During the first sentence of Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy’s post-match interview on Saturday night, he called the game against Toronto FC “weird.” Moments later, Sean Zawadski spoke and said the exact same thing right away.
So, what was weird?
Well, both said the grass was taller, but that wasn’t excuse – just a fact. And they said the Crew had chances to earn three points, but for a variety of reasons, they didn’t happen.
Perhaps that’s how the first Trillium Cup meeting of 2025 will be remembered, as the Black & Gold earned a 1-1 draw at Toronto in the club’s return to MLS regular season play. The Crew are now unbeaten in eight-straight matches against the Reds.
“The game was weird. The pace of the game was not so high; the grass was high so it was not easy. The game was a bit slow. I don't know, it was a weird feeling,” Nancy said. “Like I told the players, I don't know if we did a good game or bad game, but what I felt is the energy. I need to rewatch the game. For me, there is no correlation between the other games. This is this game. This is totally different.
“We had the opportunity to score the second goal. We didn't do it. After that we, we took a goal on the set-piece second wave.”
The visitors struck first eight minutes into play when Diego Rossi scored his team-leading 16th goal of the year across all competitions. Steven Moreira originally played a ball into the box from the right flank, which was blocked by a Toronto player, right into the path of Rossi to smash a shot past Sean Johnson.
Rossi has 13 goals in MLS competition and is three away from his career-high of 16, set in 2019 with LAFC.
Columbus pressed for a second, but TFC eventually equalized in the 77th minute when Jules-Anthony Vilsaint scored on his debut with the Canadian club.
The goal came from the continuation of a set piece. The Crew initially cleared a corner, but Toronto recycled possession for Vilsaint to score at the back post.
It looked like Dániel Gazdag put Columbus ahead two minutes later, but that goal was disallowed following a VAR check, which ultimately led to the sides finishing on level terms.
With the draw, the Crew sit sixth in the Eastern Conference with 45 points from 26 matches played. The team will need to finish fourth to secure home-field advantage in the first round of the postseason. (Orlando sits fourth with two more points, but has played one more match.)
“We know how tight the Eastern Conference is, albeit, we don't want to look at that and see that everything's in our hands,” Zawadzki said. “We want to play the way we want to play. We want to get results and focus on us. But obviously, you look at the table and you see how tight it is in a game like this, no matter home or away, we have to get results.
“In winning positions, we have to continue to fight and continue to push and solidify these games when we have the goal lead. And can we, you know, work better as a team in locking down these moments and feeling more comfortable and preventing them from having any real goal scoring opportunities.”
With eight matches remaining in the regular season, the push to make the postseason is on – at the same time that new players are joining the team.
Hugo Picard made his MLS debut in Toronto, and new Designated Player Wessam Abou Ali is expected to follow suit soon Abou Ali arrived in Columbus this past week.
The first chance at another three points arrives Saturday night against the New England Revolution at Lower.com Field. Come cheer on the Crew.
