Crew Coverage pres. by Medical Mutual | Rydström: ‘Need to improve’ after MNUFC

For a third-straight match in MLS action, the Columbus Crew carried a two-goal lead at home. However, unlike the previous two occasions, the Black & Gold found themselves trailing at the full-time whistle on Saturday night at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. 

Despite a solid performance, the Crew conceded three goals from set pieces and lost, 3-2, to Minnesota United FC. 

“It's very difficult, up 2-0 then we lost,’ Steven Moreira said. “Especially for me, we did a good game, I would say they went maybe three times and scored three goals. So, at this point we just have to keep going. At home, we played well, but we lost the game.”

Taha Habroune put the home side in front after 31 minutes with a delightful goal – his first of the 2026 campaign. With space on the outside of the box, Habroune played a give-and-go with Max Arfsten, who have an exquisite backheel that gave the midfielder time to slot a back-post shot past Minnesota goalkeeper Drake Callender.

The lead doubled in the 56th minute when Hugo Picard scored his first-career goal in MLS. 

After a clever buildup along the right flank, Diego Rossi played a cut-back pass from within the six-yard box toward Picard. The pass was parried by Callendar into the path of Picard. His first effort got blocked, but is second effort found the net.

The Frenchman has five goals in his last five appearances across all competitions and is tied atop the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup leaderboard with four goals.

But then the Black & Gold allowed three goals from three set pieces. 

“It's a lot about mentality,” Rydström said. “I think they created most of their xG on the set pieces. It’s two things: how you give away set pieces – there were miscommunications sometimes in our team where we had to just kick it out to corner or kick it out to a long throw.

“Then, it's the desire to at least not get beaten. The players are professional football players so you know how you make sure your opponent at least doesn't win the duel, but we lost too many of those situations in the air.” 

The story from the match is not earning the three points, but from a broader perspective, Rydström said he was pleased with the club’s continued growth in recent weeks. 

“If we talk about the whole game, you could say that I think we showed that we are a very good team,” the first-year MLS boss said. “We take steps, but you could also see – that leads me into the second half – that we are not by far done. We have a lot of things we need to improve. 

The Crew’s next match, Saturday at Yankee Stadium, will be the first three meetings between the clubs in the next six Columbus fixtures.