When striker Wessam Abou Ali suffered a season-ending ACL tear, it became clear players such as Daniel Gazdag needed to start contributing for the Crew to win games.
With a 2-1 defeat of the Los Angeles Galaxy on April 22, the Crew recorded their first home victory of 2026 behind the efforts of Gazdag and forward Diego Rossi.
Gazdag opened the scoring at the 41-minute mark, making a shot from the left goalpost for his first goal of the season.
Before the goal, Gazdag had just one shot on target through the Crew’s previous eight regular-season games and had played only 146 minutes with two starts.
“Obviously the last two months, I would say it was not the best two months of my life,” Gazdag said. “I was working hard every day on training and I was hoping to get a chance. I think I did good in the games that I played, but obviously I don’t want to stop now. I want to help the team as much as I can.”
Gazdag joined the Crew as a designated player in April 2025 but struggled to find his footing in Wilfried Nancy’s system. He took until July to score his first goal in Columbus, despite scoring 59 in five seasons with the Philadelphia Union.
Those struggles followed Gazdag into 2026 under new coach Henrik Rydstrom, leading to the 30-year-old being benched for four consecutive games.
But as Rydstrom was forced to shake up the starting lineup without Abou Ali, who had a team-high five goals this season, Gazdag got another opportunity to earn consistent playing time.
“He was training good,” Rydstrom said. “The feeling I had, even before Wes got injured, was that Danny had started to perform better. I have said he understands the game very well, and he’s good in finding spaces. Now he’s got the end product, also, in his actions.”
Midfielder Hugo Picard, another player expected to step up in Abou Ali’s absence, earned the assist on Gazdag’s goal, marking his first goal contribution of the season.
Crew secure win with improved second-half performance
In three of the four losses the Crew had entering the Galaxy game, Columbus held the advantage in the second half before conceding multiple goals.
Looking to break the pattern, the Crew scored their game-sealing goal against the Galaxy less than two minutes into the second half, as midfielder Max Arfsten connected with Rossi, who scored from inside the Galaxy’s box.
While the goal allowed for more calmness and confidence, according to Rydstrom, he also noticed the Crew continued to focus on correcting the second-half errors from previous losses.
“We were in the lead maybe three times before. What do we don’t want to do again?,” Rydstrom said. “That was actually what I said in halftime. We talked about our press, but then I just asked them, ‘Do you remember what we did wrong against New England?’ Everybody said, ‘Yeah, second half, we didn’t take a step forward.’ … I think we had a totally different mindset this game.”
Crew display aggressive playing style vs LA Galaxy
To maintain a solid press throughout a majority of the game, the Crew had to be the more aggressive team, which they did through their possession percentage and physicality.
The Crew controlled the ball at 55.7% rate, with the Galaxy’s only long stretches of possession occurring at the end of each half.
Despite having the ball more often, the Crew were called for more fouls, charged with 13 compared to the Galaxy’s five. However, midfielder Taha Habroune felt the aggressiveness was a by-product of their evolving playing style.
“We’re playing at home,” Habroune said. “That’s how we always want to play, no matter who comes to our stadium. In front of our fans, we’ll never let off the gas for anyone, and that’s what we did, and it worked out for us. We didn’t give them anything in the first half, and it was a big key to our win.”
LA Galaxy able to build momentum in final stretch vs Crew
The Crew slowed down in the final 10 minutes of the game, allowing the Galaxy to take three of their seven shot attempts during the stretch. In the 86th minute, forward Gabriel Pec beat defender Rudy Camacho to receive a pass and set up the Galaxy’s lone goal.
“It was a little bit step back and we became a little bit passive,” Rydstrom said. “When they scored, of course, [it felt like] some old demons. But I think we still controlled the game in a good way.”
The Crew attempted just one of their 14 shots in that final stretch.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Daniel Gazdag, Columbus Crew take step forward in win vs LA Galaxy
Reporting by Brianna Mac Kay, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
