The Columbus Crew’s push for playoff positioning took a serious blow with the news Monday that leading scorer Diego Rossi will miss two to four weeks with a hamstring injury.
Life without the 16-goal scorer begins Wednesday when the Crew (13-6-10, 49 points) play New York City FC (14-9-5, 47 points) at Yankee Stadium.
The match originally was slated for Aug. 9 at NYCFC’s other venue, Citi Field, but poor field conditions led to the postponement.
Rossi left the Crew’s match Saturday at Atlanta United in the 42nd minute, three minutes after completing a hat trick that gave the Crew a 5-0 lead. They won 5-4.
The Crew enjoyed their highest-scoring match of the season and seemed finally to be clicking with their reconfigured attack.
Daniel Gazdag, acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Union on April 11, had his first multiple-contribution game (two assists) with the team. Wessam Abou Ali scored his first MLS goal and added an assist in his third match since being signed July 26 as a designated player from Egyptian Premier League champion Al Ahly SC.
“I’m happy for him that he scored the goal, but after that, I hope that he’s going to score again because he can do it,” said Crew coach Wilfried Nancy. “You know me, I’m not a guy that’s trying to make assumptions. The reality is if he scores, he scores.”
New York City is coming off a 3-1 win over the Chicago Fire that pleased coach Pascal Jansen because Nicolas Fernandez Mercau and 17-year-old Seymour Reid scored their first goals for the club. Reid’s stoppage-time goal made him the franchise’s youngest scorer.
The match also served as the MLS debut for defender Raul Gustavo, following his move from Hungarian side Ferencvaros.
“Having the international break was a blessing getting to know each other,” Jansen said. “That goes for the team because I knew Gustavo already.
“It was a very tough place to play, but Raul kept himself at a very good standard. … We’ve seen a great asset for our team.”
–Field Level Media
