The Crew only had one official goalkeeper going into Saturday's game against the Seattle Sounders. When that goalkeeper, Abraham Romero, was given a red card near the end of the first half, the Crew were forced to put midfielder Sean Zawadzki at goal in a 4-0 loss.
Romero was given a red card three minutes into first-half stoppage time after a collision with Seattle' Jordan Morris outside the Crew's box. It was deemed that Romero was responsible for the head-to-head collision.
With no backup goalkeeper while Patrick Schulte and Nicholas Hagen are on international duty, in addition to Evan Bush being unavailable due to an arm injury, Zawadzki put in goal by coach Wilfried Nancy when Romero left the game.
The Crew were down a player and had Zawadzki in goal when they allowed all four Seattle goals, the first coming seconds after Zawadzki enered at goalkeeper off a Sounders' free kick. Albert Rusnak recorded a hat trick for Seattle in the victory.
Before Romero's red card, the match was tied 0-0, despite six shot attempts from the Crew, none on goal.
The Crew announced an attendance of 20,523, a sellout, for Columbus vs Seattle Sounders at Lower.com Field.
Both the Crew and Sounders made multiple substitutions over halfway through the second half.
Crew substitutions:
- Midfielder Yaw Yeboah replaced Max Arfsten
- Midfielder Derrick Jones replaced Alex Matan
Sounders substitutions:
- Midfielder Danny Leyva replaced Josh Atencio
- Defender Nathan Sturgis replaced Yeimar Gomez Andrade
- Defender Jonathan Bell replaced Reed Baker-Whiting
Albert Rusnak scored his third goal of the match against Crew goalkeeper Sean Zawadzki, giving the midfielder a hat trick and Seattle a 4-0 lead.
From the top of Columbus' box, Seattle midfielder Albert Rusnak scored his second goal of the match to give the Sounders a 3-0 lead against the Crew.
Forward Christian Ramirez entered the match for Columbus, replacing Dylan Chambost.
Sean Zawadzki gave up his second goal as goalkeeper off a close distance shot from Seattle's Jordan Morris. The Sounders lead 2-0.
Morris made a run toward the Crew goal on the right side of the field, and midfielder Paul Rothrock found Morris, which lead Rothrock to send in a pass near the goal line. This set up an easy shot attempt for Morris, who scored despite Zawadzki attempting to contest.
Leaving the match for the Sounders was midfielder Pedro de la Vega, who was replaced by Georgi Minoungou.
During halftime, the Crew made their first substitution, replacing Aziel Jackson with DeJuan Jones.
The Crew took six shots to Seattle's three but are down 1-0 at the half following a Seattle goal from Albert Rusnak. Columbus will also play the second half with ten men after Abraham Romero's red card.
After Abraham Romero's red card, the Crew were forced to put Sean Zawadzki at goalkeeper and Seattle was given a free kick at the top of the Crew's box. With Albert Rusnak taking the free kick, Rusnak sent the ball past Zawadzki to the left to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
Columbus goalkeeper Abraham Romero was given a straight red card following a collision outside the box with Seattle forward Jordan Morris. Without a backup on the bench, Sean Zawadzki is put as Columbus' goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper Abraham Romero was able to dive and in mid-air, hit away a shot attempt from Seattle midfielder Paul Rothrock. Rothrock took his shot from the top, left of Columbus' box and was aiming for the top, right of the goal.
This is Romero's first save of the match.
Sounders forward Jordan Morris had a nearly open goal when he took his shot attempt from the middle of Columbus' box, as goalkeeper Abraham Romero went out too far to contest. Morris' shot went far left of the goal, out of bounds.
Seattle defender Pedro de la Vega was given a yellow card after fouling Crew defender Sean Zawadzki. This is the first yellow card of the match handed out to either team.
Crew midfielder Max Arfsten took his first shot attempt of the game against Seattle from the top of the Sounders' box. Taking a few dribbles to the center of the box, Arfsten launched an attempt that went over the goal by a significant margin.
It was the Crew's second shot attempt of the match, the first coming from defender Rudy Camacho.
With the first corner of the match after a Seattle defender hit the ball past the goal line to break up a potential scoring play for Columbus, forward Diego Rossi made little of the attempt for the Crew. Rossi sent the attempt into the box, but Seattle was able to quickly clear the ball up field.
There has been no official comment from the Crew on who would play goalkeeper against Seattle if starter Abraham Romero were to be taken out of the match.
It has been confirmed that there is no backup goalkeeper on the bench for the Crew against Seattle. Crew 2 goalkeepers Cole Johnson and Stanislav Lapkes have used all four allowed short-term contracts for the season, making both ineligible to be called up for the match.
The Crew confirmed they attempted to get an exemption for the match, with both Patrick Schulte and Nicholas Hagen being away from the team on international duty in addition to Evan Bush still recovering from a broken arm. MLS denied the exemption.
Neither Johnson nor Lapkes have played for the Crew this season, but both have been on the bench for four different matches.
Here is the starting 11 for Seattle vs Columbus:
- GK: Andrew Thomas
- DF: Reed Baker-Whiting
- DF: Yeimar Gomez Andrade
- DF: Jackson Ragen
- DF: Alex Roldan
- MF: Josh Atencio
- MF: Pedro de la Vega
- MF: Cristian Roldan
- MF: Paul Rothrock
- MF: Albert Rusnak
- FW: Jordan Morris
Here is the starting 11 for Columbus vs Seattle:
- GK: Abraham Romero
- DF: Rudy Camacho
- DF: Yevhen Cheberko
- DF: Sean Zawadzki
- MF: Max Arfsten
- MF: Andres Herrera
- MF: Alex Matan
- MF: Darlington Nagbe
- FW: Dylan Chambost
- FW: Aziel Jackson
- FW: Diego Rossi
Here are the officials for the Crew vs Seattle on Saturday night:
- Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
- Assistant Referee 1: Cory Richardson
- Assistant Referee 2: Kevin Lock
- Fourth Official: Marcos DeOliveira
- VAR: Daniel Radford
- Assistant VAR: Tom Supple
On Wednesday, coach Wilfried Nancy confirmed that goalkeeper Abraham Romero will start for the Crew against Seattle in the absence of Patrick Schulte and Nicholas Hagen, who were both called to international duty. Romero was acquired by the Crew in August in a trade with Los Angeles FC for $50,000 in general allocation money.
The Crew are 5-7-5 against Seattle, 3-5-1 as the home team. In the last two games between Columbus and Seattle, the Crew are 1-1, including their 2020 MLS Cup victory over the Sounders 3-0.
The Crew vs. Seattle English-speaking radio broadcast will be on Alt 105.7 FM and available via the iHeartRadio app. Columbus' regular radio broadcaster Chris Doran will be on the call.
The Spanish radio broadcast can be found on La Grande 102.5 FM and the La Grande radio app with Juan Valladares doing play-by-play.
The Crew-Sounders match will be available on Apple TV+ with a required MLS Season Pass subscription. Here are the broadcast teams for tonight:
- English broadcast: Steve Cangialosi (play-by-play), Danny Higginbotham (analyst)
- Spanish broadcast: Bruno Vain (play-by-play), Andres Agulla (analyst)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7 at Lower.com Field.
bmackay@dispatch.com
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Crew fall 4-0 vs Seattle Sounders with Sean Zawadzki at GK for Columbus: Replay
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