Tuesday night was supposed to be a continuation of last season’s MLS Cup run, and perhaps even this year’s Leagues Cup campaign. The defending champs would be defending their title, and ideally, overmatch their opposition.
But that’s not what happened, and now, the Columbus Crew will enter Sunday afternoon defending the right to keep their postseason dreams alive.
The Black & Gold lost, 1-0, on Tuesday night at Lower.com Field in the opening match of this season’s Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs. As the first round is a best-of-three series, that means Game 2 is Sunday in New Jersey.
While Game 1’s result might’ve been surprising, it wasn’t lethal – and the score line wasn’t fully indicative of the match.
“They did what is Red Bulls style,” head coach Wilfried Nancy said. “They are really aggressive, we know that. After that, there had many players behind the ball so we know that, and also, to try to counter. I think that we had many, many chances so we should score at least one goal. I don't forget that they had the run in behind that was clear and maybe they could score, but I think that we can score a minimum of one goal, and after that, we'll see.
“Listen, we attacked the box. They defended well. I think that in terms of finishing we could have been better at certain moments, but we're going to address certain things.”
Felipe Carballo gave the visitors the lead 25 minutes in via a set piece. At the time, it felt like the first of multiple goals scored Tuesday. There were chances, but great goalkeeping kept Columbus scoreless and searching for a breakthrough.
“The performance wasn’t there, but we had control of the game, created some chances, just wasn’t lucky enough to put them away,” captain Darlington Nagbe said. “They did what we thought they would. They were tight defensively, got on the counter a couple times, but I think something to build on and looking forward to the next one.”
As Crew supporters know, this isn’t the first time the Club has faced adversity this season, as well as must-win scenarios. Columbus has overcome the challenges previously and will need to do so Sunday afternoon in Game 2.
It should be noted Diego Rossi missed the game with a back injury, but is expected next game.
“It doesn't change,” Nancy said of the message entering Game 2. “The message that I had today just after the game is stay calm. Stay calm because again, the game was the game that we wanted to do, except the finishing and also the goal that we conceded. We knew that it could be a kind of game like that.
“They defended with the back five. We knew that, also. The message is to stay calm, to analyze the game and to be detailed about what we want to do. We know that it's going to be another game that we have to do away with another challenge. We're going to try to be good to accept this challenge.”
Watch Party Round One, Game 2
Join us at the Chase Plaza and Condado Tacos on November 3rd for a Round One Game 2 Watch Party. Don’t miss out on giveaways, yard games, human foosball, photo ops, mascots, and more.
