So, now what?
After spending a week expunging the aftertaste of a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota United, a match that should’ve been a win, the Crew went to Yankee Stadium on May 10 and had Mother’s Day dinner fed to them, figuratively speaking, by New York City FC.
More: Columbus Crew bombed in the Bronx 3-0 by New York City FC. Replay
The Crew’s 3-0 loss felt like it was over after NYCFC’s Hannes Wolf scored the first two goals of a hat trick in just 15-plus minutes, both off counterattacks. Unlike the Minnesota debacle, which began strong before a galling collapse, the Crew were swarmed by NYCFC’s Pigeons.
Coach Henrik Rydstrom felt his side showed a distinct and disturbing lack of intensity.
Defender Sean Zawadzki didn’t agree, saying that outcomes like this just happen sometimes and it’s on the losing side to rebound. Midfielder Dylan Chambost felt the Crew became crestfallen, again, after NYCFC’s Wolf scored his first goal in the match's 12th minute.
Where do they go from here? Great question, and this time there won't be a full week between games. The Crew are returning to Columbus for a quick visit before doubling back to play May 13 at Red Bull New York and May 16 in Philadelphia.
What happened in NYC?
“To answer your question, it’s lack of intensity,” Rydstrom said. “We don’t compete from the beginning. I can stop there.”
He didn’t though, citing a vexing return of difficulties defending counterattacks to start the season. New York pressed early, forced turnovers, counterattacked hard and generated two golden opportunities that Wolf finished for a lightning fast 2-0 lead.
“For me it looked a little bit like the beginning of the season,” Rydstrom said. “The last six games, we have been good [erasing] those kinds of behaviors. The behaviors from the first part of the season repeated this game.”
You can be sure that will be addressed, again, in training prior to the next game May 13 in Harrison, New Jersey. Put it on the whiteboard next to bullet points about protecting leads, getting tougher on set pieces and growing thicker skin following goals allowed.
“I think we are not strong enough mentally so far this season,” Chambost said. “When we concede a goal, we struggle to keep going and we have to work on it.”
How does a team do that?
For Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness, who felt his team struggled with similar issues, it included smashing a rack of hockey sticks after the final game and lighting up a press conference with a scorching rant. Don't expect anything like that in the beautiful game.
They don’t even have sticks. Similar sentiments, though.
“We have to work every day in training to hate losing, even when we [play] games in training every day,” Chambost said. “We have to put this intention of winning [first] and stay together. I think we are together. We talk a lot, but we need to do more. We need to do more, obviously.”
Sound familiar, Blue Jackets fans?
Next, let’s hear from captain Sean Zawadzki.
“I think [lack of intensity] can always lead into [miscues],” Zawadzki said. “Sometimes, you give them a little too much time. You think you’re close enough and they put their head down and you make it difficult for them, but sometimes it’s … you get there and they have too much time on the ball, and it allows them that little extra second to kind of create those dangerous chances.”
That happened three times on Wolf’s goals. Four times if you count a goal that would've given him a hat trick in the first half had he not been caught offside by inches. Now, the Crew sit just 3-6-3 in MLS play and need wins in their next three league games to pull even before the 2026 World Cup pause.
“You could say that, in the end, it was an even game, where maybe it was probably not 3-0,” Rydstrom said. “But, still, we didn’t compete from the beginning. If we don’t do that from the start, then we don’t have that quality [where we] can control it anyway. We need to understand where we are.”
Also, where they’re going.
“For me, it’s more, again, the players, the organization and the coaches," Rydstrom said. "We understand the hard work we need to put in every day to change where we are right now, and we will. This was a disappointment for sure.”
Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com and @BrianHedger.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew at crossroads after ugly loss at New York City FC
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