Wessam Abou Ali(9) makes his Columbus Crew debut on Saturday night’s game against the New England Revolution. Wessam was substituted into the game late, but still totaled 34 minutes played. Credit: Liam Ahern | Sports Photo Editor
The Crew came away with a loss Saturday night after failing to make shots at the goal and defensive errors.
The Columbus Crew was defeated 2-1 by the New England Revolution at Lower.com Field, and put only six of their 23 shots on target.
The Crew controlled the pace of play early on, using their pass-heavy style to break down New England’s defense. Despite successfully creating multiple scoring chances, Columbus struggled to put the ball in the back of the net.
New England quickly swung things into their favor with a counter-attack on Columbus’ defense.
In the 25th minute, Revolution striker Leo Campana found himself behind the Crew’s line of defense and scored from the center of the box to take a 1-0 lead for New England.
Crew defender Sean Zawadzki acknowledged his team’s mistake leading up to the goal.
“It’s a moment of a mental lapse for us,” Zawadzki said. “Obviously, we never want to switch off in the game, and they kind of took advantage of that.”
With a 1-o lead, New England —a team that sits near the bottom of the MLS standings— appeared the more confident club on either side of the pitch.
Columbus quickly tried to find an answer and recorded three shots in five minutes but once again was met with struggle.
New England completely drained the fans at Lower.com Field of any excitement as it continued to expose cracks in the Columbus defense.
Revolution right wingback Mamadou Fofana directed a long pass from midfield in stride to left midfielder Ignatius Ganago, who swiftly extended the New England lead to 2-0 in the 39th minute.
After 45 minutes of play, Columbus totaled nine shots with just one on target.
Down two goals, the Crew desperately needed to find a rhythm offensively in the second half.
The Revolution opted to take a more defensive approach and protected their lead, their first shot of the half recorded 25 minutes in.
With time winding down, Columbus still had a heartbeat.
A series of quick passes from the Crew set up midfielder Daniel Gazdag, who blasted the ball to the bottom right corner of the net and cut the deficit to 2-1. Defender Malte Amundsen was credited with the assist.
In search of a point to add to the standings, Columbus did what it could but was still met by Revolution goalkeeper Matt Turner who rose to the occasion and made two clutch saves in the 87th and 89th minutes.
Following the game, Gazdag said the Crew let crucial points slip away.
“Obviously it’s annoying, because these are games that we should win,” Gazdag said. “We know that we are capable of winning these games, so I feel like we’re wasting too many points now.”
The Crew (12-6-9) will return to action next week when they travel to Sports Illustrated Stadium to face the New York Red Bulls (11-10-6). Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
