COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a familiar storyline for Columbus Crew SC fans, the team couldn’t hang onto a lead Wednesday night in a 2-2 draw with visiting New York City FC.
After going up early thanks Kei Kamara's league-leading 18th goal, the club gave up two consecutive Kwadwo Poku strikes before substitute Cedrick found an equalizer in the 72nd minute.
It was far from the first time the club has given up a lead this season, and the players are wondering how to go about fixing the issue.
“We get too comfortable,” midfielder Ethan Finlay said. “It’s happened too many times this year where we’ve been up in a game and all the sudden you look up at the scoreboard and you’re down 2-1 and you don’t even know how you’re there. We need to be able to put teams away, especially at home.”
In the first half, Crew SC seemed to be cruising, keeping NYCFC on the back foot and struggling to maintain an attack. But with a lead, midfielder Wil Trapp said the squad dialed back.
“They were struggling, they really were,” he said. “Tracking us, keeping their shape – they were all over the place. We were dominating, and after we scored the goal, maybe we relaxed too much.”
Finlay agreed: “We kind of let our foot off the gas pedal at one point in the game, and they made us pay for it.”
Head Coach Gregg Berhalter said he was happy with his team’s effort but not the result.
“We’re not pleased,” he said. “Give NYC a lot of credit. I think they played a good match, and they’re a good team. But I’ve said this before, our aspirations are to win home games. So we’re disappointed.”
Complicating matters was a weather delay that lasted more than an hour, stalling the Columbus momentum after the Cedrick goal and forcing the teams to play just 14 minutes after the delay.
Berhalter said he was disappointed they couldn’t find a goal during that period of play, but he praised his team’s mentality.
“I thought the attitude was excellent from the guys,” he said. “They came out and you saw the desire to get the goal. We’re sitting there, and you don’t know whether it’s going to kick off again. Guys are trying to relax, guys are trying to get some food in them, it’s a hot day to begin with, and I’m proud of the focus they had in those last 14 minutes.”
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Trapp agreed that the final moments were good, but said they shouldn’t have found themselves in that position.
“At 1-0, playing well, it’s easy to feel like we’ve got this in the bag, but obviously we didn’t,” he said. “You never want to be coming back from a goal down, but I credit us for doing that and pushing for the three points in that last 15 minutes.”
Crew SC visits New York City in just 10 days for a rematch. And while Berhalter said the next matchup will be an entirely different game, he thinks the club can make life more difficult for NYCFC next time.
“We should have made them work harder,” he said. “We should have been moving that ball. When we did, it was great. But it should have been more often. It should have been side-to-side, much quicker, and make them work. … Looking at that team, it’s a good team, they have quality. Any time you play quality, you have to be careful.”
