Crew has hot hand in Florida steam bath
Even without their star, Carlos Vela, LAFC is the best team in MLS. But the Crew might be the best team in the MLS is Back tournament.
The fussballers from Cincinnati can attest. Their new coach, Jaap Stam, tried to man-up against the Crew and got drummed 4-0. Jaap then discarded his tactics, put FC Cincinnati into a defensive phalanx and they made it to the knockout round.
Another noted Dutch-born coach, Frank de Boer, can also attest. His Atlanta United team, from the city where the game was invented, was bounced from the tournament after a 1-0 loss to the Crew. And de Boer got fired.
The Crew was the only team to win all three of its games in the group stage. It outscored its opponents by a combined 7-0. Are the soccer gods again smiling upon Columbus, finally?
It must be said that this tournament is the hands of Mercury, the god of luck, trickery and thieves, among other things. This tournament has come after a four-month layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is being played without two teams (Dallas and Nashville, which combined for 21 cases of COVID-19) and it is being staged in Orlando, Florida, in July, which is to say “Guam.” Most every team has been sweating injuries, the Crew included. Many of the games have been disjointed messes.
Yet, it’s fair to say that this weird tournament, played under unprecedented conditions in a hellscape of humidity, is another sign that the Crew is headed in the right direction.
President/general manager Tim Bezbatchenko and coach Caleb Porter have for 18 months been retooling the roster to upgrade talent, add depth and fit Porter’s style. And they are getting results: Since July 17, 2019, the Crew is 9-2-7 with a goal differential of plus-14. In this span, only LAFC has been better. Crazy.
Since group-stage games count in regular-season standings, the Crew (4-0-1, plus-8) sits in first place in the Eastern Conference. Given the relative weakness of the East, the Crew is in an enviable position as the league looks toward resumption of the regular season (details TBA) and the playoffs. To this end, the tournament has been a boon for the Black & Gold.
“Given that we made it out of the group stage with a full nine points, we’ve done the best we could,” Bezbatchenko said Monday morning. “But from an emotional, physical and tactical standpoint, it has not been an easy road by any measure.”
Porter has stuck to his plan and rotated his roster as Walt Disney World has melted. He swapped out five starters from the first game to the second. He has used 19 starters through three games — more than any other team in the tournament. The Crew has not been uniformly impressive, but it has been better than its competition, no matter who has been in uniform.
One example of Porter’s approach: Attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan, acquired with a team-record transfer fee of around $8 million in January, has been playing limited minutes due to an ankle injury. He has still managed to produce two or three highlight-reel moments. When he’s on the field, it belongs to him. He looks like a star.
Tuesday night, the Crew enters the knockout stage with a game against Minnesota United. Although the Crew is favored (oddsmakers rate their chances of success at around 49 percent), they are likely to face their sternest test to date. The Crew will be without keeper Eloy Room (hamstring) and center back Vito Wormgoor (ankle surgery), among others. Minnesota is missing its defensive anchor, Ike Opara, among others.
From here on, tournament games do not count in regular-season standings. Thus, Bezbatchenko suggested, the approach is not unlike the approach to, say, U.S. Open Cup games — where the emphasis is on testing depth, on youth and on fresh legs.
“Let’s see what happens — but let’s take it one game at a time,” Bezbatchenko said. “There will be a quick turnaround for the next match, so maybe we play (homegrown midfielders Sebastian Berhalter and Aidan Morris). It’s no different than what we’ve been doing, rotating the roster.”
If the Crew advances they’ll play a quarterfinal game on three days’ rest Saturday night. If they get to the semis — Aug. 6, after four days’ rest — it’s likely that Seattle, birthplace of the game, or LAFC will still be lurking.
Can the Crew get to the final? Can it win the thing? There is experience to be gained in playing knockout games, experience that comes in handy during the playoffs. There is, too, more momentum to be gained from this weird tournament. And more confidence. Also, there is the small matter of a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League, and the $1.1 million prize pool for the players — and bragging rights for Crew fans, who’ve been pent up for a while here. marace@dispach.com @Michaelarace1