New York City FC opened up their rivalry week by hosting the lowly Columbus Crew on Wednesday night. Caleb Porter’s side are all but out of the playoff race, and after naming a much-changed XI, it was expected that New York would simply sweep past their Ohio rivals.
However, while New York were excellent in the first half, they could only score the once, Valentin Castellanos notching his fifth in four games, and during the final half-hour, the Crew were pushing hard for an equaliser. In the end, they just fell short as New York City FC moved to within one point of the top of the Eastern Conference.