Columbus Crew SC’s battle on the road in Philly resulted in a 3-2 loss against the leaders of the East. Despite walking away without a result, there were a lot of takeaways from the Black & Gold’s performance against Philadelphia, including the debut MLS appearances for Crew SC midfielders Ben Swanson and Cristian Martinez.
“It was an awesome experience, and I [wasn't] nervous to be honest,” Swanson said. “I have been kind of looking forward to it for a while but it was nice to finally get out there.”
Perhaps one of the finest moments of the match came from Martinez, who completed his season debut with a goal off a header in the final moments of stoppage time, making him the youngest player ever to score a goal for Crew SC at 19 years, three months and 26 days old.
“It’s a big moment for me to be the youngest player on this team to score a goal and score a goal for this club,” Martinez said through a club translator. “Hopefully we can take that and move forward.”
The solid performances by new faces for Crew SC continued with forward Ola Kamara, who showed his growing dominance with his fourth goal of the season in the 14th minute, just days after completing a hat trick in the Black & Gold’s 4-3 victory against Real Salt Lake in week 13.
Despite the end result, Kamara said the Black & Gold found ways to create goal-scoring opportunities.
“After 20 minutes, they got a little bit more pressure on us,” Kamara said. “Then they had that shot and it went in and they get some momentum and I think they feel a little better. But I feel even in the second half we started out good, we had the chances, we had possession. But when they get the second goal, it’s difficult.”
With a two-week break for International play, Kamara said he and his teammates will regroup and stick to their main goal of winning games.
“I think the guys need to relax a bit, get fresh again, and we just have to start over again and we’re going to win at home [in two weeks], that’s the goal.”
The Black & Gold will return to regular season play and look to keep their five-game unbeaten streak at home alive as they host the Montreal Impact on June 18 at 7:30 pm.
