Columbus Crew end their two month MLS winless streak at Montreal

The reigning champions, the Columbus Crew, who reached the Champions Cup final, began the evening in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and hadn't clinched a victory since defeating the New York Red Bulls on March 16th. Just three weeks ago, they faced off against CF Montreal at Lower.com Field, resulting in a scoreless draw. However, this time around, CF Montreal couldn't keep up with the formidable Columbus Crew, who left Stade Saputo with a convincing 3-1 victory and ending their seven-game winless streak on Wednesday evening.

Wilfried Nancy gets the best of Laurent Courtois

Wilfried Nancy and Crew supporters are very familiar with the way that former Crew 2 boss Laurent Courtois will set his side up on Wednesday. In addition to previous knowledge from Courtois’ time in Columbus, Nancy and the Crew have the added benefit of having just played Montreal a few matches ago, so both sides knows exactly what to expect. However this time, it is Nancy who gets the best out of Courtois.

Columbus took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute, as Max Arfsten netted his second goal of the season, marking his second consecutive week on the scoresheet. Arfsten capitalized on a pass from Christian Ramírez, rifling a powerful right-footed shot from the right side of the box into the top center of the net. It mirrored Cucho Hernandez's strike against Atlanta on Crewsmas, speaker of which was given a rest day for this game. Christian Ramirez appeared to extend the lead just six minutes later, only for the goal to be disallowed for offside following a VAR review.

As the first half wound down, Montreal equalized when Joaquin Sosa was brought down in the penalty area by Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte. Mathieu Choinière stepped up and expertly dispatched the penalty into the top right corner during first-half stoppage time.

Despite a late scare in the first half, Columbus dominated the second period. The Crew regained the lead in the 59th minute, courtesy of Rossi's first goal of the season from a quick counter, once again assisted by Ramírez. Marino Hinestroza, who entered the game in the 84th minute for Christian Ramírez, sealed the victory with a goal in the 89th minute, assisted by Steven Moreira. The whole team should be awarded the assist because of how beautiful it turned out— NancyBall at its finest. At just 21 years old, Hinestroza has now scored two goals in three starts and eight appearances this season.

Up next for the Black & Gold is yet another away game, this time against Chicago this Saturday, who haven't been playing so well as of late.