New lineup, attitude to be tested right away
Last season didn’t start well for Crew SC.
In a rematch of the 2015 MLS Cup final, the Crew fell 2-1 to the Portland Timbers in a nationally televised game at Providence Park to open 2016. The team went more than a month without a win before finally registering a victory over New York City FC on April 16.
Still, the opening sputter accounted for just three of the Crew’s 14 losses last season, which is why coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter said he paints in broad strokes when approaching the need for a fast start to the 2017 season.
“I think it’s important. I think a strong finish is important; I think a strong middle is important; I think they’re all important. I’d like to have them all,” Berhalter said Friday. “You don’t always get them all, so you have to perform and hope the team can get the results, but again, to me it’s about the big picture, it’s about how the team is developing and progressing.”
The Crew’s 2017 opener against the Chicago Fire today at Mapfre Stadium, will provide instant feedback on a few of his offseason and preseason roster decisions.
One question centers on how goalkeeper Zack Steffen, 21, handles the moment of starting an MLS season opener. Steffen won the job over Brad Stuver with his confidence in goal during the Carolina Challenge Cup, Berhalter said, but Steffen does not have a minute of MLS experience upon which to draw.
“It won’t be perfect this season,” Berhalter said. “No goalie is going to be perfect, regardless of their age, but it takes that experience to get confidence.”
Another unknown that will help shape the early season is the performance of a reconstructed back line that likely will include new signees Jonathan Mensah and Jukka Raitala and holdovers Harrison Afful and Nicolai Naess.
Personnel has changed — the Crew roster features 11 new players. The attitude has changed, too, multiple Crew players have pointed out over the course of the preseason.
Last season for Crew SC began with a hangover from the 2015 MLS Cup final for which it was evident early there was no cure.
“I think after MLS Cup, we kind of thought we already made it or were the top team in the league and it was just going to carry over. But it didn’t carry over,” midfielder Justin Meram said last week. “We struggled early in the year and we kept saying, ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s early.’ But that was the wrong mindset.”
Chicago finished last in the Eastern Conference in 2016 with a 7-17-10 record. … The Fire tied Crew SC with 58 goals allowed in 2016, second-most in the league. … Midfielder Juninho will serve a one-game suspension stemming from a red card earned in his final Liga MX match last November.
Goalkeeper Zack Steffen, 21, will make his MLS debut today, ending a stretch of three straight opening matches started by Steve Clark. … Crew SC totaled 50 goals in 2016, tied for eighth-most in MLS. … The team won its first game of 2016 on April 16 after going 0-3-2 over its first five.
Is the Crew ready to put 2016 in the past? The club spent its offseason restructuring one of the league’s worst defenses and today is the first true test to see whether the back line has improved. Chicago has become a trendy playoff pick, but it remains to be seen how much midfield acquisitions Dax McCarty and Juninho will move the needle for a club that has missed the playoffs four straight seasons.
Newly appointed captain Wil Trapp said Thursday he noticed a newfound collective hunger upon his arrival in Brazil for the team’s first training camp of 2017.
“The way in which new players to this group have adapted to the style of play and the culture has been fantastic,” Trapp said. “We’re ready to attack this year. We’re ready to come out of the gates flying and I think we’ve prepared well throughout the preseason to do so.”