Columbus Crew pull past New York City FC in six-goal game

When it rains it pours and it certainly did in Columbus on Saturday. However, it wasn't raining water, it was raining goals.

When the Columbus Crew clashed with New York City FC on Saturday, August 31, six total goals were scored between the two sides as the Crew came away with a 4-2 win. Unfortunately for the Crew, it was not a simple win as they trailed in the opening minutes after giving up a goal in the fourth minute of action.

They were eventually able to recover and knot the game up, but there were many more fireworks down the stretch of the game that kept those at home and in attendance glued to their seats.

"This is another way to win. I'm really proud of that,” Head Coach Wilfried Nancy said. “This is what I told my players, I said, ‘Yes, I was frustrated a bit by the fact that we didn't control the game the way we wanted to do it, but we found ways to score goals.’"

To say the end of the game was all over the place, nail-biting and filled with high intensity would almost be an understatement. But, a game cannot get to that point without what came before, and from the opening whistle, the game was filled with excitement.

In the fourth minute, NYCFC forward Alonso Martinez opened the game up with a goal as he dashed past the Crew defense with a perfectly timed through ball. He was able to slot the ball into the bottom left corner to give NYCFC the 1-0 edge on the road at Lower.com Field.

The next few possessions sat in the hands of Columbus as they tried to regain their footing and close down the one-goal differential. With the forwards of the Crew being so lethal in recent weeks, NYCFC tried to throw numbers back to avoid a big hit from the home-sided offense. The duo of forwards Christian Ramirez and Diego Rossi combined to score the tying goal in the 17th minute to reignite the Black & Gold faithful in attendance.

The remainder of the first half saw back-and-forth play of both teams, as near goals were scored in the late stages before break.

Eventually, the go-ahead goal would be scored by the Crew in the 58th minute coming out of halftime. Unlike the others, this goal was nearly untouchable by the defense and NYCFC goalkeeper Matt Freese. Rossi played a perfect through ball to the foot of midfielder Maximilian Arfsten who slashed it into the back netting for a 2-1 Columbus edge.

After the goal was scored, it looked like the home team was going to start running away with the game, however, just when Crew looked to put a bow on it, NYCFC bounced back.

In the 86th minute, the offense randomly exploded for NYCFC off a missed pass for the Crew on the offensive side of the pitch. With numbers up, the team could not recover quickly and a fast break rewarded the away side with a 2-2 scoreline.

The Crew then began their uphill climb in attempting to reestablish a lead.

The head referee awarded the two sides eight minutes of stoppage time, which was added to the clock after 90 minutes had come to a finish. The Crew became flooded with a new sense of urgency and pushed the tempo up offensively as Head Coach Wilfried Nancy brought in substitutions.

Midfielder DeJuan Jones and forward Jacen Russell-Rowe instantly got to work and propelled the team to find two more goals down the stretch. Jones' was off a nice assist from midfielder Alex Matan and Russell-Rowe's came off a deflected shot of Rossi. As the tensions rose, NYCFC also went down to 10 men with a red card handed out to Julian Fernandez. After the game, NYCFC midfielder Keaton Parks took shots at the officiating and how the outing concluded.

“I want to give all the credit to Columbus and how good they are, but … there was a third team on the field today that was playing with Columbus," he was quoted by Hudson River Blue. "They missed plenty of stuff. They missed throw-in calls, setting picks in the box for the other team. I just want there to be accountability for this. Refs need to be held the same."

His comments led to a fine being sent his way from MLS, and also put a stain on the game.

For the Crew, it marks an elite spell of eight straight wins for the team and a 13-1-1 record through the last 15 games. Not to mention, a Leagues Cup championship was secured just a short few weeks ago.

Looking forward, Columbus prepares to take on the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, Sept. 7, with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. EST from Lower.com Field.