It's the cold season for the Columbus Crew. They had to settle for a scoreless tie with the Houston Dynamo at Lower.com Field Saturday. Next up: LAFC.

Wilfried Nancy made it a goal of his when joining Columbus Crew in 2023 to improve the team's mindset, and record, on the road.

The Crew finished with 0.9 expected goals, but more than half of that resulted from Mo Farsi's one dangerous chance moments before halftime, forcing Andrew Tarbell's lone difficult save. According to the data, Columbus' most dangerous chance of the second half had only a 0.05 xG value.

The Crew-LAFC Champions Cup series begins in Los Angeles in Tuesday before moving to Lower.com Field for the second leg on March 11. The series will be determined by aggregate goals, with the team who records the most goals in the series advancing to the quarterfinals.

The Columbus Crew is gearing up for a familiar face-off against Los Angeles FC in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16.

And Denis Bouanga, who was on the 2022 MLS Cup-winning team but had not yet become the devastating attacking force he turned into in 2023 and 2024, finally had a masterclass performance against the one team he hadn't really been able to solve.

The Columbus Crew concluded last season with a club record of nine wins and 34 goals on the road, marking a significant turnaround for the team.

LAFC has lost three straight showdowns with the Crew, including a pair of title games, going into the opener of their two-leg Round of 16 matchup on Tuesday night at BMO Stadium.

The Houston Dynamo are aiming to get their first victory of the season on the board against the Columbus Crew, who have won their first two.