Crew’s victory shows growing confidence
Jonathan Mensah fell to his knees and pointed to the sky after surviving a mosh pit from his teammates on the south end of the stadium. He just gave the Crew a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute of the Campeones Cup against Liga MX champion Cruz Azul.
But the Crew had been in a similar situation before, scoring what looked like the decisive goal against a good opponent. A little over a month ago, the Crew coughed up a 1-0 lead it took in the 77th minute and lost 2-1 to Seattle Sounders.
But the Crew seemed to have learned their lesson. They held off Cruz Azul and kept the ball out of the net for the first time in 14 games in a 2-0 win. How they did it was what had been missing for the past couple months, but what has been growing as of late in four straight wins at home: confidence and belief they can win, rather than trying not to lose.
“That’s four wins (in a row) in this building. We’re starting to gain some feelings and emotions in here just like we had at historic Crew Stadium,” coach Caleb Porter said. “We knocked off one of North America’s best teams.”
The Crew were fortunate to go up 1-0 a little over three minutes into the game when Cruz Azul forward Bryan Angulo scored an own goal off a free-kick service from attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan. From there, the Crew would have to defend nearly the entire game.
They would eventually switch from three players in the back to five players on the back line as Cruz Azul pushed more attacking players forward. After a little luck with Jonathan Rodriguez missing a shot right in front of the goal from about 12 yards out just one minute into the second half, and another shot hitting the post in the 52nd minute, the Crew struck again.
The opening own goal drastically swung momentum. As the Crew continued to defend well, the predominantly Cruz Azul crowd became quieter until
Mensah silenced them completely.
The Crew looked as in control as they could without the ball for three-quarters of the game. Goalkeeper Evan Bush made three saves, including one in stoppage time to keep the shutout. But largely, the Crew dealt well with whatever Cruz Azul threw at them, as they believed they could.
“I think it was a very professional and business-like performance in terms of getting the early goal and then doing what we needed to do to win the game and shut the game down,” Bush said.
The most eye-popping stat line from the night was Cruz Azul’s 566 total passes to the Crew’s 197.
The Crew are used to being on the ball. They want to build an attack from the back and break down teams. That wasn’t going to be how they beat Cruz Azul. They had to rely on a defense that had 43 clearances, dealt with 11 corners and defended 34 crosses.
So, what has been the difference? How did the Crew go from a disaster defensively to looking more and more like the dominant defense of last season?
“We’re healthy. That’s the only change. We’re healthy,” Porter said. “Not doing anything different. We just have Josh Williams back in, Milton Valenzuela back in. When you’re healthier and you have your top guys, you’re going to be better. It’s that simple. The hunger, the confidence, the belief is growing as well.”