The Columbus Crew warm up before the game against Nashville SC Wednesday. Credit: Macy Erickson | Lantern Photographer
The Crew’s winless streak has stretched to five games — but not without drama.
The Columbus Crew tied Nashville SC 2-2 Saturday night at Lower.com Field, backed by a late own goal that worked in their favor.
From the opening kick, Nashville pushed into Crew territory and scored with the left foot of center forward Sam Surridge just two minutes into play.
Crew left wing back Malte Amundsen expressed the team’s struggles with closing defensive sequences.
“It’s always hard when you basically haven’t touched the ball and you concede a goal,” Amundsen said. “We just struggle a little bit with luck, both conceding easier goals or [goals] out of nowhere … So we got to stand tall, stand strong, and keep going, because eventually the tides will turn.”
Following a sloppy 10-minute start, Columbus settled in and played their style. Despite doing so, the offense was not fluent, failing to put seven straight shots on goal.
After nearly doubling their lead on a shot off the post by right wing Jonathan Perez, Nashville entered halftime up 1-0.
Columbus statistically dominated Nashville in the first half, outshooting them 10-3 and controlling possession for 64.8 percent of the half, but had nothing to show for it.
The early stages of the second half were similar. Columbus controlled the pace but could not find any momentum.
After narrowly escaping another Nashville attack, the Crew were desperate to generate offense. Seven minutes later, they finally broke through.
Crew striker Diego Rossi capitalized on a rebound from center back Steven Moreira’s missed shot, blasting the ball past grounded Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis in the 69th minute.
Unfortunately for the Crew faithful, their cheers didn’t last long.
In the 78th minute, Nashville center midfielder Hany Mukhtar slid into a deflected ball, scoring to the lower left corner of the net to regain the lead 2-1.
With the clock ticking and hope fading, Columbus didn’t find the net — luck did the work for them.
After an entry pass to a crowded box bounced off multiple players, Nashville’s Jeisson Palacios deflected the ball into his own goal in the 81st minute, tying the game at 2-2.
The final minutes got physical, with Nashville receiving two yellow cards and Columbus one, but neither side could secure a go-ahead goal.
Over 90 minutes, Columbus outshot Nashville 21-13 and held possession for the majority of the match.
Despite another tie, Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy believes his team is playing at a level capable of winning.
“It’s difficult to say it, but we had a good performance and [did] a lot to win the game,” Nancy said. “But football is cruel sometimes … so the idea is to move forward tomorrow and to see what we can do against Miami.”
The Crew (7-2-7) will travel to play Inter Miami CF (7-3-5) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Chase Stadium.
