New York City FC hang on to earn 0-0 road draw against Columbus Crew
By Chris Tsakonas
New York City FC’s unbeaten streak now stands at three matches after a 0-0 draw against the Columbus Crew at Lower.com Field tonight.
“It’s a tough point being on the road, but we expected more also going into this game, knowing that we weren't that great in the previous game,” head coach Pascal Jansen said after the match.
Columbus controls match play
Columbus dominated the run of play from the opening whistle, with two-thirds of the possession inside the opening 10 minutes. While Crew would record only two shots in the first 15 minutes, Columbus ramped up the intensity in the final third towards the end of the first half with six shots in the final eight minutes of the half.
The best chance during that span came in the 38th minute when a long-range effort from Aziel “AZ” Jackson curled past Matt Freese and off the far right post.
The second half largely followed the same pattern, with Columbus regularly creating scoring chances. Jacen Russell-Rowe appeared to have scored the match-winner for Columbus in the 83rd minute - only for the goal to be overturned by VAR because DeJuan Jones was ruled offside in the buildup.
New York City attack struggled to generate chances
New York City struggled to turn the possession it did have into quality chances, with no shots on goal through the opening 45 minutes. The best of New York City’s two first-half chances came in the 22nd minute when Hannes Wolf created space on the left edge of the area before his shot was blocked.
The second half didn’t end up much better, as New York City didn’t record a shot at all until the 68th minute when a volley from Hannes Wolf at the top of the area was blocked before it could threaten Evan Bush. At the final whistle, Columbus outshot New York City by a 23 to 5 margin, with New York City failing to record a shot on goal for the first time this season.
“I thought we were okay during the first 15 to 20 minutes, and then our level on the ball dropped too far down in order to have something going towards their goal,” Jansen said. “And then the whole game changes [and] you defend a little more in your own half than you want to.”
Jansen turns to youth movement in crunch time
One notable element of this match came from Pascal Jansen’s decision to rely on younger players down the stretch, as three teenagers came off the bench for New York City tonight. Jonny Shore was the first to come on in the 35th minute for the injured Keaton Parks, while Maximo Carrizo replaced Wolf and Seymour Reid came on for Bakrar in the 73rd minute.
“These guys have been training with us since preseason, and they’ve earned their moments going into the first team today,” Jansen said.
“We were missing some quality on the front end of the team, and Maximo Carrizo is a player that can bring something to the team from the wing. And Seymour, of course, is one of our guys who made a big impact during preseason, so it didn't surprise me that they were ready and the opportunity was there.”
Next Up
New York City heads back on the road next Saturday to take on Atlanta United. Live radio coverage will get underway at 7:15 P.M. EDT, with Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence on the call from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The broadcast can be heard at newyorkcityfc.com/radio.