Columbus Crew come back from two-goal deficit, then lose 3-2 to Orlando City
Jacob Myers
With two more starters out because they're with their national teams, and another starter picking up an injury a day before the Crew traveled to play Orlando City on Saturday night, the task for the Crew was to survive the final game before they would begin to get three key starters all back from injury next week.
The Crew dug themselves out of an early 2-0 deficit before allowing Orlando’s Junior Urso to score the game-winner in the 69th minute of a 3-2 loss at Exploria Stadium.
After conceding a pair of goals in the 26th and 29th minutes to take a 2-0 deficit on the road against one of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, the Crew got a little luck on an own goal before forward Miguel Berry tied the game in the 54th minute.
With center back Josh Williams — one of the three key players returning from injury — entering for Aboubacar Keita after Berry tied the game, the Crew was prepared to withstand a push for Orlando over the final 30-plus minutes.
After he recovered to make a nice defensive play at the top of the Crew’s penalty area, attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan tried to dribble around Urso instead of clearing it immediately. The ball was poked away and bounced off defender Ruan before it landed for Urso to shoot it in the bottom corner.
Without captain Jonathan Mensah, midfielder Liam Fraser or winger Luis Diaz, the Crew was even more shorthanded than it had been for the past few games. Even with them, a draw would have been an acceptable result as points get more important late in the season.
After coming back from two goals down, the Crew will feel like it should’ve gotten more out of the match.
The Crew resorted to its old ways by conceding multiple early goals, and in quick succession.
Orlando City forward Daryl Dike won a physical battle against center back Aboubacar Keita that ultimately wasn’t called for a foul, dribbled 20 yards, then finished the opening goal over goalkeeper Eloy Room in the 26th minute.
Three minutes later, forward Silvester van der Water was credited with the goal on a cross from the left side that could’ve been easily tapped in by one of two Orlando players after a miscommunication by the Crew defense.
While the attack has taken its lumps this season for being one of the lowest-ranked teams in the league in several offensive categories, a Crew lineup that was far from full strength was forced into an improbable situation of trying to come back from two goals down on the road due to mistakes by the back line.
Even after a poor defensive first half, the Crew built on its positive play offensively from the first 45 minutes and found space in the attacking half of the field and turned the match on its head less than 10 minutes after halftime.
In the 52nd minute, Matan tried to control the ball at the top of the box but Orlando defender Robin Jansson came in and kicked it up in the air toward his own goal. Berry jumped near the right post to try to head the ball on frame, but defender Antonio Carlos did that himself, putting the Crew just a goal back.
On the next possession, Zelarayan picked out winger Derrick Etienne Jr at the top of the box. Etienne’s one-touch pass behind the Orlando defense fell perfectly for Berry to finish the equalizer.
After allowing the goal, the Crew got lucky with a miss on a one-on-one opportunity for Orlando’s Tesho Akindele in the 84th minute, but the Crew mostly pinned Orlando back for most of the final 20 minutes.
A run from Zelarayan toward the end line in the 81st minute forced goalkeeper Adam Grinwis out of the net, but his cross couldn’t find forward Bradley Wright-Phillips or Erik Hurtado in front of the open net.
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