it was a beautiful game, a really, really good game with the ball but also without the ball.
“I'm proud because it’s not easy to play, but there are moments like that where we have a kind of flow. This is what I felt with the players tonight. Good for them, good for the club and good for the city.”
Days removed from advancing past the Houston Dynamo FC to the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals, Columbus looked fresh and played with confidence as the Club has tied its best start to a regular season in team history.
The Black & Gold only needed 13 minutes before delivering a vicious opening goal that sliced through the Red Bulls in vintage fashion. Malte Amundsen delivered a delicious through ball to Yaw Yeboah in space down the left side. Yeboah then played a cross into the box, where Cucho Hernández scored his third goal of the regular season.
Jacen Russell-Rowe followed up with his second goal in as many games in the 56th minute through a breakaway. Cucho won the ball near midfield, then played Russell-Rowe in on goal. The Canadian forward unleashed a low shot to the back post to double the Columbus advantage.
Ten minutes later, the Crew scored their third goal via a corner. Diego Rossi played a near-post ball to Sean Zawadzki, who headed it to the back post. There, Aidan Morris nodded in his first goal of the season.
But the fun wasn’t reserved for the attacking end of the pitch. Patrick Schulte and the backline earned a second home clean sheet, and Will Sands made his first Crew appearance in 11 months.
Sands, who tore his ACL last April, made his first Crew appearance since Apr. 22, 2023.
“It was really nice, and it's a moment I've been waiting for a very long time,” Sands said. “And after kind of a rough, kind of last year it was good to finally be back and get back into the swing of things.”
Sands and the Crew are certainly in the swing of things. The reigning league champs, for the first time in two weeks, will have a full week to train before their next match: next Saturday at Charlotte FC.
“I'm really proud because I'm getting older so now, I'm wiser, like I like to say, and I respect the present moment,” Nancy said. “This is high level what we did, with a lot of humility, knowing that we've played five games in three weeks. I told them, ‘Well done. Bravo.’ Because when this is good, it's good. When I have to say something, I'm going to say.”
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