The Columbus Crew’s three-game winning streak ended in Seattle Sunday with a 1-1 draw with the Sounders. Columbus got on the board first with a goal from Diego Rossi in the 27th minute. Seattle’s Paul Rothrock scored the equalizer in the 43rd minute and the defenses took over after that.

Rossi’s goal was his tenth of the season. The sequence started with Jacen Russell-Rowe finding Ibrahim Aliyu racing down the left side of the box. Aliyu made a quick pass to Rossi in the middle of the box. Rossi with a quick touch put it past Seattle goaltender Stefan Frei.

On what led to the goal, Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy said, ““Patience. We knew that again this is so difficult to play here. Good team, good players, good staff, and a difficult pitch. We were patient so we knew that we have to manipulate the ball in a good way to find the opening. This is what we did.”

After Rothrock’s goal, the Black & Gold were able to pin the Sounders in their end of the field for most of the second half. “I felt that it was moment to stay with a high line but to wait for the good moment to press,” noted Nancy. “After that, this is not about tactics; this is about competitive spirit, and we are pretty good with that.”

In the third minute of extra time at the end of the match, Columbus gained an advantage when Kalani Kossa-Rienzi received his second yellow card and had to come off the pitch without a replacement. The Crew were unable to capitalize on it and the match ended without scoring again.

A scary moment at the end of the contest came when Frei suffered an apparent head injury after a Columbus free kick. He was taken off the field by ambulance and the coaches agreed to end the game at that point despite the Crew having a corner kick opportunity and some time left.

NEXT UP:

@Cincinnati (7/12, 7:30p)
@Nashville (7/16, 8:30p)
vs D.C. United (7/19, 7:30p)