Cucho Hernandez, Columbus Crew limited in attack during 0-0 draw against New England
With the infusion of Cucho Hernandez to the attack, the Crew were cognizant that there were no more excuses for not winning more games at home.
The confidence of the team and the vibes around Lower.com Field were high after a 2-0 win against FC Cincinnati last week gave the Crew a record of 4-0-4 in their past eight games entering Saturday night’s game against the New England Revolution, who was surprisingly without its star forward Gustavo Bou.
The Crew had scored eight goals in the past three games since Hernandez entered the fold. On Saturday, passing in the attacking third and around goal was just a little too sloppy to find the goal for a fifth win in nine games.
For 90 minutes, the Crew (7-5-9, 30 points) hardly had any danger on their end of the field but were unable to break the deadlock on one of their 17 shots in a 0-0 draw in front of a fourth straight sellout crowd of 20,383. It was the sixth of 10 home games this season that didn’t end in a win and three points.
"One thing we have to improve on — and it's a big thing — is that final third," coach Caleb Porter said.
From the 60th minute on, the Crew constantly put pressure on the back line for New England (6-7-8, 26 points). In a stretch of four corner kicks, the Crew had six shots, including one from Hernandez just outside the top of the box for his fifth goal in four games to start his Crew career, but it sailed way over the bar.
The Crew never really looked to be at risk of losing the game.
By halftime, the Crew had created a couple chances and had only allowed one shot. Goalkeeper Eloy Room only had to make two saves on shots he had plenty of time to get behind and stop.
While the Crew had nine shots and four shots on target at halftime, most of the opportunities created were from distance or through fortunate bounces when goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic was put under pressure.
Attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan had a goal taken from him on the best chance of the night by a heroic header off the goal line by center back Henry Kessler. Left back Pedro Santos smashed a ball on the volley from the left edge of the penalty area that would have gone inside the back post had Petrovic not gotten a hand to it.
On the rebound, Zelarayan headed the ball in the middle of the box toward the back post, well away from Petrovic. Kessler was there to head it out of danger.
"Credit to them," Porter said. "Their goalkeeper I thought got hot early and got into a rhythm. And credit to them, they made a lot of little emergency defending plays. ... They came for a draw. They got a draw."
Hernandez had four shots in his first full 90 minutes with the Crew. New England mostly limited him to shots from distance and didn’t give him much space in the box. Zelarayan was constantly surrounded by defenders throughout the game, making it difficult for him to create through the midfield.
Despite the 17 shots, the Crew registered just 1.00 expected goals, with the one big chance being Zelaryan’s header in the first half.
The draw extended the unbeaten streak to nine games, but the Crew expect more of themselves with the final piece of their attack fully integrated into the team.
"Obviously we are a little unfortunate we didn't get a win, especially at home," captain Jonathan Mensah said. "But we're just going to look at the positive side. We didn't lose, we didn't concede. At the same time, we know there's a lot of work to be done."
Get more Columbus Crew news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Cucho Hernandez, Columbus Crew held scoreless in draw vs. New England
