Subaru Park is notorious for causing the Columbus Crew trouble. It’s where head coach Wilfried Nancy coached his first game for the club, but lost, and it’s where the Black & Gold hadn’t won since 2015.
So, go figure that on the heels of a remarkable Leagues Cup-winning campaign, Nancy and company deployed a rotated squad that earned Columbus a win against the Philadelphia Union for the second time in a week.
“I'm really proud of what they did because again, this is so difficult to play against this team, the way they play and the intensity that they put,” Nancy said. “We started with five minutes of set pieces, also. They have a corner after corner after corner after corner. What a game. What a game.
“This is a winning team, but [this is a team win, together]. The fact that everybody was involved and we were able to start with a few guys and after that to finish with other guys and they keep the level great because everybody was tired. I really like that.”
Nancy only started two players who started Sunday’s cup final against LAFC: Malte Amundsen and Sean Zawadzki. The latter wore the captain’s armband for the first time in his Crew career.
With nine new starters in the XI, DeJuan Jones, Dylan Chambost and AZ made their first MLS appearances for the Crew, while defender Andrés Herrera made his full debut.
“I'm looking for freshness and maximize the possibility to win this game,” Nancy said afterward. “That's why I made a lot of rotation because I was not able to do a lot of rotation during the Leagues Cup. That's why I wanted to have more freshness.”
The visitors continued to present challenges to the home Philly side, which were amplified as the match continued. Nancy’s first round of changes came in the 62nd minute. Ten minutes later, Cucho Hernández and Darlington Nagbe joined the match, and instantly, the Union struggled to react.
The Crew’s game-winner arrived in the 75th minute when two subs, Max Arfsten and Yaw Yeboah, connected to give Columbus the lead and eventually three points.
Arfsten played a cross into the area, where Yeboah made an unmarked run to nod in his first goal of the 2024 season.
With the win, the Crew won their seventh road match this season, which surpasses the Club’s most away wins in a single season since 2004 when overtime was eliminated.
Additionally, the Black & Gold have 45 points through 24 regular-season matches – the best start in team history.
There isn’t much time to celebrate, though.
The defending MLS Cup champions and Leagues Cup champions return to Lower.com Field on Saturday night when they host NYCFC in a second meeting in the last two weeks.
