Like so many other previous matches under head coach Wilfried Nancy, his message following Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with Charlotte FC was to learn from the experience and move on to the next match.
With a closer lens, there were frustrating aspects to the draw at Lower.com Field. The Columbus Crew took the lead, endured a weather delay and were minutes away from winning a sixth-straight game. But then in one swift counter, Charlotte scored and the match was settled with points shared.
By taking a holistic perspective, though, the Black & Gold entered the match with nine wins in their last 10 – and just returned from a cross-country jaunt to Los Angeles, where it crushed LAFC, 5-1.
“Tonight, we did well because don't forget – the schedule is schedule – to go to West Coast and to come back is so difficult. It's so difficult for everyone,” Nancy said. “The standard that we had tonight, we missed certain things because again, it's a collective opportunity that we missed defensively for the goal that we conceded but also offensively. Like I told them, this game never stops.
“We won against LAFC, good, but at the end of the day, we have to do it again. If we would have lost against LAFC, it could have been the same also and we have to go again. That's why I like the fact that my team tries to compete every time, and today they did it, but we missed the extra things to win this game.”
There were certainly chances to earn three points. Similar to other matches during the Crew’s electric run in recent weeks, the Club dominated and generated attacking opportunities. This time, however, the defending champs only scored once.
Cucho Hernández fired the Crew in front after 31 minutes when he capitalized on a silly Charlotte defensive error. Collecting the ball 25 yards from goal, the Colombian dribbled toward the 18-yard box and smashed a low, driven shot into the bottom right corner.
Cucho now has a team-leading 13th goal of the league campaign, and he now ranks sixth in Club history with 48 goals across all competitions. Additionally, with the goal, he became the first player in Club history to register 60 goal contributions over a three-year span despite only playing one full season with the Club (2023) after joining Columbus as a Designated player in June 2022.
The home side continued generating chances and searched for a second goal, but it was unable to double the lead. Instead, the visitors found the equalizer in the 84th minute when a long ball allowed Patrick Agyemang to run in on goal and score the leveler via a counter.
“They have a few chances, and they score one goal on a ball in behind,” Nancy said. “We could have done better on that. We had many chances, and we didn't score. The message with my team is football is not easy. We had the control of the game. We could have scored more. They wanted to score obviously but we missed many opportunities, and usually, we score.”
There’s not much time to dwell on the result, though. Following the match against Charlotte, the Crew will close out the pre-Leagues Cup portion of the 2024 schedule with a match at Atlanta United FC on Saturday night.
The Black & Gold’s next home game will be July 27 when they host English Premier League side Aston Villa FC in the Leagues Cup Showcase at Lower.com Field. Don’t miss your chance to see one Champions League side from one continent face another.
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