The Columbus Crew won almost every statistical measurement in their match with the New York Red Bulls at Lower.com Field Tuesday. The Black & Gold led in time of possession 72% to 28%, shots on goal 8 to 3, and total passes 799 to 214. The only metric that matters, however, is the score and that was in the Red Bulls’ favor, 1-0.

That puts New York up in the opening round of the MLS playoffs one match to nil in the best-of-three series. Columbus will need to win two games to move on to the next round, starting with a match at Red Bull Arena this upcoming Sunday at 4:40 p.m. If a third match is necessary, that will be in Columbus a week from Sunday.

The Red Bulls’ lone goal came from Felipe Carballo at the 25-minute mark off a corner kick. Asked about his possible concern about set piece scores in the return match, Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy said, “I cannot complain this year in terms of [defending] set pieces. We did a good job.”

Specifically regarding Tuesday’s match, he said, “On this one, the second wave, if I’m not mistaken, the first we [claimed] and on the second wave they scored. We know that they can be dangerous on the set pieces. This is something that we’re going to see and adjust. We’ve been good on set pieces so I don’t panic for that.”

One of the Crew’s important players should be back for Sunday’s match in New York. Diego Rossi missed the opening contest with an unspecified back injury suffered in training. Nancy is optimistic about Rossi’s return, “He trained the last two days alone, so he should be available for the next game. We’ll see.”

Tuesday’s loss was the first time in three matches that the Crew lost to the Red Bulls. Columbus won 3-0 at Lower.com Field on March 16 and at New York in their final regular season match on Oct. 19, 3-2, on a stoppage time goal. The Black & Gold were shut out only four times in MLS play this season and three of those were 0-0 draws.