COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Red Bulls’ late-season swoon continued Saturday night as they lost at Columbus Crew, 3-2, at MAPFRE Stadium.

Federico Higuain set up up all three goals as the Red Bulls failed to record a victory in their seventh consecutive game in all competitions.

They are 0-3-4 during that span, which includes a 2-1 defeat to Sporting Kansas City in the Lamar Hunt/U.S. Open Cup final Wednesday.

Clinging to the sixth and final playoff position in the Eastern Conference, the Red Bulls (42 points) fell 12-11-6, 42 points) need a win in the worst way with the seventh-place Montreal Impact (11-12-6, 39) within striking range. Fifth-place Columbus (14-12-5, 47) has only three games remaining in the regular season.

Jonathan Mensah tallied his second goal of the season six minutes into the match when he headed a Higuain free kick past goalkeeper Luis Robles for a 1-0 advantage.

New York striker Bradley Wright-Phillips equalized in the 14th minute. Sean Davis forced a turnover in the Crew’s defensive third and the midfielder slid a pass to Wright-Phillips, who turned and slotted a low shot inside the far post for his 16th goal.

In the 54th minute, Justin Meram raced onto a Higuain pass, cut inside of Fidel Escobar and fired inside the far post from 16 yards out to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.

After Josh Williams flicked in a Higuain corner kick at the near post to double Columbus’ lead to 3-1 in the 67th minute, second-half substitute Gonzalo Veron converted a penalty kick in the 72nd minute following Video Review for what proved to be the final score.

 

Scoring Summary: 
CLB – Jonathan Mensah 2 (Federico Higuain) 6′
NY – Bradley Wright-Phillips 16 (Sean Davis) 14′
CLB – Justin Meram 12 (Federico Higuain) 55′
CLB – Josh Williams 1 (Federico Higuain) 67′
NY – Gonzalo Veron 3 (PK) 72′
Misconduct Summary:
NY – Kemar Lawrence (caution, foul) 41′
CLB –  Hector Jimenez (caution foul) 42′
CLB – Federico Higuain (caution, dissent) 71′
NY – Bradley Wright-Phillips (caution, foul) 73′
NY – Muhamed Keita (caution, foul) 86′
CLB – Jukka Raitala (caution, time wasting) 90′
CLB – Pedro Santos (caution, foul) 90’+2′
New York Red Bulls: Luis Robles; Kemar Lawrence, Michael Amir Murillo (Connor Lade, HT), Aaron Long (Muhamed Keita, 68′), Fidel Escobar, Damien Perrinelle, Tyler Adams, Felipe, Sacha Kljestan © (Gonzalo Veron, 59′), Sean Davis, Bradley Wright-Phillips
TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 3
Columbus Crew SC: Zack Steffen; Jonathan Mensah, Josh Williams, Harrison Afful, Hector Jimenez, Mohamed Abu, Federico Higuain, Wil Trapp ©, Justin Meram, Pedro Santos, Ola Kamara
TOTAL SHOTS: 11; SHOTS ON GOAL: 8; FOULS: 14; OFFSIDE: 7; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 3
Referee: Fotis Bazakos
Assistant Referees: Brian Poeschel, Peter Balciunas
Fourth Official: Ricardo Salazar
VAR: Edvin Jurisevic
 
Attendance: 20,008

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.