After lengthy weather delay, Crew draws with Tigres in first leg of CONCACAF quarterfinal

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — After severe weather delayed kickoff for two hours, the Columbus Crew left Lower.com Field with a 1-1 draw against Tigres UANL in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals.

André-Pierre Gignac scored in the 18th minute to put Tigres on the board first, recording his third goal of the competition. Diego Rossi fired the equalizer in the 43rd minute, with an assist from Aidan Morris, who later was given a red card in the 77th minute, forcing the Crew to play the rest of the way with 10-men.

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“When you have a man less, it’s harder because you need to run for that man that is not on the pitch,” Rossi said. “I tried to do my best and run more and tried to win the game. It wasn’t possible but we have another game now and we’re going to push that game to have the win.”

Cucho Hernandez was not in the lineup for the second match in a row for the Crew. Head coach Wilfried Nancy previously said his absence in Saturday’s MLS game in Nashville was because of a “team policy” and said “we’ll see” in response to questions regarding his playing status for Tuesday’s quarterfinal.

Nancy refused to comment on Cucho’s absence again after the draw against Tigres.

“We just played a game and we’re talking about Cucho. We don’t play tennis. We play football. 11 players on the pitch,” Nancy said. “I don’t wanna talk about that. Next question.”

Columbus will play the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal on Tuesday, April 9 in Monterrey, Mexico. With the away goals rule intact, the Crew would be eliminated if they drew 0-0 in Mexico as Tigres would advance because of its goal in Columbus.

The Crew next takes the field on Saturday night in MLS action against D.C. United.

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