It’s officially a winning streak. On Saturday night, the Columbus Crew won its third-straight game when the Black & Gold beat D.C. United, 2-0, at Audi Field. The win gave Columbus a season sweep of D.C. and a first road win in 2023.
“It was not an easy game, we faced a difficult team to play against,” head coach Wilfried Nancy said after the victory. “I’m really happy with the character and personality of my team.”
United nearly opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Taxi Fountas took a shot at an open net, but Will Sands made a goal-line stop and the ball redirected safely into Patrick Schulte’s arms. Schulte was then pressed into action in the 35th minute when he saved another Fountas attempt – this time by redirecting his body to make a low save to his back post.
The Crew opened the scoring four minutes later when Lucas Zelarayán converted his second penalty in as many games, giving the Armenia international his fourth goal of 2023. The foul actually occurred before Sands’ goal-line clearance, but the penalty was awarded after a VAR decision minutes later.
The visitors doubled their lead two minutes into the second half when Mohamed Farsi received the ball on the right flank, beat a defender and sliced a pass to the 6-yard box. From there, Christian Ramirez connected with the ball and sent it to the back post to produce his third goal in as many games.
“In the first half, we scored the goal. In the second half, I really liked the spirit of the guys because we spoke about some things (at halftime) and they were able to do it,” Nancy said. “After that, they scored the second goal. But the way they fought and they played for their teammates, for me I was really proud … of the performance and the way they acted on the pitch.”
With the win, the Crew now sits fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with 13 points from the opening seven matches.
Roughly 20% through the regular season, the Club is gaining momentum at the perfect time, as the Black & Gold play five-of-its-next-six matches at Lower.com Field – beginning Saturday night against the New England Revolution. Tickets are still available to see the red-hot Crew against the Revs.
The Crew’s 17 goals scored leads MLS and is the team record for most goals through seven games. In the club’s inaugural 1996 season, the Crew had 16 goals through seven games.
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