Heading into Saturday’s contest, both the Columbus Crew and New York City were unbeaten in their last seven matches heading into the game at Lower.com Field. The two teams stretched each unbeaten run to eight games, although City will certainly be the happier of the two after the 1-1 draw.

Saturday’s match turned into a hotly contested match that featured 11 yellow cards and three red cards, two to the Crew’s bench. NYCFC capitalized on the Black & Gold playing down a man and scored in the 75th minute. Columbus continued to fight and was rewarded in the 94th minute with the stoppage time equalizer.

In a game that was as much dominated by conversations about the officials as the play on the field, here is how the Crew players performed.

Starters

Patrick Schulte (9.0) – It took an incredible shot for NYCFC to get a goal on a night when the Black & Gold goalkeeper was incredible. Recording eight saves on nine shots understates how difficult many of those saves were. From stopping multiple 1-on-1 opportunities from the visitors to saving a midfield chip that was destined for the back of the net, Schulte kept Columbus in the game. Schulte also showed improvement going out and getting the ball on corner kicks, something he was working on with Coach Nancy during training this week. Schulte clearly demonstrated in this game why he is the team’s No. 1.

Sean Zawadzki (8.0) – Zawadzki has continued to impress, particularly in his ability to play into the attacking third while covering ground defensively. While his late goal may have benefited from a deflection, it was a just reward for his continual work finding the right position and being able to pop up in a dangerous spot when the team needed. Defensively, Zawadzki finished with two tackles, two interceptions and a blocked shot, but really shined after moved into his more natural central midfield role.

Steven Moreira (6.5) – Moreira struggled to lock down players and got beat multiple times centrally, forcing Schulte to make numerous saves. In the 30th minute, the center back was completely beaten on a great pass by Gabriel Pereira to Richard Ledesma. While Moreira dominated touches with 103, he was vulnerable at times and was clearly spent before his 81st minute substitution.

Malte Amundsen (6.5) – While Amundsen did have a great pass in the 44th minute, nearly leading to an opening goal, the left center back made several critical defensive errors, including in the 61st where his poor positioning would have led to a goal for NYCFC if Pereira hadn’t slipped. Amundsen also should have done more to prevent the pass on City’s goal, when he overplayed Santiago Rodriguez and allowed him to take an easy touch toward goal before he made the pass that broke the Crew’s backline.

Mohamed Farsi (5.5) – While Farsi’s contribution to the attack was consistently strong, he struggled defensively in this game. Farsi finished Saturday’s match recording only a single interception and two clearances, and while it was a breakdown of the entire of the Black & Gold’s defense that led to the 76th minute goal, Farsi’s slip allowed Justin Haak to have a clear shot at the goal.

Yaw Yeboah (6.5) – Yeboah’s ability offensively is obvious, but in a game where NYCFC continued to ask defensive questions, the Ghanian wing back struggled to find the answers Columbus needed. In the 55th minute, Yeboah was out of position, and while his excellent speed was able to compensate and he did just enough to set the attacker off, it was indicative of the struggles he had throughout the match. If not for Schulte, Yeboah could have been culpable for multiple goals.

Darlington Nagbe (6.0) – Nagbe was clearly fatigued coming into the match, and it reflected in his play even before his 66th minute substitution. The central midfielder finished with a mere 37 touches and a relatively low 88.6 percent pass completion. The Crew’s ability to play through the midfield was severely affected by Nagbe’s reduced role, and the Black & Gold’s connectivity between the lines improved after his substitution.

Alexandru Matan (5.0) – Saturday was a poor game for Matan who really wasn’t able to get into an attacking rhythm. The Romanian midfielder failed to record a single shot, cross or really any statistic other than his one turnover. Part of this was that he was continually being bodied off the ball without any repercussions, but it was also because he struggles under pressure, something that can’t happen in his current role deputizing for Aidan Morris.

Lucas Zelarayán (6.5) – Zelarayán looked like a player who played 270 minutes over a seven-day stretch while being expected to be the main creative engine for Columbus. Zelarayán’s passing looked uninspired and he only created one opportunity. His four shots had a cumulative Expected Goal of 0.16, and all of them were off target.

Cucho Hernandez (5.0) – First, the obvious. While both of Hernandez’s yellow cards were questionable calls, as a leader, he has a responsibility to avoid putting himself in a position to leave his team a man down with 22 minutes to go. It showed a lot when, the day after, Hernandez took to Twitter to accept responsibility, and moved on. Hernandez really didn’t give his team a performance to make up for his absence. While he had four shots with two on target, his xG on those shots was only 0.22. He had several opportunities to lay the ball off to his teammate and he instead kept the ball leading to either a poor shot or a turnover. This isn’t to take away from how electric and fun Hernandez is to watch, but there was a lot of smoke but no fire from Hernandez in this match.

Christian Ramirez (6.0) – A solid if not great game from Ramirez was washed away by his brilliance in laying the ball off on the assist for the equalizer. It was only Ramirez’s second assist all season and it was the right play at the moment after he used his strength to hold off the NYCFC player. However, other than that assist the striker really wasn’t that impactful, only recording a single shot with 22 touches on the night.

Substitutes

Milos Degenek (5.5) – Whether it’s rust or unfamiliarity, Degenek struggled coming off the bench to help the backline. However, the team overall, with players moving into their more comfortable positions, is better with him filling that central defensive role. If Degenek can regain his form from before his injury, the Black & Gold will greatly benefit.

Gustavo Vallecilla (6.0) – Vallecilla got a tackle during his nine minutes of action and was generally serviceable as a replacement late.

Luis Diaz (7.0) – It was great to see Diaz back on the pitch after he missed four months with a back injury. And it was like he never left. He zoomed past defenders and made a great pass to help create the goal. Hopefully, Diaz can be another weapon for Columbus to give defenders nightmares.

Max Arfsten (N/A) – A late substitution, Arfsten finished the game with only four touches and didn’t make an impact on the game.

Head Coach

Wilfried Nancy (6.5) – A game must be pretty out of hand for Nancy, a man known for his placid demeanor, to lose his cool, but that is exactly what happened on Saturday. Nancy had to be almost dragged off the field after a clear foul went uncalled, a recurring theme on the night by the officiating crew. Nancy’s display of frustration clearly motivated the team, and showed the passion and aggression he both possess and expects from his team. However, while Nancy’s outburst may have been noble, his squad management and rotation deserve questioning. He only made one change in the starting 11 from the midweek match and while he made four of his five available substitutes, only one occurred before the 82nd minute. What is unquestionable is that Nancy continues to get results, as the Crew is unbeaten in eight matches.