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Mired in a three-game losing streak, during which it had been shutout in each of those games, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ City SC pulled out maybe its best attacking game of the season, especially considering it was going up against one of the best teams in the league, the Columbus Crew.

But even City SC’s best, on this occasion, was not enough against the top team in the league’s Eastern Conference. City SC snapped its goal-less streak on an early goal by Klauss, who had a goal-less streak of his own, but couldn’t shut down the Crew and lost a potential tying goal to a razor-thin offside call and fell 2-1 before a sellout crowd on Sunday night at Energizer Park.

Columbus scored just before halftime and then 10 minutes into the second half as City SC lost its fourth in a row, but with the first in that bunch that provided a shred of encouragement.

The game winner came on a counter by Columbus, with midfielder Dylan Chambost feeding a charging Diego Rossi for a shot from 20 yards out that was just out of the reach of City SC goalkeeper Ben Lundt.

It was an effort that might have gotten City SC a win against Philadelphia or Austin or Sporting Kansas City, but against powerhouse Columbus, which is yet to lose a game, City SC’s best wasn’t good enough.

It looked like Klauss had tied the game with a tap in off a corner kick in the 68th minute, but the assistant referee raised his flag for offside, and while the replay was tantalizingly close, referee Rosendo Mendoza was not summoned to the monitor for a review, with the play apparently not meeting the standard of a clear and obvious error.

The goal by Klauss that did count was his first since he scored two against Chicago on May 11 last season. He was out for two months shortly after that but in all had gone 22 games without a goal. It looked like this one wasn’t going to happen. Klauss headed a cross from Celio Pompeu off the crossbar, but the rebound took a big bounce and came back to Klauss, who leaped up to head it, very slowly, out of the reach of Columbus keeper and St. Charles native Patrick Schulte and into the net.

That snapped City SC’s goalless streak at 352 minutes, dating back a free-kick goal by Eduard Lowen against Seattle on March 15. Klauss had more chances to score in the first half, including a header off a cross by Akil Watts that went just outside the post.

Watts was in the game because Josh Yaro, who was starting at right center, was removed by the concussion doctor after he went down after heading a ball out of the goal box. Yaro went to the ground in the 23rd minute and came off the field after being tended to by the trainers. But after being checked by the doctor on the sideline, he went back in the 26th minute, only to be called off the field by the doctor in the 30th minute.

It was the second game in a row that City SC had lost one of its center backs to injury in the first half. Joakim Nilsson injured his knee against Sporting Kansas City last weekend, which made six City SC starters either injured or unavailable on Sunday, joining Roman Burki, Tomas Totland, Jannes Horn, Lowen and Chris Durkin. That’s the most for any team in the league.

With Nilsson out, coach Olof Mellberg gave the long-awaited first start to Timo Baumgartl. City SC also called up two players from City2, forwards Mykhi Joyner and Brendan McSorley. McSorley was available because he had gotten a red card in last week’s City2 game and was ineligible for its match Sunday in Southern California.

Columbus tied the game in second minute of first-half stoppage time, when center back Steven Moreira, who had dangerous chances on a couple occasions in the first half, perfectly volleyed a cross from Max Arfsten back to his right while Lundt and City SC’s defense was moving the other way.