Saturday night was a reminder of the Columbus Crew’s attacking potential.
The Black & Gold claimed three points for the first time this season, and for the first time under head coach Henrik Rydström, thanks to a three-goal second half to earn a 3-1 win at Atlanta United FC. Two of the goals came from Wessam Abou Ali, who produced his first brace in MLS.
“In life and sometimes the universe, it's easy to get, ‘We deserve more.’ If you look at those five games before, we could have won easily three or four of them without being, like, really unfair or lost,” Rydström said. “It’s been very tight games.
“What we did more [Saturday], we did earlier as such. I think we gave ourselves the possibility, and that is the best thing that we feel that we really deserve it because we fought in a good way. Yeah, it's about winning – it is. It's an amazing feeling. From that, you can build even more.”
The match offered both a sense of relief and a platform to build upon. Despite conceding, the Columbus backline was solid and minimized Atlanta’s attacking opportunities. On the other end of the pitch, the visitors pressed relentlessly to generate goal-scoring opportunities. What ended as three goals could’ve been four or five.
Abou Ali opened the scoring in the 48th minute when he perfectly placed a header toward the back post. The cross came in from Max Arfsten on the right flank.
Abou Ali’s second arrived six minutes later when he smashed a long-range screamer toward the back post.
The goal was his fifth in six matches for Columbus, and the striker now has 10 goal contributions (eight goals and two assists) from his first 11 matches for the Black & Gold. The only other players to amass that exact statline? Brian McBride and Cucho Hernández.
“Forget about me,” Abou Ai said. “I'm just happy for the team, happy to see this energy after the win. Very happy for the coach, for the whole staff, to get that relief. So yeah, I'm excited to look forward from now on.”
Arfsten scored the club’s final goal in the 61st minute, seconds after an Atlanta consolation one. The goal was his first in 2026.
Captain Sean Zawadzki, who’s previously said the Crew were down on luck earlier this year, mentioned the team played with joy once again in the second half.
“I just think the way we played, we found that joy that we had, and I think that was the biggest part, to feel comfortable defensively as well,” Zawadzki said. “We had the ball in good spots, and it allowed us to really organize the rest defense. I think it’s one of the best games, in terms of that, in a while.”
Hopefully it’s the first of many.
With the victory, the Black & Gold return to the Ohio capital on Saturday night, when they host Orlando City SC at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. Secure your spot today.
“We’re going to keep our head down and keep working,” Zawadzki said. “We’re just really grateful and really excited to get back in front of our fans and to really put on a performance for them to enjoy. Obviously, in the last couple of games at home, we weren’t able to score for them, and now we get to come back and hopefully enjoy and they get to see that and see that freedom again.”
