Berhalter: Subs should have been made earlier
Hindsight is 20-20, and Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter’s told him early this week he should have been quicker on the trigger making substitutions in a 3-2 loss Saturday to New York City FC.
Berhalter and a few players noted after the loss at Mapfre Stadium that by dominating possession in the second half, NYCFC tired out the Crew with its movement.
Berhalter used his three substitutions but didn’t make his first two — Niko Hansen for Justin Meram and Kekuta Manneh for Ethan Finlay — until the 81st minute, when his team was trailing by a goal.
“I made the wrong call,” Berhalter said. “I think we could’ve possibly made some substitutions earlier to give us the energy and maybe get our footing back into the game, but it’s very difficult when you do have that positive event in the second half and you pull a guy five, six minutes later.”
The positive event was a 49th-minute goal by Ola Kamara, in which Finlay pressed NYCFC into a turnover deep in its defensive third and passed between Federico Higuain’s legs for the 30th assist of his career. Berhalter said he was pleased with his team’s movement after Jack Harrison netted the go-ahead goal for NYCFC in the 76th minute, but the Crew’s execution in the immediate aftermath of Kamara’s goal left something to be desired.
“To me, the most 7:30 p.m. Saturday Ch. 53, Spectrum Sports WWCD-FM (102.5), WVKO-FM (103.1, in Spanish)
difficult period of the game was from the 50th minute until they scored their second goal,” Berhalter said. “That was, you know, not great.”
Finlay said he at times noticed the Crew’s mental fatigue in the second half. As an example, he cited a specific play in the 64th minute in which he overran Ben Sweat, who crossed a ball into Yangel Herrera to tie the score at 2.
“Those are those little moments we talk about and those are the moments that we have to be better in,” Finlay said. “We’d all, I think, agree on that.”
Excused absence
Berhalter said right back Harrison Afful missed practice Tuesday to be with his wife, Roberta, as she gave birth to the couple’s second child.
“Congratulations to him and his family and we’re just waiting for the final update, but I’m assuming it happened during training,” Berhalter said.
Asked if the Affuls were expecting a boy or a girl, Berhalter punted.
“I’m not going to be the one to break the news,” he said. “(Afful will) probably be tweeting that out, Instagramming, whatever kids do these days.”
Afful confirmed via his Instagram account Monday night that his wife gave birth to a boy.
Injury update
Midfielder Artur jogged in front of reporters without a sling for the first time since suffering a broken left wrist April 22 against the New York Red Bulls. He is expected to miss the final two games of the Crew’s three-game homestand. … Defender Alex Crognale (sprained right ankle) ran separate from the team at the end of Tuesday’s training session and could return to “full training” by the end of the week, Berhalter said.