2018 plan calls for core players, quality additions
Forty-eight hours after Crew SC’s 1-0 loss to Toronto FC in the second leg of the Eastern Conference finals, the numbness hadn’t yet faded for midfielder Wil Trapp.
“We really and fully expected to be playing on Dec. 9 (for the MLS Cup) and that’s a good thing,” Trapp said on Friday. “We should be disappointed, but at the same time I think it’s quickly turning to motivation for this next year.”
Trapp said the disappointment doesn’t quite compare with the Crew’s loss to Portland at home in the 2015 MLS Cup final, which he termed a “deep, dark exhale.”
Instead, he likened it to the aftermath of the Crew’s loss to New England in the 2014 Eastern Conference semifinals, in which the players’ reflection was equal parts frustration and energy for the following season.
A look toward 2018 began Friday with news that the club picked up options on nine players, meaning the Crew has 19 players listed on its roster, including its top nine in minutes played.
“When you have chemistry already, it’s easier to get better quicker because you’re not forging new ties,” Trapp said. “That side of the personnel has been addressed and we’ve gotten through that, so now it’s about how much better can we get, how much closer can we become and can we raise our level every single day in training?”
Those are important questions and ones Crew SC struggled to answer in the aftermath of the 2015 Cup final loss. Much of the core returned in 2016, but with a quick turnaround to a new season and not enough true competition to push players, complacency set in.
Much of the team’s starting lineup is set to return. One player in question is defensive midfielder Artur, who played the 2017 season on loan from Sao Paulo FC and is now wanted by both clubs. Coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter declined to discuss specifics of the negotiation but expects conversations on Artur’s future to take place in the coming weeks.
“We’ll discuss that,” Berhalter said. “He’s a guy who we thought did quite The status of Artur, left, has yet to be resolved. He is on loan from Sao Paulo FC; Crew SC would like to keep him and Sao Paulo wants the midfielder back.
well for us, but we have to see what the club says and we have to see how we can deal with that.”
After a disappointing 2016, Berhalter went into the offseason with the idea of bringing in “as many as four” new starters. He did not provide a specific number on Friday regarding 2018. The Crew will need to add at the fullback position and sign a backup goalkeeper, but Berhalter did not list specific positions of need. He
does, however, anticipate adding competition.
“We’re going to bring guys in who can help the team, simple as that. We’re going to make moves in the offseason that are going to make this team better,” Berhalter said. “(How many new starters) will depend on who we bring in, but we want to add quality, we want to add startingcaliber players.”
The offseason, complete with an expansion
draft for LAFC, a first-year player draft and plenty of other opportunities to make changes, also presents the opportunity for further adjustments to the 19 already on the Crew’s roster.
“I would expect change,” Berhalter said. “I would say we probably will turn over a good third of our roster.”
Over the next few weeks, the Crew will add and subtract in hopes that Mohammed Abu Artur
Niko Hansen Federico Higuain Hector Jimenez Cristian Martinez Justin Meram Pedro Santos Wil Trapp FORWARD
Adam Jahn Ola Kamara
the sum is greater than a 2017 playoff run cut a few inches short of the MLS Cup final.
“We’ll see how we can regroup this team,” defender Hector Jimenez said. “Hopefully next season get ourselves in a situation where we can be hosting MLS Cup again.”