Henrik Rydstrom was left to lament the Columbus Crew's mentality after their loss to Minnesota United last time out.

The Crew led 2-0 in the 56th minute, but capitulated to a 3-2 loss.

Kelvin Yeboah netted twice for Minnesota, with Anthony Markanich capping the turnaround.

The defeat left Columbus in 10th in MLS' Eastern Conference, snapping a two-game winning streak, and coach Rydstrom put it down to a mentality issue.

"It's a lot about mentality," Rydstrom said.

"I think they created most of their expected goals on the set pieces. It's two things: how you give away set pieces – there were miscommunications sometimes in our team where we had to just kick it out to corner or kick it out to a long throw.

"Then, it's the desire to at least not get beaten. The players are professional football players so you know how you make sure your opponent at least doesn't win the duel, but we lost too many of those situations in the air.

"If we talk about the whole game, you could say that I think we showed that we are a very good team.

"We take steps, but you could also see – that leads me into the second half – that we are not by far done. We have a lot of things we need to improve."

Next up for the Crew is a trip to face New York City FC on Sunday, in what is a dress rehearsal for a U.S. Open Cup quarter-final between the same teams later this month.

NYCFC are just a place above the Crew in the Eastern Conference.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

NYCFC – Maxi Moralez 

Moralez has tallied six assists this season, his most through his first 11 league matches of an MLS season.

The playmaker has recorded 91 regular-season assists in his MLS career, the most by any player since his league debut in 2017.

Columbus Crew – Max Arfsten

Arfsten has recorded six goal contributions in league play since April 4 (three goals, three assists), with a goal contribution in five of his last six games.

The only other MLS players with at least three goals and three assists in that time are Timo Werner and Philip Zinckernagel.

MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

Three of the last four meetings between these teams have featured five or more goals.

They have combined for five or more goals nine times in their series, tied for third-most in a regular-season matchup since 2015 behind only LA Galaxy v Los Angeles FC and LA Galaxy v Portland Timbers (10 apiece).

Columbus have scored multiple goals in each of its last three MLS matches, most recently with in the 3-2 loss against Minnesota.

Since the start of the 2024 season, the Crew have recorded 43 games with multiple goals, the third most behind only Inter Miami (54) and LAFC (48).

After scoring in eight of their first nine games, NYCFC has been shutout in two straight MLS matches for the first time since May 2025.

NYCFC have not been held scoreless in three straight games since September-October 2021 (four straight).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

NYCFC – 40%

Draw – 24.5%

Columbus Crew – 35.5%