New York City FC were moments eight minutes away from pulling off an upset win over a Columbus Crew reduced to ten players, but a stoppage-time equalizer means that NYCFC now have six draws in seven games. NYCFC Homegrown Justin Haak scored his first MLS goal, and it was a beauty. Still, this result stings: Here are your NYCFC highlights.
In an echo of the midweek match against Charlotte FC, NYCFC created one chance after another but only managed to score one goal, while Columbus scored thanks to a lucky deflection. You can’t say that NYCFC were the clear-cut better team, but they went toe-to-toe with the hottest attack in MLS, holding them scoreless into stoppage time. NYCFC took 15 shots, nine of which were on target, while Columbus had 12 shots, four of which were on target. New York City ended the game with an xG of 1.71.
Columbus 1 – 1 NYCFC: Rate the Players
The one goal that NYCFC did score was a screamer by Haak, a marvelous strike that was simply unstoppable. Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte made a whopping eight saves, but he couldn’t do anything about Haak’s shot.
Then there were the red cards — three of them, all shown to Columbus. One was for superstar Cucho Hernandez, who earned a second yellow in the 68th minute. And two were for the Columbus coaching staff: One for head coach Wilfried Nancy who argued a call a little too passionately, and one for a bench coach who flung water at the Fourth Official.
Neymar to NYCFC?
The chaos sown by those red cards put the fight back into Columbus, who dominated run of play for the next ten minutes. NYCFC have a game management problem.
They’ll need to work it out if they’re to rediscover their winning ways. This is a squad that doesn’t score much, and they need to learn how to protect a one-goal lead.
