NYCFC controlled much of the game in the first half and were almost in the lead by the fourth minute Valentin Castellanos before the Argentine midfielder was thwarted by a grand save Eloy room. A few minutes later, they appeared to have won a penalty shot from Gudmundur Thorarinssons was distracted by the arm of Saad Abdul-Salaam within the rating range. However, Video Review saw the penalty converted into a free kick as Abdul-Salaam was deemed outside the goalscoring area and Thórarinsson’s subsequent attempt at set piece ended up going straight into the Columbus Wall.
In the 15th minute, the crew saw an early chance on their own. Darlington Nagbe associated with Abdul-Salaam on a beautiful construction, however Miguel BerryThe resulting shot from Abdul-Salaam’s pass was robbed of Luis Barraza.
But in stoppage time Columbus broke the impasse when Nagbe crowned a handsome run with a chipped finish at Barraza to give Columbus the lead just before the break.
NYCFC leveled the game early in the second half, however. Found a raffle in the box Jesus Medina, whose left-footed Room defeated 1: 1. They came dangerously close to the lead on lap 55, but Room was forced to parry from an offside position in a row.
In the 62nd minute, Columbus took the lead with Zelarayan’s fourth free kick of the season and delighted a loud and lively audience from Lower.com Field. This equated David Beckham’s 2012 brand, and Zelarayan had twice fallen short of breaking Sebastian Giovinco’s single-season record.
And although NYCFC pushed for an equalizer to promote the Crew to their fourth straight draw, Room and the Columbus Defense stood firm the rest of the way to seal the win and end a winless streak of four games.
