Photos by Matt Ellis.

After a Gold Cup break that saw the team tossed out of the Open Cup during a traditionally wet encounter with Atlanta earlier last week, seasonally appropriate weather welcomed the return of Crew SC to MLS action, and a chance to reignite the 2019 season that didn’t quite pan out.

Visiting opponents, Sporting Kansas City, grabbed their first away win of the year with a 1-0 victory over a disjoined Columbus Crew SC that took place during an early evening match-up Sunday.

Columbus, still missing club caption Wil Trapp and top scorer Gyasi Zardes, had to once again try to find a way to score and control the game, and for most of the first half enjoyed the majority of possession but were unable to find the back of the net.

The decisive goal came early in the second-half after Sporting’s Gerso Fernandes drilled a cross ball onto the head of Felipe Gutierrez, who instinctively directed the ball into the Crew SC goal.

The evening got worse for the home side in the 74th minute, when Crew SC defender Harrison Afful was shown a straight red card for bringing down Gerso as the Sporting player looked set to double the away team’s lead.

Crew SC are back home again next Saturday evening, and once again will be without key players as they try to turn around their sinking season against Orlando City.

Matt Ellis is a freelance photographer who covers bands that visit the city and the Columbus Crew MLS team. More about Matt can be found on his Instagram.﻿