Club America 2, Crew 0: Bedtime comes early for Columbus
Black & Gold losing streak in all competitions stretches to four games.
A great creaking sound was heard in Columbus right around midnight last night. If you had your windows open, you heard it. It was the sound of hundreds, perhaps thousands, perhaps all of them hitting the sack at the same moment. It was the sound of bedsprings, and it would have been even louder if not for the gel mattresses out there.
The moment came in the final seconds of first-half stoppage time, when Club America winger Brian Rodriguez, the best player on the field on this night, beat three Columbus Crew defenders – Steven Moreira, Brooks Lennon and Tarun Karumanchi – and pured a right-footed shot past Crew keeper Patrick Schulte from the top of the box.
Rodriguez had assisted on the first goal – a lovely strike by attacking mid Raphael Veiga from 23 yards out – in the 11th minute of the first half. But it was Rodriguez's goal, the second and last goal of the game, that was lights-out. The Crew may have dominated for long stretches, but their lack of finish made a 2-0 halftime deficit feel like bedtime.
And so it was. The 2-0 score stood as the final. The crowd at L.A. Galaxy's stadium in Carson, Calif., just outside L.A., roared. It was a partisan Club America crowd, which it was supposed to be, as the Mexico City giant was the home team and, we are led to believe, chose the venue.
Notably, it was the Crew's first-ever regulation loss in Leagues Cup. The Crew are now 5-1-2 in the competition since 2023, when the tournament was invented by MLS to generate additional revenue, screw up the regular season and overly tax its athletes. The Crew won Leagues Cup in 2024, when the club was at the all-time height of its powers under coach Wilfried Nancy.
Club America has won seven continental titles, but has yet to win a Leagues Cup. The semifinal round is all Liga MX – America vs. Monterrey (and Diego Rossi) and Leon vs. Toluca, the top-ranked club team in the region. Club America might be the favorite.
The Crew had lost their last three regular-season games before falling to Club America. Crew interim-not-interim coach Laurent Courtois continues to point out – not without merit – that the team is in the throes of transition after overhauling more than a third of its roster this summer.
Courtois said: "Considering the transition we faced, that the Crew faced, the roster faced ... what we accomplished against those brilliant Mexican teams in Leagues Cup ... it has been really positive for us. We want to keep investing in what we want to become, and we're on the right track."
Again, the Crew dominated Club America for long stretches in the first half. And they had chances.
Young center back Cesar Ruvalcaba hammered a shot off the post on a set piece in the 17th minute. New DP Brais Mendez had a good go on a hard knuckler from distance in the 18th minute. New striker Josef Martinez had a deflected shot go just wide in the 35th minute. Mendez was thwarted on a penalty kick in the 39th minute. Martinez looked to have a sure goal on a point-blank header – but was stopped – in the 45th minute.
In sum, the Crew could've had three or four goals in the first half if not for a bit of bum luck – and a series of sterling saves by Club America veteran keeper Rodolfo Cota. Of course, the Crew's transition defense was such that Club America could've had four or five goals in the first half if not for some final-third misfires – and a series of sterling saves by Schulte.
The two goalies combined for 14 saves, many of them of highlight-reel quality. It was fun to watch, back-and-forth and such. The difference was Club America had a higher level of attack and the Crew, as good as they were going forward, were often a mess going backwards.
Notable: Forward Gonzalo Tapia, on loan from São Paulo of the Brazilian Serie A, and veteran center back Eric Bailly, a free-agent signing from Manchester United, made their Crew debuts as second-half substitutions. Also: Andres Herrera, who came off loan and was purchased from River Plate this summer, was back in the Crew lineup (as a late-game sub) for the first time since before the World Cup break.
“We're in a rebuild process where we are integrating new pieces, those pieces need to learn the model and those pieces need to get the fitness right, the competitiveness and it's tough to go to a new culture, a new language, a new environment," Courtois said. "We are 50 percent of our final form, and we played amazing team and we belong.
"Again, I'm not satisfied and nobody is with the result, but considering where we are in our development, today we started really young kids. When you look at the whole central column with Taha Habroune, Tarun (Karumanchi) and Cesar (Ruvalcaba), it's great for the club. Now we are adding a few new pieces, too."
The Crew (5-11-5) are in 15th and last place in the MLS Eastern Conference and in 29th place, next-to-last, in the league.
Next up: They'll host the New England Revolution at Fertilizer Field Sunday, with a 4:30 kickoff. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday night but, because of the Crew's cross-country travel, it was pushed back a day.
Fans are not thrilled that the change was announced at 9:15 p.m. last night, nearly two weeks after it was known that the Crew would be playing a Leagues Cup quarterfinal on the other side of the country. The late change will screw up a lot of weekends and, probably, gouge into what would have been a healthy crowd for the Revs game. For the fans!
The Crew remain alive in the U.S. Open Cup. They'll host Orlando City FC in a USOC semifinal on Sept. 16.
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