New York City FC bounced back from a derby defeat to the New York Red Bulls to upset league-leading Columbus Crew SC, 1-0, Monday night at Red Bull Arena.
It was NYCFC's second win of the season and Crew SC's first defeat.
The goal was scored by NYCFC’s captain Alex Ring in the 59th minute, capitalizing on a defensive miscue by Aboubacar Keita, who tried to play a square ball to fellow central defender Jonathan Mensah. Heber picked the ball off and the Brazilian forward slid a pass to an open Ring for the easy tap-in.
It was only NYCFC’s third goal of the regular season and the second conceded by Crew SC.
Jesus Medina nearly capitalized on another defensive gaffe moments later, but he took a heavy final touch and never got a shot off.
Columbus came close on a few occasions. They had a first-half goal by Gyasi Zardes called off when Derrick Etienne was offside on the service. Pedro Santos came close to the equalizer in the 82nd minute, but Sean Johnson dived to parry it out for a corner kick. Fanendo Adi appeared to score the tying goal in stoppage time, but it was the second goal waved off for offside.
Goals
- 59’ — NYC — Alex Ring | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: Must-win game? Hard to say so early in the season, but the optics heading in weren’t good for NYCFC. They entered the match last in the East. Ronny Deila had asked for an extra 10 percent and on this night he received it. Is this a one-off for Columbus? We’ll get that answer at the next Hell is Real Derby on Saturday.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Goals change games, right? This was memorable for the defensive miscue and the selfless play from a forward in Heber who is hungry for goals.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Ring scored the goal, but it was also for his work rate in the midfield and for helping keep Darlington Nagbe in check.
Next Up
- NYC: Saturday, August 29 vs. Chicago Fire FC (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada)
- CLB: Saturday, August 29 at FC Cincinnati (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada)
