New York City FC bend but don’t break at Lower.com Field on Saturday night as they play Columbus Crew SC to a scoreless draw. It was a defensive struggle for City who were under siege for most of the game and ultimately surviving due to a second half offside review that wiped away a potential game-winning goal for the Crew.
City were hit hard by Columbus in the first half as the away team couldn’t control the midfield. The pressure from Wilfred Nancy’s men left the Pigeons struggling to gain a foothold in the game. The situation was made even worse by an injury to midfielder Keaton Parks, which forced to club to use a substitution in the 35th minute. Connections between Diego Rossi and other forwards left City scrambling defensively but goalkeeper Matt Freese was more than up to the task.
The second half saw the Crew continue to pour on the pressure and finally found he back of the net off the foot of Jacen Russell-Rowe. While Columbus celebrated the eventual breakdown, the goal was called off due to the start of the play being offside. At that point in only seemed like a matter of time before City surrendered a goal.
To their credit, NYC stood firm in their shape and were able to keep the Crew scoreless through 90 minutes. The draw gives City eight points and sees them level with Nashville and rivals New York Red Bulls. They’ll remain on the road for another week as they travel to Mercedes Benz Stadium to play a tough Atlanta United club.
New York City FC: Freese; Ilenic, Martins, Risa, O’Toole, Parks (35′ Shore), Haak, Moralez, Fernandez (57′ Ojeda), Bakrar (73′ Reid), Wolf (73′ Carrizo)
Columbus Crew SC: Bush; Herrera, Cheberko, Zawadzki, Jones, Ruvalcaba (73′ Brown), Nagbe, Chambost, AZ (66′ Mrowka), Russell-Rowe, Rossi
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photo by Jordan Bank