Columbus Crew should have earned a result in Harrison, and many would say that a win – despite the heavily rotated Starting XI – was attainable, leaving the final score that much harder to swallow.
Caleb Porter gave credit to New York Ctiy FC’s tactics in breaking up the Crew’s rhythm early on (“I think they had eight fouls in the first 12 minutes”), but to be in a winning position despite 1) rotating out at least six typical starters, 2) having played four days prior, and 3) dealing with the new reality of same-day travel, is notable.
► READ | What Porter had to say following #NYCvCLB
“We knew it would be a difficult game, I said that the last couple of days. … I think the zero-zero [scoreline] was fair at half, and I thought second half, the game was set up nicely for us to at the very least get a point, maybe steal three points,” Porter said.
“That’s what you want,” continued Porter. “You want to be in position around the 60th minute and it looked like they were never really going to really score. They weren’t threatening us and we make our two subs to get us a little push and … we give away a tough goal.”
The goal marked the end of the Crew’s 430-minute shutout streak, the second-longest in Club history.
It also brought an end to the Crew’s four-match shutout streak in League-play, one shy of the Club record.
After NYCFC's goal, Fanendo Adi’s stoppage-time opportunity – one of two offside goals to be called back on Crew strikers – marked the best chance to steal a road point, but regardless, the effort wasn’t enough.
As always, they’ll put it in their pocket and move on, Porter said.
“It wasn’t enough, so we have to keep it in perspective. We have to learn from it, obviously. We don’t have much time to turn around and go again, but it’s still a process and we’ve been on a good run obviously,” Porter said.
“Six games with no losses, this is our first loss. We’ll use it to get better and we have to respond now in this next game versus our rival in a big match.”
► POWER RANKINGS | Despite setback, Crew rises in most recent poll
Luckily, the Crew doesn’t have to wait long, as FC Cincinnati – the former team of three current Crew players – awaits the Black & Gold on Saturday night [7:30 p.m. ET/SportsTime Ohio].
Ironically enough, after losing to New York City FC 1-0 on the road in 2019, who did the Crew play next? FC Cincinnati.
The score? 3-1.
And if history is any indication, opposing teams have had trouble with Columbus in recent bounce-back situations. Going into this Saturday's road match at Nippert Stadium, the Crew is undefeated (6-0-0) in the last six games immediately following a loss or draw.
