After scoring two goals in each of their first two matches but losing because of their inability to stop counterattacks, the Columbus Crew fixed that weakness last week but still couldn’t get that elusive first win because their offense couldn’t find the back of the net.

Columbus tries to marry stingy defense with potent offense on Saturday night when it welcomes Nashville SC to central Ohio.

The Crew (0-1-2, 2 points) made a schematic change in their formation against the Chicago Fire, going with a 4-4-2 instead of the 3-4-3 they used the week before in a 2-2 draw at Sporting Kansas City.

First-year coach Henrik Rydstrom said the extra defender gave his team a chance to stay behind the ball.

“When they then maybe try to play into our penalty box, we have good possibilities to defend and we did that,” he said. ” … We were defensively solid, hard to break down.”

The new formation didn’t suppress offensive chances as Columbus finished with the edge in total shots (14-8) and shots on frame (5-3). But Wessam Abou Ali and Diego Rossi were kept off the scoresheet for the first time after scoring goals in each of the first two fixtures.

Meanwhile, Nashville (2-0-1, 7 points) is coming off a 3-1 win over Minnesota last Saturday behind Sam Surridge’s brace and a marker from Cristian Espinoza. No player in MLS has more home goals than Surridge’s 17 since the start of last year.

But the emergence of Espinoza, who spent his previous seven seasons with San Jose, as a key contributor for his new team might mean trouble for the rest of the league.

Espinoza, Surridge and Hany Mukhtar provide the kind of high-powered nucleus that all teams desire.

“We have the utmost confidence (that) if we continue to get our guys in good goal-scoring chances, we’ll continue to score goals,” said Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan.

Nashville’s seven goals scored ranks fourth in MLS and its two goals against are tied for fourth-fewest.

–Field Level Media