Crew, playoffs? It’s too late for that

The Crew have issues. Or, the Crew has issues. Conjugate the verb as you wish. The rub is in the nouns.

Coach Caleb Porter believes that the primary issues are injuries and national-team duty. Missing players. The Crew has been savaged by major injuries to key players — attacking midfielder Federico Higuain (blown knee) among them — and has been depleted by the absence of central midfielder Wil Trapp, striker Gyasi Zardes and center back Jonathan Mensah.

(Trapp and Zardes are with the U.S. men’s national

team, which will meet Mexico in the final of the Gold Cup in Chicago on Sunday; they’ll return to Columbus sometime next week. Mensah is with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations; if the Black Stars go the route, he might not be back for another twoplus weeks.)

Porter inherited his roster from a previous administration and what should have been a plug-and-play playoff team has been reduced to a shell of what it was. We can argue whether

Porter is extracting everything he can from what he has — for his part, he has indicated that he is doing an excellent job — but, in any event, the issue is now moot.

The real issue now is black and white. It’s the standings. And it’s the schedule. Jim Mora is the operative GIF. Playoffs? You’re talking playoffs?

The Crew (5-12-2) is in 11th place in the Eastern Conference through 19 games. If it wasn’t for expansion FC Cincinnati (3-132), the Crew would be the worst team in the league. “Hell is Real” is right.

Beginning with a game Saturday against Seattle at Mapfre Stadium, the Crew has 15 games remaining. Standard MLS thinking is, “Win a few games in a row — that’s nine points — and you’re right back in the race.” Sorry, not this year. Not with this team. Not with this coach, who wants nothing more than to overhaul the roster.

They’re playing like finches suffering from conjunctivitis instead of Fighting Canaries. In its past 13 MLS games, the Crew is 1-11-1 and has been shut out eight times. Now, it’s too late.

A team that has won one road game — way back on March 9 (last winter!) — will play nine

of its last 15 on the road. Along the way, there will be stops at Red Bull Arena, Mercedes-benz Stadium and Talen Energy Stadium, which is what they’re calling the Chester place these days.

Let’s say the Crew does the unimaginable, actually wins another road game or two and roars down the stretch. Let’s go crazy and say the Crew goes 8-4-3 and earns another 27 points. That would give them 44 points — which might, might — be good enough for them to leapfrog four teams and get into the top seven.

Save the Crew did something more miraculous, so anything is possible. But Save

the Crew knew how to score. The team they saved has 16 goals in 19 games and a minus-12 goal differential. Cue Jim Mora.

There is always reason to a season. This one has been a marked transition — in ownership, management, coaching, scouting, and so forth. Mapfre has been cleaned up and now presents a more welcoming and enjoyable stadium experience. Now, the roster is in the process of a rejiggering.

This week, the Crew traded with Atlanta for forward Romario Williams, a Jamaican national. The team also signed Luis Diaz, a young wing player from Costa Rica, and veteran goalkeeper Eloy Room, a Curacao national who played in the Dutch First Division. They will join the team sometime after the international transfer window officially opens Tuesday.

These players address needs and/or provide upgrades. The specter of a bigger international import — someone you might’ve heard of — still looms in the future. In the interim, any fan might suggest winning a game, just the one. How about a home game? The Crew hasn’t won a league match at home since May 8 (last spring!).