First-half goals by Leo Campana and Ignatius Ganago led the visiting New England Revolution to a rare victory, 2-1 over the Columbus Crew on Saturday.
Campana scored in the 25th and Ganago in the 39th for the Revolution (8-12-7, 31 points) for just their third win in the past 17 matches (3-8-6). They entered with a win and a tie in their previous eight.
Daniel Gazdag scored in the 71st for the Crew (12-6-9, 45 points) as they continued to struggle and spoiled the MLS debut of designated player Wessam Abou Ali.
The Danish-born Palestinian international entered in the 56th minute and was initially credited with the Columbus goal but Gazdag got his foot on the ball last from a service by Malte Amundsen.
Gazdag scored his second goal in 19 matches for the Crew since being acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Union.
The Crew are 2-3-1 in their past six matches and 5-5-6 since May 10.
New England likely would not have taken the two-goal advantage if not for the play of Matt Turner. In his third match for the Revolution since returning from three years in Europe, the U.S. men’s national team goalkeeper did not get credit for a save in the 14th minute but he made himself big and forced a hurried shot from the 6-yard box by Ibrahim Aliyu to go left of goal.
Then in the 18th minute, he made a close-in right-handed stop of Gazdag.
New England had done nothing offensively until the goal when Carles Gil slipped the ball to Luca Langoni. He found Campana in front for his fourth goal in six matches and fifth in six career matches vs. the Crew.
The Revolution’s second chance resulted in another goal. Mamadou Fofana lofted a 30-yard ball into space that allowed Ganago to outrace two defenders then, after a first touch, poke the ball past goalkeeper Patrick Schulte.
Columbus was fortunate to go to the break down only two because Schulte stopped a breakaway by Langoni and a near-post strike from Ilay Feingold in the final minutes.
–Field Level Media
