What happened to the Columbus Crew on Saturday against Seattle?

Well, Saturday was not ideal... and that is a nice way to put it.

On Saturday, Sept. 7, the Columbus Crew welcomed the Seattle Sounders to Lower.com Field. In recent years, both teams have spotlighted some of the biggest cup and in-league stages for MLS due to success on the pitch. However, up until Saturday, the 2024 season had not been too kind to the Sounders.

They were sitting eighth in the Western Conference standings, had just a goal differential of five and scored over four goals in an MLS match just one time. All of that changed after the game against the Crew. As of Monday, Sept. 9, the team's goal differential has heightened to nine, while they have catapulted into fifth in the standings.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, the Crew were without both their first and second-string goalkeepers heading into the game. At the start of the international break, Patrick Schulte and Nicholas Hagen were called up to their respective international sides, meaning the Black & Gold had to look to Abraham Romero to hold down the pipes. The last remaining on the roster was veteran Evan Bush, who's out with an arm injury.

Unfortunately, they could only have him out there for just 38 minutes of game action.

While he did look solid in goal, in the 38th minute, Romero was sent off for a controversial tackle outside the box, and with the Crew having no other goalkeeper on the roster, they turned to a field player. Columbus opted to throw Sean Zawadski into net, and with just 10 men on the pitch, they instantly began to waiver.

For the first time all game, Seattle started to blow by the Crew's defense, and in stoppage time right before the first break, Albert Rusnák drilled the game's opening goal. His first score would come off a free kick, instantly placing a massive blow onto the team that sat down a player.

Coming out of halftime, the Crew tailed 1-0 and had an incredible uphill climb to make. Unfortunately, they would not be able to formulate anything on the offensive side of the ball, while also struggling to gain any sort of footing defensively. They ultimately went on to allow three more goals in a 4-0 defeat to the Sounders.

"There is a clear evolution about the way we do things and the numbers of games that we have. ... We have games, we are pleased with that, and we are proud of that. But I cannot understand when there is a lack of coherence with simple rules," said Head Coach Wilfried Nancy after the game.

The biggest headline from the day was the MLS not allowing the Crew to bring up a second goalkeeper, even after they applied for an exception to get one more through the league.

"I was not happy before the game, and all the week when it happened I was not happy because there is this rule," Nancy said. "...When we asked (the league) before the game to have another call-up for our goalkeeper from the reserve team, they said no."

While the Crew has started to lose some of it's momentum, they now turn their attention to the Hell is Real Derby, where they will travel to matchup against Cincinnati FC. The game is set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 14 with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m.