If April showers bring May flowers, then April goal-scoring opportunities lead to May goals.
OK, that was lame – and it still rained on Saturday night – but goal-scoring chances came in bunches for the Columbus Crew against Charlotte FC, and they were buried.
Saturday night marked the Crew’s eleventh match of the campaign, as they downed Charlotte, 4-2, at Lower.com Field. With the victory, a second in as many matches, the Black & Gold entered Sunday morning with a two-point lead atop the Eastern Conference standings.
“We could have scored more goals. It’s the game of football. It's normal,” head coach Wilfried Nancy said after the match. “I’m a bit in between with this game. We could have been in control a little bit more, I would say, with the 2-0, after 2-1 and after 3-1 and 3-2. I would like to have a game where I can sit, clearly, but this is not the case.
“I'm happy. I'm happy with the performance. It's not easy to play against this team. They defend really well, really well organized defensively. We have grown a lot because if I compare with – I don't like to compare every year, but if I compare – last year, they played the same way, but this year, we adjusted certain things and they did well. They did well. I’m happy.”
Dylan Chambost fired the Crew in front with his first goal of the season in the 25th minute, when he tapped in a spilled parry following a Diego Rossi shot. In the 39th minute, Rossi converted a penalty.
A Charlotte penalty made the match a one-goal game entering the second half, but the Crew responded with a couple of goals.
In the 51st minute, AZ scored when he one-timed a Mohamed Farsi cross. Then, thirty minutes later, Columbus scored a fourth when Jacen Russell-Rowe rose up for a lovely heady from a Max Arfsten cross.
The goal, which was a wonderful Crew buildup, was Russell-Rowe’s fourth of 2025.
“All the goals came in different ways, but it was interesting to see that we can score in many ways,” Nancy said.
Now one-third through the 2025 MLS regular season, it’s promising that the Black & Gold continue to generate, and now convert, their attacking chances. There’s a clear growth and transformation from last week’s win against San Jose Earthquakes, and the previous match against Inter Miami CF. And as Nancy noted, the wins came against varying opposing tactics.
“I'm not focusing on the ranking. For me, it was more about the style of play,” Nancy said. “We faced San Jose last week, and it was a man-mark team, man-to-man. This team Charlotte, this is totally the opposite with a zonal team. For me, the focus was on that to attack different spaces. I'm happy that we did well. I like the start that we have since the beginning of the season.”
