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MLS

Columbus Crew suffer heaviest defeat in six years: what is their biggest defeat in MLS?

The defending champions were thrashed by the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, suffering their biggest regular season defeat in six years.

Estados Unidos
La franquicia más potente de la liga norteamericana se llevó una dolorosa goleada contra Seattle Sounders en medio de la polémica por la falta de porteros.
Columbus Crew

Until last night, the Columbus Crew had lost just a handful of games during the 2024 MLS regular season campaign. On Saturday, the defending champions, Concacaf Champions Cup runners-up and recent Leagues Cup winners were thrashed 0-4 by the Seattle Sounders at Lower.com Field.

The Crew suffer biggest regular season defeat since July 2018

It stands as one of the heaviest defeats in franchise history - the last time the Crew lost a regular season game by four goals was six years ago when they were trounced 4-0 away at LA Galaxy.

Interestingly, the defeat came right at the start of the September international break when head coach Wilfried Nancy was without five of his first team regulars.

MLS - Liga USA 2024

ClassificationPTSWMTMLM
2FC Cincinnati511638
3Columbus Crew491475
4New York Red Bulls4310135
Full classification
Upcoming matches
FC Cincinnati - Columbus CrewS-14/09 19:30
Toronto FC - Columbus CrewW-18/09 19:30
Columbus Crew - Orlando CityS-21/09 19:30
Calendar

*Data updated to date Sep 8th, 2024

Columbus Crew heaviest MLS regular season defeats

  • 7.9.24 Seattle Sounders 0-4 Columbus Crew
  • 25.2.23 Philadelphia Union 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 30.7.21 New York City 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 7.7.18 LA Galaxy 4-0 Columbus Crew
  • 26.5.17 Toronto 5-0 Columbus Crew
  • 23.10.16 New York City 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 1.8.15 Orlando 5-2 Columbus Crew
  • 12.7.14 New York Red Bulls 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 24.8.13 Salt Lake 4-0 Columbus Crew
  • 7.4.12 Columbus Crew 1-4 New York Red Bulls 
  • 27.8.11 Seattle Sounders 6-2 Columbus Crew
  • 18.9.10 Seattle Sounders 0-4 Columbus Crew
  • 2.4.09 Salt Lake 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 18.5.07 New York Red Bulls 4-0 Columbus Crew
  • 30.5.06 DC United 5-1 Columbus Crew
  • 11.8.06 Kansas City Wizards 4-0 Columbus Crew
  • 13.5.05 Columbus Crew 0-4 Kansas City Wizards
  • 3.7.02 New England Revolution 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 12.5.01 Dallas Burn 4-0 Columbus Crew
  • 18.3.00 Tampa Bay Mutiny 5-1 Columbus Crew
  • 2.10.99 Miami Fusion 4-1 Columbus Crew
  • 30.6.96 Columbus Crew 0-4 NY/NJ MetroStars
  • 3.7.96 Tampa Bay Mutiny 4-1 Columbus Crew

Five Columbus Crew players out on international duty

Five key Crew players are away with their respective national teams and their absence was noticed. Joint-top goal scorer Cucho Hernandez is with Colombia for 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Argentina. At the back, Nancy had to reshuffle with both his first and second choice goalkeepers and two right-sided players all unavailable.

Starting keeper Patrick Schulte is with the USMNT for their games against Canada and New Zealand. His deputy, Nicholas Hagen was between the posts for Guatemala’s 1-1 friendly draw with Uruguay on Sunday and will be in contention for CONCACAF Nations League games against Martinique and Costa Rica.

Right-back Steven Moreira joined up with Cape Verde for their AFCON qualifiers against Egypt and Mauritania while wing-back Mo Farsi is also involved in the AFCON qualifiers - he was on the bench for Algeria’s 2-0 win over Equatorial Guinea on Thursday and could make his senior international debut in the next match against Liberia.

Romero sent off on MLS debut

In the end, third choice goalkeeper Abraham Romero started the game in front of a back three comprising Sean Zawadzki, Rudy Camacho and Yevgen Cheberko with Andrés Herrera deployed as an attacking full-back.

Making his MLS debut, Romero managed to keep the Sounders out during the opening 45 minutes but was shown a straight red card two minutes into stoppage-time for bringing down Jordan Morris outside his area. Reduced to 10 men, Sean Zawadzki replaced the Mexican-American keeper but was beaten four times with Albert Rusnák (45′+6′, 67′ and 70′) and Jordan Morris (60′) firing home for the Sounders.

According to Tom Bogert, Columbus Crew requested an emergency consideration from the North American league to bring in a fourth goalkeeper, but received a refusal. The Crew’s alternatives were Belarusian Stanislav Lapkes and Cole Johnson, but neither of them were eligible for Saturday’s game.

The result was the Crew’s biggest defeat since July 2018 and the third time the team has lost to Seattle by a four-goal margin but not quite the largest defeat in franchise history - Toronto put five past the Crew without reply in May 2017, which stands as their most painful loss to date.

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