Just four minutes after subbing on in the 63rd minute, Luis Diaz's inward-swinging ball towards Columbus Crew SC newcomer Krisztián Németh ultimately marked the difference between a draw and a loss for Columbus as a resultant deflection off the Houston Dynamo's Víctor Cabrera marked the point-earning goal for the Crew in a 1-1 draw at BBVA Stadium.
Houston's Memo Rodríguez put the home side up 1-0 with a follow-up on an initial save from Crew goalkeeper Eloy Room, who made his first start since Oct. 3.
Room finished with five saves in the draw, on a night Houston led 24-8 in shots and 6-1 in shots on target. But the Crew offered enough of a threat late to snap a three-match losing skid at BBVA and earn just their 10th point in 14 all-time trips to Houston in league play.
In addition to Room, Darlington Nagbe made his first appearance since Sept. 6, while Lucas Zelarayan made his first appearance since Oct. 3.
It wasn't the cleanest of performances from the Crew, but Nagbe returned to his old distribution ways with a perfect 42-for-42 passing rate on the night, 30 of which occurred in Houston's half.
Up next, Columbus travels to D.C. United on Wednesday, Oct. 28 for an 8 p.m. ET kickoff on FOX Sports Ohio.
MATCH NOTES
By Crew SC Communications
- MLS veteran Krisztian Nemeth made his first regular-season appearance and start for Crew SC during tonight’s road match at the Houston Dynamo. The Hungarian forward, who started the match, saw 77 minutes of action on the pitch against the Dynamo. Tonight’s start was Nemeth’s first in MLS since the 2019 regular-season when he started on the road at FC Dallas while a member of Sporting Kansas City (October 6).
- Midfielder Darlington Nagbe completed every pass attempt made during tonight’s road match at the Houston Dynamo. Nagbe, who returned to the pitch for the first time in eight matches, successfully completed 40 passes during his 62 minutes played against the Dynamo Saturday night. This was the third time in the 2020 regular-season that the midfielder successfully completed each pass attempted – the first two coming against Atlanta United (July 21) and FC Cincinnati (September 6).
- Defender Milton Valenzuela contributed on the defensive end in tonight’s match on the road at the Houston Dynamo. The Argentine made four tackles, two interceptions and made three clearances on the night for the Black & Gold. Fellow defenders Aboubacar Keita and Jonathan Mensah notably led the team in clearances tonight with four total.
- Crew SC forward Jordan Hamilton made his 2020 regular-season debut in tonight’s match on the road at the Houston Dynamo. Hamilton made a substitute appearance in the 84th minute replacing midfielder Pedro Santos. The forward last saw regular-season action at the end of 2019 at home against Toronto FC (October 6). Altogether, Hamilton has now made 58 regular-season appearances (28 starts) having scored 11 goals and provided three assists since joining MLS in 2014.
- Up next for Crew SC, the team travels to face D.C. United Wednesday, October 28 [8:00 p.m. ET / FOX Sports Ohio, FOX Sports GO App / 97.1 The Fan & 971TheFan.com (English), ColumbusCrewSC.com (Spanish)].
