A red card early in the second half — accompanied by wasteful finishing in the first half — doomed New York City FC in the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference semifinals Tuesday night.
The game got off to a sparkling — if sloppy — start when Columbus Crew SC forward Ola Kamara pounced on a spilled rebound from an uncharacteristically mistake-prone Sean Johnson. The game was wide open throughout the first half though, and New York City had plenty of chances to level the score.
The closest the Pigeons came to doing so was in the 37th minute, when David Villa hammered a shot off the right goalpost.