Saturday night started somewhat similar to the two other matches the club played this week. Columbus took an early lead, then tried to hold on to secure three points.
Last week in Atlanta, the Black & Gold achieved it. On Wednesday, they lost a heartbreaker in the last minute.
As for Saturday’s Trillium Cup match with Toronto FC, the sides tied, 1-1, at Lower.com Field. However, more adversity arrived, as Wessam Abou Ali was forced to leave the match with an injury in the first half.
“We have faced a lot of adversity this year, this is a fact,” head coach Wilfried Nancy said after the draw. Wes (Wessam Abou Ali) just came in, and now he's injured. (Forward) Diego (Rossi) was OK, but now he's injured, too. This is the situation.
“At the same time, yeah, we still believe. We have to face this. This is not easy. It was not our best game tonight, but we had enough to win the game, but we didn't do it. It's difficult cycle. The idea is to rest now, to analyze the game and to prepare.”
Before sustaining his injury, Abou Ali scored his third goal in as many matches with a lovely finish through Toronto goalkeeper Luka Gavran’s legs.
With his third goal in just 304 minutes with the club, Nancy said he’s been delighted with the quality the Palestinian international provides to the team at the most important part of the season.
“This not easy when you come in like this and you have to provide something,” Nancy said of the striker. “He did it for the moment. I'm sad for him because again, I hope that [the injury] won't be too bad. Obviously, he brought something. Now, we'll see if he's going to be able to come back.”
Toronto came back into the match in the 51st minute when Richie Laryea produced the equalizer.
From there, Columbus fought for a second goal, but one never arrived.
With the draw, the Black & Gold sit eighth in the Eastern Conference standings with three regular-season games remaining. If the campaign ended today, the side would face Chicago Fire FC in a play-in scenario. Fittingly, Chicago is the Crew’s next opponent, and the clubs will clash at Soldier Field on Saturday night.
But now is not the time to be concerned, Nancy reiterated in his post-match press conference.
“We have everything in our control,” he said. “This is not like this is the last game and we have to wait after all the results of the other teams. I know that the standings will change or something like that, but again, I'm not watching that. The most important is we know that we have three games coming, we know that we have everything in our control to win games. After that, if we don't win games, I will tell you that, yeah, we didn't have enough and we were missing something.”
The Crew will return to the Ohio capital on Decision Day to host the New York Red Bulls at Lower.com Field. Secure your spot now.
