Crew Coverage pres. by Medical Mutual | Nancy: ‘The wins will come’ after NYCFC draw

As the full-time whistle sounded Saturday night, and the Columbus Crew earned a third-straight draw, the takeaway was the Club’s consistency despite an overhauled squad.

Eight players were unavailable, either from international duty, injuries or a red-card suspension. That meant only seven players were listed as subs, and of those, only one player – Derrick Jones Jr. – had ever played more than a minute for Columbus in MLS action.

But none of that mattered against NYCFC. The match at Lower.com Field finished scoreless, but the Black & Gold pressed the full 90 minutes.

The side carried 76% of possession. It also outshot the visitors, 23-5, and kept NYCFC without a shot on target. And this happened all while two players made MLS debuts and Evan Bush made his return between the sticks for the first time in nearly a year.

“Analyze the performance. I'm not here to analyze the outcome because the outcome is the outcome,” head coach Wilfried Nancy said following the result. “It was not a bad game, but we were not good in certain moments – we've been really, really good and really consistent. Yes, we could have scored more goals. Yes, we could have avoided a few goals. I think that again today, as you saw, teams they come, they try to play and after that, we are able to win the battle of power and they defend with 10 men inside the box. This is so difficult to break that.

“For me, the consistency that we had since the beginning, this is the message. After that, the more we're going to stay like that, the more the wins will come, I believe in that. For me, there is no secret. Keep going to work.”

But things kept working for the Crew, even with squad changes. As mentioned, Bush made his first start since April 13 last season, when he was subbed after sustaining an injury that sidelined him the rest of the year.

“Yeah, there was a range of emotions, a range of nerves to be honest,” he said after earning a clean sheet. “I feel like, because of where I am, my love for being here in this city, this state, and this Club, there's different emotions and nerves that I've had at different points in my career. And then obviously, throw in the, you know, being out for a better part of the last year, at least away from the field, there was a lot there. But, you know, once I got on the field, it felt kind of like riding a bike again.”

Bush looked comfortable, as did Cesar Ruvalcaba, who started the match at center back in his MLS debut. A second-round pick in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft from Southern Methodist University, Ruvalcaba played 73 minutes and completed an impressive 95% of his passes.

“This has been a dream for me,” the center back said. “This is something I've been working for for years on end, and I think I had to get settled in, probably the first 10 minutes of the game. But after those first 10 minutes, those first couple of actions, I felt great.”

He was replaced by Tristan Brown, who at 17 years old, became the Club’s second-youngest debutant.

Eighteen-year-old midfielder Cole Mrowka also logged nearly 30 minutes in his second-ever MLS appearance – and first since last May.

“Cole came in because he has a profile – they were so tight – so I needed a passer,” Nancy said. “I needed a passer, and Cole is so good to pass the ball. The goal that it was disallowed, this is the example with that. After that, Tristan, we needed also to have a left foot on the side to keep the time edge that we had. The profile of Tristan was the good one. That's why they came in, and they came in well. I'm happy for them, also.”

While the Crew would’ve hoped for three points, the team is still unbeaten through five league matches to start 2025. The workload should be manageable moving forward, as the Club no longer has midweek Concacaf Champions Cup matches.

“We're winners,” AZ said. “We're all competitive, and I think the fact that we're still undefeated shows a lot about how we train, how we carry ourselves, because the thing about the MLS, it can weigh in your favor or not, but it's hard to stay consistent.

“I think we're still there, we're still pushing to even get better. And tonight, you can see we've grown since the first game, even despite the tie, I think it shows how dominant we can be.”