Rossi-less Crew lose two leads, fall at NYCFC

Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Staff Reports
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Daniel Gazdag just before scoring on a penalty kick to give the Columbus Crew a 1-0 lead against New York City FC Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. Photo courtesy of the Columbus Crew

After winning in Atlanta Friday with a rare five-goal performance, the Columbus Crew were back on the road Wednesday with a match against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately for the Black & Gold, they were without Diego Rossi who suffered a hamstring injury Friday after recording a hat trick in the victory.

During their match with NYCFC, the Crew held leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but fell 3-2 when the Bronx Blues scored four minutes into extra time in the second half. Columbus scored first when Daniel Gazdag connected on a penalty kick in the 40th minute after Wessam Abou Ali was fouled in the box.

New York City tied the match in first half extra time. Hannes Wolf took a deflection off a Patrick Schulte save and put it into the left side of the net. The Crew took regained the lead in the 60th minute. Max Arfsten found Abou Ali in the box, who then bounced it off the right post for the score.

Thirteen minutes later Wolf scored his second goal of the match. Agustin Ojeda sent a pass from the right end line into the box. Wolf played the ball on a bounce and kicked it just inside the left post. The winning goal came from Julian Fernandez who launched a shot from the top of the box to the upper left corner of the net.

“The reality is we concede too many goals. We’ve conceded seven goals in two games, simple as that. We score goals, but we concede goals,” Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy said after the game. “I don’t know if this mental. This is everything. It could be mental, it could be tactics, it could be technique or defensive technique.”

The Black & Gold are back in action Saturday as they return to Lower.com Field to take on Toronto in a match beginning at 7:30 p.m. With the loss to NYCFC, Columbus dropped to the seventh spot in the MLS Eastern Conference.