Another self-inflicted disaster had struck his Columbus Crew, and Wilfried Nancy couldn’t help but laugh as he paced the touchline.
The home side in Saturday evening’s Leagues Cup quarterfinal at Lower.com Field had somehow contrived to concede the fastest goal in tournament history. Alonso Martínez’s calm finish rippled the net just 12 seconds after the opening kickoff – a kickoff Columbus themselves had taken, as center back Rudy Camacho was foolishly caught in possession by the high-pressing New York City FC striker.
“I was like, ‘not now guys, not now,’” Nancy later recalled ruefully in his postgame press conference. “It’s the beginning of the game.”
Comeback Crew
Even the hardest of hardcore Crew supporters would probably not begrudge their head coach finding the humor in such a surreal moment. Because it’s the latest example of a strange and usually disastrous pattern, the sort more often found among last-place teams than reigning league champions.
Columbus have picked up a habit of spotting their opponent's early goals, many of them tissue-paper soft. Last time out they found themselves trailing Inter Miami 2-0, necessitating a dramatic, difficult late rally to win 3-2; they also leaked the opening goals in comeback victories over New England and NYCFC earlier this summer.
A Patrick Schulte howler in possession gifted Tigres UANL a very early lead in the second and decisive leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinal, which was eventually decided by a penalty shootout in which Schulte redeemed himself with two saves. Then there was FC Cincinnati's 2-0 halftime lead in last year's epic Hell Is Real clash in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, which the Crew miraculously turned into a breathtaking 3-2 win over their Ohio rivals.
“It was weird, because it’s been against Miami and same again this game, early goals,” said Nancy. “I don't know if we broke the record in the Guinness book, 13 seconds goal. But no, we have a concept. We know that we have to go forward and try to finish the action within 20 seconds – but on our side. So I didn’t understand why we did that.”
Yet such is the Crew’s all-round excellence, so well-versed are his players in the collective patterns of Nancy’s overpowering game model, that they keep tempting fate and getting away with it. This time it was a Max Arfsten cross to Cucho Hernandez shortly before halftime that drew them back to level terms, the Colombian star’s exquisitely angled header spinning through a tight window of time and space to beat the otherwise excellent Matt Freese in the Cityzens’ net.
Risk and reward
In their 18 matches across all competitions since the beginning of May, only once – Pachuca in the CCC final – have the Yellow Football Team been shut out. Even when they shoot themselves in the foot, they retain enough bullets in the proverbial chamber to outgun their adversaries. At this point, it may make more sense to view gaffes like Camacho’s as baked into Nancy’s philosophy, which requires such a comfort with - and manipulation of - risk as a means to unbalance the opponent.
All the same, this was a close-run thing. NYCFC complicated the Crew’s approach play like few have this season, conceding space in some areas in order to clog up others, anchored by the stout defending of All-Star center back Thiago Martins and Maxi Moralez’s incision in transition. And unlike many of Columbus’ victims, the Pigeons kept the ball quite a bit themselves, passing their way through the Crew press to relieve pressure and ask questions themselves.
“We know the spaces that they want to use, we know how they want to play, we know that in their short passing game, there's many moments to regain and go and counterattack. But also, if you counterattack too much without scoring, they have far too much possession,” explained coach Nick Cushing, praising the intelligence of his players to read and adapt in the run of play.
“You saw that in the first, although we got them the first play of the game and scored. I thought you saw that in the first 20 minutes, we didn't really get them man for man; [Christian] Ramirez and Cucho were coming outside and getting on the ball. And took a few little tactical tweaks at halftime to reorganize the team in that moment.”
Despite a majority of possession, 519 passes and 18 shots, Nancy’s side could only muster the one goal, 1.32 expected goals and an xG per shot of 0.07. Legs tired and lost precision as the mileage of the past few games stacked up, and a sequence of injury stoppages and NYC gamesmanship degraded the match’s rhythm.
“Yes, for sure. It's not easy playing every three, four days,” said Nancy when asked if fatigue was a factor. “I think it was a good game of quality. After that we had both teams’ down moment, I would say, and it was the moment for us to stay together. Because, like I said, New York City, they are able to keep the ball also, and they have good players, a good team.
“I don't complain [about the congested schedule],” he later added. “I don't complain because if we have many games, it’s because we play well and we win games, and this is the reward, also, of our season.”
Penalty kick drama
Suddenly the full-time whistle the favorites had to navigate the vagaries of a penalty shootout – and against City side that had converted every single spot kick in their two PK situations earlier in this tournament.
“The performance was top tonight. We're in a really difficult place, so let's not underestimate how good we were,” said Cushing. “Of course, we want to have more threat on the goal. Of course, we want to create bigger chances. But I'm sure they're saying the same thing, right? I don't think they really threatened our goal with big chances. It goes to penalties and you rely on the guy upstairs to help you out when he’s been good to us, so maybe it was our turn tonight to not get over the line.”
It took another display of steady nerves and self-belief for Columbus to survive, Schulte making one save and Santi Rodríguez firing his take over the crossbar before new arrival DeJuan Jones buried the deciding kick to book a semifinal place.
Incredibly, Nancy explained that he had nothing to do with the choice and order of Columbus’ PK takers; he leaves this entirely up to the players themselves.
“Because I have no control on that, and I believe that we are all good when we take PKs during the practice,” he said. “What I believe is PKs, this is a technical exercise, yes, but for me, this is a mental exercise. So for me, the player that decide who wants to take PKs, and I am with them and I want to give a good energy because again, this is a really difficult mental exercise and that’s why I do this.”
It will remain in his players’ hands on Wednesday when the Philadelphia Union visit LDC. A win, and the Crew will be assured of a CCC return in ‘25, and take part in their third cup final of Nancy’s tenure.
