Under Wilfried Nancy’s tenure, the Black & Gold have made it clear they’ll play high-octane soccer through to the final whistle. Time and time again, that’s led to late goals and altered the outcome to matches.
Saturday night was no different, as a 93rd-minute goal from Sean Zawadzki helped the Columbus Crew earn a 2-2 draw at the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park. Twice, the visitors trailed, but they rallied to claim a point and remain unbeaten on the road through five league games.
“What I want to highlight is the mindset of my team coming from behind twice until the end trying a way to come back and to score the second goal,” Nancy said following the result. “We had clear also chances to score, but this is so difficult to play against [Philadelphia] because they run, they run, they are really lively, and the players, they fight and fight.
“Really happy that we were able to match their intensity physically and also to play the way we want to play. Again, a difficult game, but in a good way. I think that's it's a good tie, but to be honest, the first goal is a bit difficult to accept.”
Nancy’s comment is in regards to the match’s opening goal, when the Union opened the scoring on the eve of halftime.
But the Crew responded with an equalizer in the 61st minute for Max Arfsten’s second goal of the campaign. The play started with Mo Farsi dribbling down the right flank. He then found Dylan Chambost on an overlapping run, who played a cross toward the back post. There, Arfsten perfectly placed a back-post shot.
The Union equalized three minutes later, however.
But that set the stage for the visitors, who continued pressing for a second goal, too. Eventually the breakthrough came in the 93rd minute via a corner kick.
Chambost produced his second assist of the match when he played a ball to the near post. There, Rossi flicked it toward the back post, where Zawadzki was free to nod him the match leveler to send the Crew back to Columbus with a point.
“I sat down with some of the coaches, they kind of try and put me in spots on set pieces where I can maybe create from 1v1 and try and beat my guy,” Zawadzki said. “The guys, as well, we kind of create these little movements in training when we do set pieces. We don’t do it very often, but when we do it, it’s, ‘How can we try and create these matchups?’ Today, you see the ball hit the front post, Diego gets a good flick, and it just changes everything. Their whole team focuses on the flick, and I'm able to sneak past my guy and just be able to touch it in.”
With the result, the Crew are unbeaten in 11 of the team’s first 12 matches and remains unbeaten away from home.
The positive results sets the stage for a busy, fiery week. On Wednesday night, the Black & Gold remain on the road, when they’ll play at CF Montréal. On Saturday, the Crew return to Lower.com Field and host FC Cincinnati in Hell is Real. Both Columbus and Cincinnati sit atop the Eastern Conference with 25 points from 12 matches.
